Why Do We Need a Great Commission Resurgence (GCR)? Revisited

In 2008, after the convention in Indianapolis, I did a series of posts concerning the new buzz phrase, “Great Commission Resurgence.”  Today it is a house hold term among many Southern Baptists and the GCR Task Force (GCRTF) has held some open meetings so that others could ask questions and possibly provide some answers.  I thought that after the last town hall meeting in Arkansas, this post would be a benefit in the discussion Southern Baptists are now having.  Below is a republication of that article with some minor revisions.  I hope to also revisit the subject of ecclesiology in my next article, but until then………

A fact of life that must be affirmed is that because of the depravity of man, the faithfulness of one generation normally diminishes in the subsequent generation. While there are exceptions to this statement, for the most part this has been affirmed by the biblical witness of the Israelites, and in the historical record of the church.

We repeatedly see in the life of Israel when after a generation lived faithfully, the next generation would depart from the faith and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord. The lack of faithfulness can also be seen in church history. For example the effects of the First Great Awakening were almost forgotten until God moved in Timothy Dwight and the students at Yale which lead to the Second Great Awakening.

Recently there has been talk of a GCR in the SBC. One reason has been the recent release that our membership and baptism numbers in 2007 were down from 2006. Another reason is that we are becoming an aging convention. Some reported that few young pastors participated at this year’s convention. It is hoped that if we focus on a GCR then we can rally younger pastors to be more involved with the SBC and also reverse the trend that our numbers are indicating. I don’t believe that either of these reasons is sufficient to move us to a GCR. First, while informative, numbers should not drive the actions of God’s people. Second, I noticed a lot of young pastors at this year’s convention. In fact, most of the guys who I interacted with were in their late twenties to thirties. It would be interesting to see some stats on the age range of who attended this year’s convention. Nevertheless, I don’t believe that either of these reasons is sufficient in and of themselves to warrant a GCR.

In the midst of this new push for a GCR some might believe that the battle for the Bible in the SBC is over. I would caution us from that line of faulty thinking. (After writing this, I read Bart Barber’s excellent post dealing with this issue. If you have not, I encourage you to read it.) I heard one scholar say that the battle for the Bible began in the Garden of Eden. Of course the canon was not anywhere near to being written, but a questioning began of God’s very own Word as satan led Eve to question what God had commanded. Since that time satan has been influencing people to question God’s Word with each succeeding generation. The battle for the Bible is not over and it won’t be until Jesus returns. We must do all we can to protect our understanding of its inerrancy and authority against the questioning of satan. To not do this will produce faulty disciples in this and the next generation producing ramifications to a possible worse situation than the SBC faced in 1979.

So back to the original question in the title, why do we need a GCR? The bottom line is that Jesus has commanded us to make disciples. Some might argue that this is what many pastors have been doing in the last thirty years. But, I would argue that we have maintained or at least allowed a faulty view of what disciple making is. The disciple is not one who receives “self-help” sermons once a week on how to be a better husband/wife, father/mother, or employee. Any numerated/alliterated list on how to be a better person is not the goal of preaching God’s Word. The goal is to lift Jesus and for Him to increase our faith. The preaching/teaching of God’s Word is important and its unifying effects should not be minimized. The main thrust of discipleship that I believe we have been missing (along with solid biblical preaching) is the daily walk with Christ that produces a like mindedness primarily with Jesus and with one’s fellow believers in a local church setting. Needless to say, within this GCR there must be a proper understanding of what discipleship making is.

In conclusion, the thrust of the GCR should not come from a desire to increase the numbers on our ACP reporting. I don’t believe anyone is advocating this per se, but the honest reality is that the GCR is being implemented because of the falling numbers that are being reported. While numbers can provide a gauge of where we are, they are only symptoms to a bigger problem and not the driving force of any outreach effort. With that said, it is not a sin asking God to help us in reversing the trend we are experiencing, but our focused plea to the Almighty should be for Him to increase our faith and our fidelity to His Word. This plea for fidelity should lead us to an increase in our obedience to make disciples. It should also lead the church, His bride, to desire a closer, more intimate relationship with Him through obedience to His Word.  In this rising religious culture of ecumenicism (a desire to negate certain identifying doctrines for the sake of unity), the natural pull is for us to join in the movement. But, no matter what the numbers read, our desire should be for God to increase our strength and wisdom in order to remain faithfully obedient. This obedience and wisdom must be honed, informed, and yes, “narrowed” by God’s Word. The holy and inerrant Bible that the Spirit uses to guide God’s church in accomplishing the Great Commission must sculpt the Great Commission Resurgence and define why we are promoting it.