Posted on 05/31/2019 3:38:38 AM PDT by Cronos
For the first time in 30 years, membership with Southern Baptist Churches is at a record low.
New numbers from Southern Baptist Churches show that membership fell from approximately 15 million to 14.8 million in 2018. This is the first time in 30 years that it's been below 15 million.
The denomination will hold its annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama in two weeks where the decline will be discussed. Other talking points at the convention will be abuse, racism and women in the church.
President of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Dr. Russell Moore confirmed that membership decline has been a steady issue.
"This is a problem that is long running. It has to do with a number of things. One of those things has to do with secularization and the outside society, but more than that is the issue within the church. Both in terms of fervency for evangelism and also in terms of moral credibility," he said, referring to recent sex abuse scandals in the church.
Southern Baptists launched a task force last year to study sexual abuse within the church. Dr. Moore said they've begun making successful strides in this area.
"The advisory study group has been working all year. They have really been working very hard and will be bringing a series of recommendations to the convention. This is the beginning of what really has to be year after year after year of vigilance and reform when it comes to these issues."
Dr. Moore agreed that the SBC should take steps to actively remove churches that respond poorly to abuse disclosures. When combating racism, he talked about unity and fellowship.
"I am hoping for, at the annual meaning, continued emphasis on what Jesus has taught us on what His kingdom is to look like, which is a kingdom of people tearing down carnal divisions loving each other and also standing up for one another and bearing one another's burdens, and so I am hoping that that will be the tenor of this year's meeting as well."
When asked about the role of women in the church, Moore said, "Well I'm really encouraged by some of the things that are happening in Southern Baptist life when it comes to women and leadership. From what I understand, there will probably even be a woman nominated for one of our positions at the convention this year. I think that is all positive development."
Russell Moore can look no farther than a mirror to see a glaring reason for a portion of the decline. He’s a ‘moderate’ democrat out of step with scripture.
The SBC is being taken over by the “social justice” crowd and is strongly considering abandoning a complementarian view of the sexes. Russel Moore has been strongly pushing an open borders immigration policy. Thus, it’s not hard to figure out the decline.
You beat me to it. Get rid of Russell Moore and the decline will stop. He has the Southern Baptists naval-gazing about past societal sins and social issues rather than preaching the gospel.
Yes, you get 15 million people in one group and some will be bad actors. You can’t change doctrines and goals based on the few.
SBC’s been out of step for as long as I can remember. That they’re further out now is not surprising.
I wonder if its as simple as that? Is religious observance also on the decline?
They’re also one of the orgs bringing in muslims. Not as many as methodist or catholic churches but they have “resettled refugees”.
The author used an old trick: they used the title to editorialize their own conclusions. What I mean, by saying “Church Tackles Abuse, Racism, and Role of Women” they have suggested their own interpretation, but the real cause is always the same - when Church’s abandon the word of God and insert their own morality on it.
This is the Christian version of Get Woke Go Broke.
If the issue of women as pastors is part of the problem, and I suspect it’s the primary issue here, then I hope the SBC holds firm to the biblical position on this issue.
They might think about dealing with homosexuality, abortion, body disfigurement known as transgenderism, etc.
“Russell Moore can look no farther than a mirror to see a glaring reason for a portion of the decline. He’s a ‘moderate’ democrat out of step with scripture.”
You are 100% correct. Russell Moore is nothing but Apostate scum. I say that as someone who went to Southern Baptist churches while growing up in Alabama. If it were up to Russell, we would dig up our Confederate Ancestors, cremate any remains, and dump them in the Gulf of Mexico.
The fact that these are topics 2, 3, and 4 for discussion may give you some insight into your #1 topic for discussion.
**President of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Dr. Russell Moore confirmed that membership decline has been a steady issue. **
Baptist Brethren, take heed:
“Much more dangerous than atheism to religion are the erosions of devotion to God and his works so manifest in many of the mainstream churches today, the Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, and other. Membership in these churches have been declining spectacularly all the while memberships have been increasing impressively in the evangelical and fundamentalist religions. It is reasonably clear from the contrasting statistics of membership that more and more people have come to feel rebuffed in some of the mainstream churches, rebuffed in their quest for what is essential to religion by ecclesiastical fare that is more often political or sociological than theological. A religion that is not spiritually exacting and directed at the communicant’s faith in God and sense of grace is not at bottom a religion at all. It invites the indifference that kills, whereas atheism cannot fail to stimulate faith in considerable degree simply by virtue of the challenge it mounts.”
Robert Nisbet
The great Charles Spurgeon put it this way:
“I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world is because the world has so much influence over the church.”
“One of those things has to do with secularization and the outside society, but more than that is the issue within the church. Both in terms of fervency for evangelism and also in terms of moral credibility,” [Dr. Russell Moore] said, referring to recent sex abuse scandals in the church...”
Total hogwash!
America is turning from God. That seems pretty obvious to me. I’ve met people who called Baptists hypocrites, and I’ve certainly met baptists who were cultural baptists and not believers, but I’ve never met anyone who rejected the gospel because ‘baptists are sexual abusers’.
Now...do many in modern society reject the idea of submission? To God, let alone to anyone else? Yep! Tons! Do many reject the idea that they have anything to repent OF? Yep! Folks like Mayor Buttyguy. Many in modern America now claim their sins are not only not sin, but actually positive goods they should be admired for.
Dr. Russell Moore didn’t have much credibility in the pews even before he came out against Trump. And Trump supporters.
“Moore didn’t back Hillary Clinton either, but his critique of Trump was especially pointed. He called him “an arrogant huckster” and directed his Twitter followers to an essay warning that Trump was “what the Founding Fathers warned us about.”
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/politics/state/russell-moore-donald-trump-southern-baptists/
““How condescending can you be and not expect some kickback from the people who provide the monies for you to occupy the office you are misusing?” asked William F. Harrell in an op-ed for SBC Today...
“In my opinion, he is not representing Southern Baptists. He’s representing himself,” said Ken Fryer, associate pastor at Riverside Baptist Church in Denham Springs, Louisiana.
Like other critics, Fryer said Moore’s positions on immigration, climate change, prison reform, and social justices issues do not reflect the conservative beliefs shared by many in the denomination. Fryer also said Moore’s tone toward the rest of the SBC doesn’t help.”
Dr. Russell Moore has become too wrapped up in himself and his politics to be a fair observer of what goes on in the rest of the world.
And women in the church? I suspect Moore is ashamed of what the SBC teaches:
“...The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.”
http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp
Can you imagine what would happen if a Southern Baptist was nominated the the US Supreme Court?
Moore spends too much time apologizing and not enough time confronting the evil of this age. He seems to want to preach the Gospel without giving offense. Not possible.
Funny. My SBC church, where Christ is honored and the Bible is faithfully taught, is growing. Wonder what’s up with the shrinking ones?
May just be due to older folks dying and fewer young folks going to any church.
It's not just a Baptist problem
I think it happens when life gets too easy.
And you are right - the faith is deeper and much, much more than the pastors
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