Baptist Press reports on Executive Committee CEO Ronnie Floyd’s report to the EC yesterday:
Floyd issue Vision 2025 call to reach every person with the Gospel
Five “strategic actions”:
- Increase the total number of full-time, fully funded missionaries by a net gain of 500, giving the SBC 4,200 full-time, fully funded missionaries through the International Mission Board (IMB). New IMB leader Paul Chitwood has already outlined this goal for our oldest, largest, and most important entity. Glad we are together on this one.
- Add 6,000 new churches to the Southern Baptist family, giving the SBC more than 50,000 churches. The last two reporting years showed an increase of 272 for 2017 and a decrease of 88 for 2018; a net increase of 184. The ambitious goal of 6,000 churches in five years would require a seven-fold increase in new churches. One might remember that churches are closing every year, so the goal would be to increase by more than 100 per month for the next five years. BP wrote that the increase would come through church planting, new affiliations, and multisite campus multiplication, as well as retention through replanting and revitalization. I believe reporting has been changed to be able to show not just the number of churches but the number of churches plus their additional satellite locations. Look for an instant boost through different reporting. I’m OK with being able to break this data down in this new way.
- Increase the total number of workers in the field through a new emphasis on “calling out the called,” and then preparing those who are called out by the Lord. I’m not sure exactly what this means and there’s no numerical goal attached to it.
- Turn around the ongoing decline in the SBC in reaching, baptizing and discipling 12- to 17-year-olds in the prime of their teenage years. I’m all for this. My state has a program in this regard, not sure if it shows measurable success or not.
- Increase SBC-wide annual giving in successive years to reach and surpass $500 million given through the Cooperative Program. CP giving at the national level is about $463 million. The plan calls for an increase of a mere 1.25% per year through 2025. While that sounds like a very modest goal, it would be a considerable improvement. Currently the CP is running a couple of million above same period last fiscal year.
There is not one syllable of this that I do not support.
What’s the alternative? Another hard-fought denominational control battle led by a new network?
__________________
Caveats, addenda, provisos:
I don’t look to the EC to set the agenda for the SBC, but it cannot hurt. There’s nothing wrong with optimistic, challenging goals. I don’t see any competition for vision-setting for the SBC. I’m all in.
Contrast this with the other big news in the SBC. Which presents the more attractive future for our Grand Old Convention?
Didn’t include it here (I’m sure someone else will write of it later) but JDG knows how to hit home runs. Had a couple yesterday.
Looks pretty good….
If I am understanding this correctly – I will say – I do not think I support counting satellite churches as individual additional churches – seems A bit gimmicky me – I think we should only count our unique and autonomous churches as churches. I feel the same about church plants that are not yet unique and autonomous but still under the auspices of a planting church.
Sure, count them as church plants and satellite campuses if you want (we probably should do that). But, in my view they are not unique autonomous churches ….. well, until and unless they are unique autonomous churches.
Someone else knows more than I on this but I think there will be two numbers: churches and separate campii. Concession to the reality of church life today.
Do I hear a tiny bit of optimism in our friendly plodder’s writing?
What’s the alternative? Business as usual or worse.
Great vision, but how do we do it? I’m looking forward to hearing more about this.
This is the proverbial, “Chicken in every pot” campaign slogan. As someone already said, let’s see what really will be thrown in the pot. As a bi-vocational pastor in a depressed urban zip code I can tell you that we are reaching children and teens, but children and teens don’t put the chicken (money) in the pot. Starting new churches while watching churches that are desperately trying to reach these children and teens (and are) dry up and close, isn’t in the grand vision of most, certainly not of the mega-churches that seem to care little about these small churches (sorry, this is my opinion) unless they can fold them in under their umbrella.
Quite frankly, the number one reason the numbers have fallen in the 12-17 range is because SBC families are smaller than they were in the 50’s, 60’s, and even into the 70’s and our baptism numbers were always overwhelming from members children. Perhaps the young marrieds in the current generation will change that, but in my city (a city with a SBC seminary) there is little desire of the Seminary or the Mega-churches in the city to help those of us that actually minister in depressed zip codes.
I’m all for more missionaries and for new churches being planted where there isn’t work being done, but there are many churches in the SBC laboring in depressed areas with little to no help from the SBC, State Conventions, Local Associations, or sister churches. Our church baptized 4 young people last year. Not much in the grand scheme of things, but since we average 30-40 weekly, that means we baptized at a 10 percent clip, a percent I’m willing to wager is as good or better than most.