I don’t know about other Southern Baptist Churches, but at ours we had more baptisms during 2008 that we had had in the last 5-6 years together! Basically we cut down the gimmicks, put a lot of effort in community outreach programs such as Vacation Bible School, and we prayed.
“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.