Many sons of the prophets have taken to pronouncing the impending doom of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pointing to falling baptismal rates, rising ages, and static churches, we have summoned the intervention of the successful to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. As the summoned practitioners meet in special session this week, the patients fight it out in the waiting room about the deliberations until we receive the prognosis and path of treatment. A possible merger of the IMB and NAMB, a possible partnership with Acts 29, or a restructuring of the Cooperative Program have all been prescribed as the solution to what ails us from the Web MD of Baptist blogdom. Not to be pedantic, but I would encourage us to look to the Great Physician for the proper diagnosis before we give the prognosis based on a self-diagnosis.
Standing before Jesus, Peter makes his confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then responds with a gnomic principle, “Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it” (Matthew 16:16, 18). I will make two presumptions. 1) We agree that the rock to which Jesus refers is Peter’s confession, and not Peter himself. 2) The existence of local churches is irreplaceably important to Christ. This leads me to deduce that, if the Southern Baptist Convention is indeed destined for the doom pronounced by the aforementioned prophets, it is not ultimately due to irrelevance, but to unfaithfulness. As the SBC stands on the brink of another time of transition, I would encourage us to remember two things.
First, let us not become so consumed with baptismal numbers that we forget that when all is said and done, baptism is not the goal, conversion is. Though baptism is our method of measurement for the effectiveness of our outreach, we must be careful that the method of measurement does not become the goal itself. In other words, if we increase baptisms without increasing conversions, we have settled for a lesser gospel, and indeed, a false gospel. A true biblical confession will involve baptism, but if we are not careful, we will separate baptism from a true confession.
The second truth we must bear in mind from this text is that the success of the futuristic, not -yet-existent universal church cannot be separated from the success of the present day local church. The activity of God is primarily seen in the local church. Not that God is dependent upon such, but God has ordained such. I pray that as we seek to return our focus to the Great Commission, that in doing so, our focus will return to the local church over and above the development of our own kingdom. Our investment to the Kingdom of God is an investment that is made in, with, and through the local church. When Jesus said His church will be built upon the rock of Peter’s confession, based on the rest of the New Testament witness, He certainly involved the building of the eternal church through the local church.
Of course, the promise of Jesus is that, given the proper confession of His people and the power of His word, the church will not be overpowered. So, need we fear the death of the Southern Baptist Convention? No, for life is a byproduct of Christ’s promise of the success of the local church built upon the confession of her members. Let us not fear the death of our beloved Convention, for upon it the Kingdom of God does not reside.
Rather, let us fear the loss of the New Testament confession of Christ as our Lord within the local churches. If we maintain the preeminence of the local church and a proper confession, our churches will flourish. If our churches flourish, our Convention will flourish. If we have healthy churches, we will have a healthy Convention. It is one thing to know the symptoms of the sickness. It is quite another to know the path to wellness. The Convention may be able to describe the symptoms, but they are incapable of producing the cure. As the Task Force deliberates today, let us pray for their focus not to be upon the programmatic and structural success of the Convention. Let us pray for their hearts to be focused upon the local churches and how they can be encouraged to maintain a healthy confession of Christ as Lord. For in Him alone is there life abundant.
John,
Excellent post. As I communicated to a GCR Task Force member yesterday, we need a “broken heart for the lost.” I don’t know how any Task Force can make that happen.
As you rightly point out, this is primarily a responsibility for the local churches. However, I wish the Task Force well and pray for them regularly. They have a daunting task to complete their mission by June, 2010.
Les
Brother John,
Good work here, my friend. I agree with both you and Les….although it will be good to be in a kindred spirit all around the world, the work is local and planting more Christ centered churches. That is where love is demonstrated, when your nose to nose. The Task force may be a good gesture,…but at the end of the day, it will have little to no effect at the level where we make the decision to love or hate.
Blessings,
Chris
John, Just to add my 2 cents—Excellent article.
Thanks to all three. I am praying, as well. I am a great admirer of many on the Task Force, indeed, indebted for their investment into my life and ministry.
John:
Excellent article that touches on several issues.
Let me carry forth your self-diagnosis analogy a little bit. I see local churches being “sick” for several reasons – apathy, lack of interest in the GC, self-absorbed with issues unbecoming of a Christian church, etc. Those churches, collectively, flow upstream into the SBC. The SBC, in turn, carries its own assorted maladies which are numerous, but many not too different for the local church. After all, it is 164 years old. The SBC falls into its own place in “triage” among the Body of Christ, which is beset with many maladies – heresies, unbiblical doctrine, and internal/external strife are issues similar to the first century church itself. Therefore, we must heed the words of the Great Physician and follow His written prescription (Bible) if we are to regain strength to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The GCR is a good start, but will fail if man-centered. We need God’s Spirit to blow freely throughout His churches and be cooperative again.
Yessir. Good post. Encouraging words.
baptism and discipleship IS the goal sir! I can not even believe that I just read your suggestion that conversion is the goal!
wow.
Fox,
Interestingly enough, I have already had this conversation with a friend over email, though he was a bit friendlier than you.
In short, I think you are confusing my use of “conversion” with “justification.” When I say “conversion” I am saying all aspects of salvation. In other words, I do not separate conversion from discipleship. A true conversion will be evidenced by desiring and seeking to be discipled, then desiring to disciple. You may want to distinguish between salvation and discipleship; I do not.
