What can be done to stop the decline of the Southern Baptist Convention? That is the question raised in this post from the Tennessean.com. I’ve read some good points on a few other blogs, but wanted to offer a few observations here.
The Conservative Resurgence was God’s work, even if it was accomplished by less than perfect leaders. Even if the results haven’t been all we hoped. When people turn back to God’s Word it is his work. Have we gone far enough? Maybe not. Giving verbal agreement to inerrancy is a good start, but we also need to look to the Bible as sufficient for our faith & practice. From my experience that is not the reality in most SBC churches.
“The power of demographics” should be appreciated, but if our churches truly preach the Gospel their is a stronger power at work. (Consider Romans 1:16)
The claim that the SBC has “placed controls on local churches” is confusing. If the sociologist means the denomination pressures and influence churches then he might have a point. It seems that actual controls would be more of an issue for church planters.
Ed Stetzer calls for “a grass-roots evangelism revival” in the churches. While that is true, it’s a little like saying sick people need to get better. What is the real problem, what really keeps regular Southern Baptists from spreading the Gospel? If we lack skills and information, then a denominational training program might help. But what if the problem is spiritual? Maybe we really do hate our neighbors. Maybe we really don’t believe in Jesus like we claim. “Innovative practices” can’t overcome these problems – if we don’t love God & neighbor then someone needs to come and give us the gospel!
The whole baptism to membership ratios are nonsense. Why do I say that? Everyone knows Southern Baptists do not practice church membership, they mainly keep a lists of people who historically claimed membership. The number of members has no correlation with church attendance or baptisms. Run it through your statistics programs – these reported numbers do not mean anything. Plus, baptism is practiced with little consistency. Teens get baptized when the re-dedicate, even when they were baptized in kindergarten. Not to mention the cross-denominational baptisms. It’s all tied back to recovering the practice of regenerate church membership. (Which would cut us down from 16 million to around 5 million members!)
Perhaps the SBC will finally wake up to the fact that programs and activity do not equal ministry. I have seen numerous programs (Through Every Door, F.A.I.T.H) that appear to be little more than attempts to adapt techniques used to sell cars to evangelisim. Further, perhaps more SBC churches will adopt a “go and tell” mentality rather than “come and see” and focus on sharing the gospel with lost people rather than stealing sheep from other churches.
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Just to make it clear, my above comment does not cover every specific case in the SBC but is a generalization. I’m aware there are SBC churches that are very much “go and tell” rather than “come and see”. Also, I’m sure there were people associated with the programs I mentioned that were not attempting to modify a used-car salesman approach to evangelisim.
Joe Blackmons last blog post..Book Review: The Holman QuickSource Guide to Understanding Jesus
Tony, major props to you for speaking the unspeakable: “Maybe we really do hate our neighbors (or at the very least, we don’t really love them). Maybe we really don’t believe in Jesus like we claim. “Innovative practices” can’t overcome these problems – if we don’t love God & neighbor then someone needs to come and give us the gospel!” The cold, hard truth is that people who are in love with Jesus and full of the Holy Spirit don’t have to be flogged like a mule in order for them to reach out to others to share the Good… Read more »
“Perhaps the SBC will finally wake up to the fact that programs and activity do not equal ministry.”
Perfectly said…
Jay,
I think part of the problem is methodology. Our methodology breeds selfish hearts. “Feed me, Feed me!”
