On April 21 the Courier-Journal, based out of Louisville, KY, ran this article concerning the state of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. It is hard to tell if the findings are truly representative of all SBC state conventions, or the SBC as a whole, but the numbers quoted by the article are enough to deserve attention at least locally in the state housing our largest Southern Baptist seminary. Here’s a quick run-down from the 2008 profile:
- Total undesignated giving and discipleship training were both up 3% over 2007 numbers
- Annual baptisms in the KBC were up 2% from 2007 to 2008, but still down 12% from 8 years ago
- Total KBC membership decreased by 1.2% in 2008
One positive to be seen here is that if membership is down but giving is up, then either those who are giving are giving more, or simply more are giving in general, both of which are desirable changes. We must be careful not to overreact one way or the other when looking at these numbers though, since most of them are only in comparison to the previous year’s marks. A notable exception to this is the number of baptisms, which the article reports have shown a sizable drop over the last decade. This is something to worry about and probably the single most important revelation from this piece. To be 12% lower than the rate 8 years prior translates into roughly 1500 fewer people being baptized per year. This is significant considering that the average Southern Baptist church has around 140 members in weekly worship, meaning a loss of 1500 people annually would equate to 10 church plant opportunities that the KBC is missing out on per year.
Yet, as much as we will focus on analyzing the percentage changes here and there, I was struck by something else that this article revealed in regards to the church growth philosophy of the KBC. In a world where “size matters,” the church is certainly not immune to falling into this mindset itself. Matt Chandler of The Village Church near Dallas, TX refers to the focus on ever-increasing numbers as an indicator for success as “Capitalist Christianity”- i.e. the church with the most people in the end wins. This is a dangerous mindset because the desire to reach certain peak numbers, mixed with a fallen creation, is bound to tempt towards, if not lead directly to a watering down of the requirements to be counted. The “seeker-sensitive” movement is often criticized in this respect, but it is also visible in our own Southern Baptist Convention as we are constantly reminded that the only population segment seeing an increase in baptisms currently is the Under-5 category.
To that end, the fact that the article brings up the KBC’s annual goal of 25,000 baptisms (now reduced to 20,000) disturbs me. I mean no disrespect to the Godly men who surely put much prayer into establishing that number, but to set a goal of this sort basically says either (1) God is not sovereign and our own human efforts at evangelism are a failure if we fall short of this, or (2) God is sovereign and he is letting us down if he does not provide us with 20,000 baptisms this year. Neither option seems like a good statement to be making in my mind, each being more reflective of a secular business model than committed biblical church growth.
As well, one must be taken aback by the total membership/weekly worshippers disparity found at the bottom of the article. The KBC reports that there are 770,269 people in Kentucky who are members of a KBC-affiliated Southern Baptist church. However, weekly worship numbers show that there are only 255,238 people attending church on any given Sunday. That means that just about one-third of the people that the KBC is claiming as members of local KBC-affiliated Southern Baptist bodies are actually actively attending (one would assume the weekly shift between present and not is negligible). Of course, as far as I’m concerned, if you have 255,238 people attending weekly worship in a KBC-affiliated church then you only have 255,238 members of the KBC. If we used that as our metric, and not simply how many people we could hold under water long enough to constitute immersion, I doubt we would even be having this conversation right now.
Looking at this report on the KBC, the picture is not clearly of a state (and by extension national) convention in decline, but it is also not a ringing endorsement of bright days ahead. We should be burdened by the declining numbers of baptisms and of those claiming membership with the KBC. We should also consider the framework that we operate inside of in trying to do God’s work and make sure that the goals there always line up properly with the emphasis of the Scriptures, lest in following them through we become too much like the world. God has seen to bless our convention for many years, but like the church in Laodecia, we must strive to be either hot or cold in serving kingdom purposes or else we will just grow lukewarm reminiscing on memories of victories past and find our efforts rejected by Christ.
I agree with you that setting baptismal goals reeks of man-centeredness. The Bible says if we sow sparingly we will reap sparingly, but if we sow bountifully we will reap bountifully.
Perhaps our convention has a harvest mentality with no conception of sowing. May we get busy sowing the gospel and when harvest time comes, rejoice together, whether it is 100,000 souls or 400,000.
Les
Les Puryears last blog post..Set Your Sights
Setting baptismal goals is most ridiculous. The people who do so intend good and are some of our finest people. But while some sow and some water, it is God who gives the increase. Why not set witnessing goals – how many to equip, how many with whom we will seek to authentically share the gospel, how many churches will embrace a year of teaching the gospel, how many lost friends and neighbors for whom we will pray daily for their salvation, how much of our budget we will designate to evangelism, etc. These kinds of goals are measurable and manageable.
Ted Es last blog post..DOES YOUR ‘INSIDE CULTURE’ COMMUNICATE LOVE?
In the year and a half that Jay Tigner has been our senior pastor, Finchville Baptist Church in Shelby County has had more than a dozen believer’s baptisms–several from the youth group, the rest people 20+ and older. For a congregation of a hundred, that’s better than a 12% increase–and we’re running in the black financially even after building a new high-tech family center in renovated existing space. Strong preaching and teaching, friendly people, great music and family ministry and a pastor who genuinely cares about people are the not-so-secret secrets of how God is at work in our church. Our doctrine is solidly, biblically Baptist, but we have avoided the quarrelsome fights that some churches and pastors seem to absolutely delight in picking over such issues as the role of women, divorce and remarriage, how to exclude as many Christians as possible from taking the Lord’s Supper, and just how Presbyterian our Baptist churches ought to become. Many churches really are NOT friendly and many pastors do NOT genuinely care about people and many Southern Baptist churches DO have a mean spirit (deny it all you want but that’s reality). People who visit our churches may sometimes be lost, but they’re not totally dumb and they can tell in a hurry if it’s a place worth hanging out at or not. A lot of sports bars are friendlier than a lot of churches.
Ted E,
In expanding on your evangelism comment, what if our churches made it a goal to put 50% of their membership rolls through FAITH or some equivalent program in a year. That would serve either to (1) well-equip our people for sharing their faith with the world, or (2) force our churches to skim the fat off their rolls. What do you think?
Todd Buruss last blog post..What We Believe- Article XIII, Stewardship
Todd,
I regret the delay. We took a two day hiatus away from all things computer. I think your thought is in line with my thoughts. It is measurable and manageable and gives more insight into reality. I have always thought the ‘fat’ needs to be skimmed from the rolls. For me, it is about positively and pervasively extending the Kingdom of God through every influence we, the church, have.