I am glad to be a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. A great portion of my early Christian discipleship took place in an SBC church, I recieved my MDIV from an SBC seminary, and I currently serve as the Family Pastor of an SBC church.
As many of you know, roughly 30 years ago, the Conservative Resurgence began in the SBC and its effects have been far and wide. Today we can happily say that Biblical inerrancy and the exclusivity salvation in Christ is upheld by our Seminary presidents and professors. We can also rejoice that the Cooperative program funds more missionary endeavors than any other mission organization. However, statistically, the SBC is in decline–decline in membership, decline in the number of seminary graduates that are serving in SBC churches, and decline in baptisms.
Why the decline? I am not sure I am qualified to answer such a question, but I did read an interesting article on the subject on a blog I frequent from time to time. The article is found on Internet Monk, a blog by Michael Spencer, who is a member of an SBC church and a provocative blogger. If you are well read in the blogosphere, you have probably heard of iMonk, if not, his blog is certainly one to check out. I don’t always agree with Spencer (but that is part of what makes blogging and blog reading so much fun!) but I always find his posts insightful.
As someone loyal to the SBC, I want to say that Spencer’s observations are way off and that the SBC is much more unified than he thinks, but I have too often observed so many of the issues that Spencer brings up–I am afraid he is not too far from the mark in many of his observations. Spencer is not promoting an exodus from the SBC and by no means am I promoting leaving the SBC. I am hopeful for positive, gospel-centered growth in the SBC, but to see that happen, we as a Convention, need to be honest about our problems and I think Spencer’s article is stunningly honest about many of the problems present in the SBC today. The article will surely make you think and hopefully will serve to make you think about how to begin to address some of the problems in the SBC so that we as a Convention can begin to move toward more faithful gospel ministry!
So, if you haven’t yet, check out Spencer’s article, “Avoiding Death by Nostalgia: My Denomination (The SBC) Today” and his follow-up post titled, “A Great Commission Resurgence: Is it a Possible SBC Future?“ Spencer’s follow-up post is perhaps more important than the first post, because in this post, he offers a worthy solution to many of our problems.
Check out these articles as you have time and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section of this post about where you feel the SBC is headed and how we might direct it in a more faithful, Christ-honoring direction!
Thanks for the heads up. We in the SBC definitely have a lot of room for improvement. Prayerfully, we can see great things happen.
It isn’t just the SBC that is on the decline, but evangelical Christianity in general. Most Western, developed nations are already very secular, and the US is rapidly headed in the same direction. What I mean is that fundamentalist Christianity does not automatically draw respect as much as it did just ten years ago. It is getting to a point where it is no longer considered taboo to question religious beliefs publically, and therefore more people are willing to seriously evaluate the truth claims of their religion. Christine Wicker wrote an excellent book on the decline of evangelicalism in the US entitled, “The Fall of the Evangelical Nation.”
@docdeer–thanks for dropping by–I am praying too brother!
@Gabe–there is some truth to what you are sharing here, but Christianity in America is far from where it is in Europe.
However, Christianity is sharply rising in what you would refer to as less “developed” nations in South America and Africa. Many scientists would probably explain that as a lack of substantial education on things like evolution etc. However, I would explain it by the fact that the people of such countries are more likely to be “poor in spirit” and realize their need for a savior. People in America and parts of secular Europe think they have everything they need.
In my humble opinion, consumerism has killed Christianity in America and parts of Europe more than secularlism.
Drew,
I definitely agree with you that Christianity is far from where it is in Europe. But I do think it is realistic that it could get there within the next 20 – 30 years. Afterall, according to the recent American Religious Identification Survey, the fastest growing “religious” group in America are those who profess no religion. This group has doubled in just 10 years, while the suvey author also concludes “the percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped dramatically over the past two decades.”
I can see your point about cosumerism affecting Christianity in America, especially when it comes to mega-churches. On your other comment, there is no question that those in lesser developed nations are more likely to accept a belief system that claims to be able to help them through their pain in this life, and ultimately secure for them an eternity in paradise. I can imagine that other religions are achieving successful rates in these nations as well.
Just my thoughts!