Matt Svobodas last blog post..Russell Moore on “Why I Hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday”
Matt – I’m going to slightly disagree with you on the ‘feed me’ remark. We do need to be fed and we need to be fed on the Word of God. The problem is with what is being fed. Too often the message from the pulpit, something many pastors call expository preaching, is really a sermon using a text that is sort of utilized to preach a specific message the pastor decides the congregation needs to hear about living the Christian life. What needs to be coming from pulpits is not a message about man, but a message about God.… Read more »
@Trish: Thanks for the thoughtful comments. I really appreciate your spirit of “offering a solution” – that attitude would go a long way to address SBC issues it were universal. It’s interesting that you mentioned service, that was exactly what I preached on yesterday. I tried to balance encouragement with the reality that all of use are selfish and need Christ’s service (the cross) to make our service acceptable to God. See Mark 10:45 and context. I’ve almost given up thinking there is a single problem at the root of SBC decline. We are a diverse denomination in what makes… Read more »
Matt, I think we have to ask ourselves, if methodology is partly to blame, where did the faulty methodology spring from in the first place? And that brings us right back to the heart issue. Ultimately, I’m convinced, our methodology is a result of where our hearts are, rather than the other way around. But be that as it may, without question it becomes a vicious circle whereby one issue feeds on the other and it just gets worse and worse. The only solution is the break the cycle, and I don’t think changing methodology in and of itself is… Read more »
@Tony Kummer, If, I understand you right, then you didn’t focus your message on the application of everyone’s responsiblity to serve, but instead had a more Christ focused message that involved the principle of service – would that be correct? If so, then that’s closer to what I’m trying to explain. I don’t have time to find the link to the website right now, but last fall I heard a message that was given at the NANC conference. It was really good and what I got out of his message was that people/couples have problems living out the Christian life… Read more »
Yes, I think everyone comes back to issues of the heart. But that does not mean that we dont have to address the problems with our ‘feed me’ mentality. And I do think Trish is right that it isnt just a feed me problem, but it is a problem with what our pastors are feeding their people. Nonetheless, the American Church is a feed me, consumeristic church and the selfishness and laziness of that mentality must be squashed.
Matt Svobodas last blog post..Russell Moore on “Why I Hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday”
Only a repentance-driven revival can squash selfishness and laziness. Preaching at or about these issues won’t suffice. As Trish so eloquently put it, trying to deal with the “problems” per se, isn’t the answer, the focus has to be on getting back to a heartfelt relationship with Jesus. When that happens, the selfishness and laziness will begin to lessen.
Jay,
There is nothing that you said that I disagree with. My point is that even when we clear up the heart issue we have to deal with our methodology. Just because our hearts are right doesnt mean we get everythnig else right.
Matt Svobodas last blog post..Russell Moore on “Why I Hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday”
Think of the seeker-sensitive movement. I personally feel that Hybels and Warren have their hearts in the right place, but that does not mean that there methodology is correct.
Ah, well, I don’t think I want to get started down THAT road. But in any case, I suppose you and I will have to agree to disagree–gently–on the importance of methodology. I don’t think methodology is as important as we make it out to be sometimes. I don’t think there’s any one particular methodology that’s ALWAYS right in every situation. The end result is what matters, and for every method we can point to as an example of the “right” way to do things, I have no doubt we can find someone who’s using that methodology and making a… Read more »
Tony, Good post. I particularly appreciated this: “Maybe we really do hate our neighbors. Maybe we really don’t believe in Jesus like we claim. “Innovative practices” can’t overcome these problems – if we don’t love God & neighbor then someone needs to come and give us the gospel!” and this: “It’s all tied back to recovering the practice of regenerate church membership.” I will also say that nowhere have I seen a Christian group/denomination be so focused on numbers than the Southern Baptist Convention. It is really nauseating. I think the focus on numbers breeds a “high numbers equals success… Read more »
Service is the natural outflow of a heart devoted to God. Until the Word of God reaches the heart, and human spirit, there can be no service acceptable to God.
The Word must reach the Heart, then it will affect one’s life and walk
Two things are required to reverse the trend downward and that is the right theology coupled with the right presence. But by right theology I do not mean that where the big I is right and every one else is wrong. That hardly wins the say any where. I mean the theology which produces humility in the possessor and persuader as well as in those that individual is seeking to win and influence for the good. Even so the presence is needed in conjunction with the message. Jesus said, Jn8:32, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make… Read more »