I agree John…sometimes we are blind-sided by numbers of baptisms and unbelief is haunting. Conversion, as you define it, is the key. Salvation and discipleship are in the mix together just as our relationship is with the Lord Jesus…not just Jesus as Savior. The two go together….Jesus is Lord.
Mann,
So you separate discipleship from baptism? Does not one produce the other?
Do I separate Salvation from Discipleship? Of course not…and that is MY point sir regarding your assertion.
John:
Excellent and thought provoking post.
John,
Well done! No complaints here!
The bigger question now comes up. Again, using the medical analogy. Will the members of the GCR view the SBC as a patient in need of minor treatment, or major surgery with rehab? My prayers are for the appointed GCR members to discuss every viewpoint and weigh all viable options in the diagnosis. Their presentation to us in Orlando will be much anticipated.
Fox,
Your tone makes it clear that the only reason you are here is to argue. I, however, will not be drawn into that trap with the inevitable outcome being the derailing of the post. I do NOT separate discipleship and salvation. To be converted is to have the benefits of justification, sanctification, and glorification. I have answered you clearly and concisely. Should you choose to increase the banter, I will simply ignore you for more important matters.
Paul,
From what I have observed thus far, I believe the Task Force has more of a major surgery in mind, though that is admittedly speculation on my part. I have great respect for those who have been appointed, and pray for them diligently. I, too, will wait with anticipation for their recommendations, and then will dialog accordingly. Orlando will, no doubt, prove to be interesting.
Roger, Tim, and Bob
Thanks for dropping by and giving your input.
Interesting that the ‘prophets’ of the SBC discern a problem and continually use the word “change”(sound familiar?)…yet they offer procedural, methodological and corporate solutions to what is simply a Spiritual problem.
That’s why, without major revision and emphasis, the GCR will go down in flames.
Prov. 18:17
KC,
As to the long range effects of the GCR, I am certainly not qualified to say. However, for it to meet Heaven’s criteria of success, it must focus on the reinvigoration of the local church. (Bart Barber has done an excellent job of showing the priority of the local church over the universal in his earlier post) As you have said, all problems are ultimately not programmatic or methodological, but spiritual.
Les has pointed out some of the problem with the GCR task force, as have others. They are mostly from large and mega Churches. They have no idea what goes on in the 90% of SB Churches that are out here, who are smaller Churches. Also, we have a lot of people on the task force whose Churches give very little to the CP, yet they are on the task force to determine what happens to the SBC!!!
What percentage does JD Grear’s Church give to the CP? to Acts 29 Church plants?
What percentage does Johnny Hunt’s and Ronnie Floyd’s Churches give to the CP?
What percentage does Dr. Mohler’s Church give to the CP?
Does this concern anyone else?
And again, I also want to say that I believe that these men are good men and women who love the Lord. I do pray for them as they ponder the condition of the SBC. And, I’m expecting that good things will come out of this task force. I certainly hope so. But, it is concerning that the people deciding all of these things have led their Churches to give so little for the work of the SBC?
David
David, Johnny Hunt tried to explain away these ‘problems’. However, his credibility went to zero when he said ‘no’ if he trusted BP….and called a pastor’s question a “Phariseical attitude”…to which my thought was…’look in the mirror cowboy!’
He explained that all large church pastors on the committee had once been in smaller churches and clearly knew ‘how it was back then’. He included himself in that group. There are two pastors on the GCR committee who have(I believe) 85 and 300 in attendance.
But don’t let this get you off message…and that is that “mega church leadership knows best”…and if you don’t follow then they’ll do their own thing…when in fact, they’re doing their own thing any way and they just want you and I to do the same so they don’t feel ‘out-of-place.
Make your plans now to go to ORLANDO. It will be historic!!!
I would just like to know of a better and more clear way to gauge how our convention is doing than by counting baptisms. If we can not not separate baptism from discipleship and if our call is to make disciples then it would be reasonable that while not perfect, comparing baptism numbers and rates with previous generations would be the best way to attempt comparing “apples with apples”.
Does anyone have a better (and easier to decipher) way to gauge things?
Fox,
I make no argument to the contrary of what you are arguing. I only say,
“Though baptism is our method of measurement for the effectiveness of our outreach, we must be careful that the method of measurement does not become the goal itself.”
I never say we should find another measurement of the goal, I only say we must not let the measurement become the goal. Those are two different things.
I really do not have the succinct and lucid answer for what it will take to correct the issues facing the SBC. I do know that there are many. Some are certainly spiritual and a lot are methodological in nature. Both should be given equal attention. The issues regarding big church vs. small church, wealthy vs. needy, older staff vs. younger staff, rural vs. urban will never go away. A pastor in rural West Texas is facing similar issues to a small inner city church. Both have limited budgets and seek to evangelize their environs. However, their methodology will probably be different. A Megachurch is going to do things much different b/c they tend to be more self-sufficient and independent for doing ministry than smaller churches. That is a fact.
Years ago, I was sitting between two classmates at seminary and the subject of counting baptisms came up. One guy was a musician for a megachurch in the DFW area and placed a high value on the “number.” The other was a small rural pastor whose church ran thirty on a good Sunday. They both got a little distressed with the other’s comments. Finally, the musician said, “last year my church baptized over a thousand people. What did your little country church do?” Therein lies the problem – attitude. We need to pray and seek God for a renewal of our commitment to change our attitudes, motivation, spending priorities, and how we help each other succeed in evangelism, missions, discipleship, etc. I believe, but I may be wrong, that is how God will judge our efforts.