Posted on 12/22/2008 7:16:10 PM PST by Alex Murphy
Times are tough, even in the salvation market. After decades of growth, the nation's largest group of Protestants, the Southern Baptist Convention, is reporting losses (in church membership and recorded baptisms) for the third year in a row. Baptisms are at a 20-year low, a figure liable to put an eternity-conscious church into a severe depression.
Cutbacks at Southern Baptist seminaries and agencies are even hitting the denomination's bold, new marketing strategy designed to spread the gospel (and increase the flock) to every soul in North America by 2020. The campaign, called "God's Plan for Sharing" (Yes, GPS), includes a new image media campaign, "We Are Southern Baptists."
But some SBC leaders are concerned that the strategy will fail. The 2009 budget includes zero funding for GPS. "You can't have a vision that doesn't have a funded budget," John Avant, former vice president of evangelization at the mission board, told Bob Smietana of The Tennessean.
Where there is no funded vision, the people perish. It's hard for me to believe there might be a single soul in North America who hasn't heard about Jesus. But I suppose if a church is going to measures its success by cultural standards -- in a market economy, that means statistical gains and losses -- then it's going to look for culturally-appropriate ways to assess its product and improve its market share. But isn't there a more faithful way to measure the church's success?
No doubt there are market forces behind the SBC's declining statistics.
1. The product is less appealing. Southern Baptists still profess the belief in Christ is the only path to salvation. But a new Pew Forum analysis shows that a majority of all American Christians (52%) think at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.washingtonpost.com ...
I’m just geussing here. There are some of the local SBC’s that are on tv here and they are from time to time doing a big emphasis on evangelism. Evangelism for their purposes seems to be talking to total strangers somewhere and sharing the gospel with them. I just can’t imagine how successful that really is. Its sort of a telemarketing apprroach in person. The churches try to get alot of people to do this and I just tend to think that most people are uncomfortable doing that. People are not going to do what they’re not comfortable doing. It seems to me that most church growth or evangelism happens by simply inviting your friends to church who don’t go to church anywhere. When I was growing up that seemed to be the emphasis. We were encouraged to simply invite your friend(s) to come to church with you. Nowadays people are expected to give this sales talk on the presentation of the gospel to get a spur of the moment decision.
“Basically we cut down the gimmicks, put a lot of effort in community outreach programs such as Vacation Bible School, and we prayed.”
I am not a member of a Southern Baptist Church, but I am a Baptist. I am an independent-fundy Baptist, yet I have attended a SBC and my wife used to be a member of one.
I’ve always believed the Souther Baptist Church was on a crash course to failure. With their focus on drama clubs, teen nights out, and ungodly music—it doesn’t surprise me a bit. There is a simple formula to being successful as a church. It’s the one laid out in the Bible: Preach the word, witness, and pray. Pretty cut and dry. Jesus never, and his Apostles and disciples never advocated becoming more worldly to reach the world. And to me, that seems to be what the SBC is doing with their movie nights and concerts taking the place of preaching.
That’s why I like my Independent, fundamental, Baptist Church. We believe the Word of God as His literal, infallable, God-breathed Word from cover to cover. We also have high standards. Women look and dress like women, and men like men. We stick to the hymns of old, yet have stirring choir music. We don’t “chant” like so many churches do now (saying the same verse over and over and over and over.... ..... ..... .....). We have leaders who lead. We believe our pastor is provided to us by God, and treat him as the man of God ought to be treated. The deacons are below the pastor on the food chain, just as the Apostles were under Christ—not equal, not having “veto” power. The church as a whole can vote a pastor out due to failing to meet the requirements of a pastor listed in the Bible—not for personal disagreements as is so common in churches today.
Hopefully, the SBC will go back to the basics and get away from the mega-church mentality of “numbers equals success.”
This article is in MSM and discusses PEW "research" so much is suspect to me.
Sounds a bit like the usual liberal wishful thinking project.
To add to my comment above, our pastor does not answer to an organization. Our church is independent, meaning that we don’t answer to a convention of any kind. Fundamental simply means that we believe in old fashioned preaching, witnessing, and praying. We don’t go for all the gimickry. Fundamental has become a bad word today, but we are unashamed of our beliefs.
The Catholic Church's American membership dropped by ten million members between 2007 and 2008.
IMO it's hitting just about everyone.
Reading some of the posts at the end of that article is simply breath-taking. What a bunch of mental nutjobs.
There is no “Baptist Church”, there are Baptist churches, all independent and antonymous except for the Southern Baptist. The Southern Baptist organization has began to take on a certain pontifical air, which has turn off most Baptist, thus the decline in their dominance. As for the growth in the independent Baptist church … just look around in your area at the number of Baptist churches being built. If it is not happening in your area, it is happening in others.
In other words, you have your own locally-grown infallible pope and college of bishops.
The church as a whole can vote a pastor out due to failing to meet the requirements of a pastor listed in the Bible
The person or persons who get to decide if a given pastor is "failing to meet the requirements of a pastor listed in the Bible" are the real power in your church.
You could have described my church! We have a no-nonsense pastor who has eliminated all the modern nonsense. We have a strong emphasis on the Bible as the only guide for living, and the Cross is preached right regularly. While we do not have a dress code, teens have been sent home occasionally to change into something more appropriate. We only sing the old hymns, except for that canned music for Bible School that matches so well with the lessons. The main difference between your church and ours seems to be the deacons. We consider them more servants than “just below the pastor”. But I agree with you, preaching the Word, witnessing and praying has been the ticket to church growth. And I don’t mean just getting people to change churches, but growth with new Christians, new converts! One more thing, our Sunday school has been pretty united in supporting Voice of the Martyrs by sending bibles to China.
From the Baptist Standard:
“While membership grew, the number of baptisms decreased for the fourth consecutive year.”
—
The Press understands nothing and distorts everything.
Membership in our church has doubled in the last four years. I just have a problem with the vast numbers of Catholics in that citation.
Catholics are liking Pope Benedict and are coming back to the Catholic Church, don’t you think?
In other words, you have your own locally-grown infallible pope and college of bishops. —NO. I did not say anything of the sort. He is ordained by other ordained pastors, and just a man like the pope (who is fallable, by the way).
The person or persons who get to decide if a given pastor is “failing to meet the requirements of a pastor listed in the Bible” are the real power in your church. —NO. The Bible is the real power in our church. There are certain requirements of a man to be qualified as a pastor. If a man is failing, has failed to meet these requirements, it is the job of the church to remove him, and replace him.
Pastor Qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:1-7
—Above Reproach - An accusation of sin won’t stick to him.
—Husband of One Wife - He must be faithful to his wife. He adores his wife and doesn’t flirt with other women.
—Self-Control - He is the master of his behavior. His behavior doesn’t control him.
—Lives Wisely - He makes good choices.
—Has a Good Reputation - People at church and in the community think highly of him. He is respected.
—Hospitable - His home is open to others.
—He Can Teach - He has gifted insight into the scripture and communicates well those insights to others.
—Not Addicted to Wine - He never gets drunk or over-indulges in alcohol.
—Not Violent - He resolves conflict peacefully.
—Gentle - His manner and words are not abrasive ...he has a good “bed side manner.”
—Loves Peace - Is someone who works toward peace in every relationship he encounters.
—Does Not Love Money - He is not consumed with his retirement fund or the price of gas.
—Manages His Home Well - His family and home are in order, not in chaos. His children are polite and respectful. His finances are in order.
—Not a New Christian - He has proven experience as a faithful follower of Jesus.
Our church approved our pastor back in 1999. Our former pastor did nothing wrong. He simply felt led to take another church that was in need of a pastor. Being a baptist church, we also require that the pastoral candidate is a Baptist.
There is nothing more independent than the local Southern Baptist Church. This is good and bad but true.
The baptist Church that I go to has had to build an overhead parking garage, and has funded five other campus locations nearby, and continues to fund seed Church's in such locations like NYC, San Francisco, and others.
Also sends world missions to Russian, Africa, Cuba, etc., and even Los Vegas.
That’s what I like about our pastor. He is not afraid to tell it like it is. If a youngster is acting up during services, he will call him down. “This ain’t romper-room school here, son!”he says. We don’t have a “dress code”, LOL, we simply dress as a separated Christian would be expected to dress. We definitely don’t judge someone, especially a new convert for how they dress. Things like that come with growth in Christianity. We are the same in the sense of discipleship, it seems. Our church has a program called the “ABC’s of Christian Growth” which is a course for new and old Christians alike that gets you into the Bible to look up answers and read, etc. We just sent a shipment of New Testaments to Chile. Our church has a printing ministry. All year we print and bind literature and Bibles for a specific country, and then ship them in a large container every October to one of our missionaries so they can hand them out. Missions is a HUGE emphasis, too—I guess that would fall under witnessing (the great commission) and all.
“The baptist Church that I go to has had to build an overhead parking garage, and has funded five other campus locations nearby, and continues to fund seed Church’s in such locations like NYC, San Francisco, and others.”
WOW! I’m starting to wonder if this story isn’t your run-of-the-mill Christianity hating Newsweek drivel. . . .
After the crapola they printed about homosexuality and the Bible last week, it is no surprise!
Who gets to decide when "a man is failing" or "has failed to meet these requirements"?
The Bible is the real power in our church.
The person or persons who get to decide what the Bible means on any given subject are the real power in your church.
The article says the Southern Baptist Church is declining. The SBC does not encompass all Baptist churches.
I believe that the Catholic Church is growing within certain dioceses and under certain bishops, yes. But I've never seen hard data that demonstrates an increase in overall numbers - or better yet, a statistical increase in influence on the moral, social, and political climates.
The Catholic Church is failing to stem the tide of immorality here in America. The creedally orthodox Protestant churches are failing as well. IMO we can argue all day regarding whose numbers are increasing or decreasing, but none of it matters if cultural rot is still the result. We are failing to be salt and light.
We must double our efforts in the pro-life, anti-same sex marriages, and generally with the education of all within our congregations, children, teens, young adults and adults alike.
And above all — we must fervently pray for conversions to Christianity or Catholicism, whichever is one’s intent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.