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Christianity Today, June (Web-only), 2009 |

Revolution Redux

Southern Baptists debate relationship between evangelism and identity.

Bob Smietana in Louisville | posted 6/26/2009 12:14PM

Thirty years ago, conservative Southern Baptists started a revolution.

Claiming their denominational leaders had abandoned the inerrancy of Scripture, they launched a "conservative resurgence" in 1979 ...

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Sally

Posted: July 03, 2009 10:13 AM

I attend a very large SBC church in Atlanta that has been losing members recently, in part because of a crackdown on the Sunday School dept (there were fears over what was being taught so now everyone must conform to the same Sunday School curriculum rather than teaching various topics). I have thought about leaving too because I lost my teacher but also because the pastor is very judgmental towards Democrats, etc. I don;t want to leave church feeling hate and anger. Yet when I have visited more moderate churches, I am struck by the wishy-washy, dull watered-down nature of the preaching (and I miss the good music). Wish I could find a church that proclaims the truth of Christ without the hate.

RD	Posted: July 01, 2009 2:51 PM

It is the local church which determines its own policy, not the SBC. Baptists have traditionally rejected alcohol use for two reasons. One is the social consequences of drinking. Alcoholism destroys lives. People do stupid things while drinking and most of the highway deaths are related to alcohol use. The other reason is that it may cause my brother to stumble. Drinking is still regarded as a worldly act and many new Christians have been side tracked because of it. I know that drinking is not a sin in and of itself. Personally I don’t care if you drink but, I can easily say that the kingdom of God has not been enhanced by the use of alcohol. And no one ever suffered from not drinking. One has to ask, why this drive to social drinking? And why make such a deal about in the context of church? Smoking is now a sin and it us to not be. Drinking was a sin, now it is not. Which one does the most damage? We all probably need more sober thinking about this subject

D.Pace

Posted: July 01, 2009 12:20 PM

Well I have to agree with Grace Child and Torch as they make excellent points. As a member of a Southern Baptist church in Maryland, I am thankful for a denomination that is not afraid to proclaim the gospel and that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. In this age of political correctness when so many people just want to be liked, the SBC must be commended for taking stances on homosexuality and abortion that run counter to this mindset. However, as with most relationships, I do have some problems with some of the positions of the SBC. The idea that drinking (as opposed to drunkeness) is sinful is completely bizarre to me. My pastor recently gave a sermon on this topic and it is the only sermon that I have heard from him that I believe was not based on the Bible. This idea that Christians should not consume alcohol because it is sinful is not based upon any Biblical teaching and is plainly flawed to me. With that beind said, for me the pros far outweigh the cons in the SBC.

torch

Posted: June 30, 2009 10:24 PM

Gracechild is right on the mark. I'm a product of Southern Baptist churches. Haven't always agreed with leadership but hard-pressed to find any other organized Christian coalition of churches at home and around the world who've generally stayed-by-stuff the way they have over the last hundred years. Cloak and dagger CBFers like to throw rocks and herald the SBC demise, but they don't even have a glass-house to break. God will do what He will with whom He will in His own good time.

Grace child

Posted: June 30, 2009 5:03 PM

There are over 40,000 churches associated with the SBC. Each church voluntarily sends money to the SBC to do missions and education. Otherwise, the SBC has nothing to do with the local church. SBC churches support a total of 10,000 missionaries, 5,000 of them in foreign lands. It is the most ethnically diverse denomination in the U.S. with close to 100 different languages spoken in local churches each Sunday. They have reached and baptized more than any other protestant denomination in the U. S. And if they cease to exist it will be for the same reason they began, God’s will and purpose. I doubt that any other denomination or church is in better shape. The SBC has a lot of problems but I think those who have no sin should cast the first stone. Otherwise you might try repenting of your sin. It might be the beginning of a great awakening.

Matt	Posted: June 30, 2009 4:15 PM


There is no way the pattern of decline is going to change for the better. The SBC is far beyond the point of course correction. "Shrinking market" is right... but it's not a matter of rural vs. suburban. It's a matter of the cultural tide turning against evangelical (especially revivalist) Christianity. I don't think the SBC leadership is even asking the right questions.

Lester

Posted: June 30, 2009 4:02 PM

The day I stepped out from underneath the SBC umbrella, I began to realize that I had spent too much of my time and energy trying to stand against what the SBC stood against. Jesus restated the 10 Commandments, largely percieved as "Thou shalt not," into two 'thou shalt's. Love God with everything you are and love your neighboe as you love yourself. The reason Southern Baptists are not growing is not because of the declining number of children; it is because they have established themselves as haters rather than lovers, as law enforcement rather than grace dispensers. I weep for the place of my spiritual birth. There are many wonderful pastors, people and churches within the SBC, but their grace is diffused by leadership, like Chapman, who have no grace to give and no clue how to love the lost. The resolutions in relation to Mark Driscoll are a clear example. Where I pray that God will help me have grace for religious leaders who remind me too much of the pharisees. Jesus, help me.

jean	Posted: June 30, 2009 3:25 PM


My impression of many southern baptist churches is that they are more interested in getting people into their denomination than into the kingdom. After reading this article it looks like that's still what they're striving for.

Jorge

Posted: June 30, 2009 3:03 PM

I think Paige Patterson did eventually sign the GCR, which BTW is not primarily about evangelism but rather disciplemaking. The author of this article makes the assertion that SB were upset because Driscoll addresses sex. Guess the writer hasn't visited an SBC church lately. The problem for many wasn't sex, but rather Driscoll's course handling of it from the pulpit a few years back. Those motions were rejected or referred, in fact. Don't think the overwhelming number of messengers were overly worried about Mark Driscoll.

An Old Pastor

Posted: June 30, 2009 2:53 PM

This is what happens when you let children run things. The most indulged generation in human history cannot take advice from their elders because they believe you can live culturally compromised lives and still serve Christ. We want to look like the world, act like the world. That is why Christianity, not just Baptists, will continue to decline. Has anyone noticed that decline started when we started acting like the world in order to attract the world. Maybe the young should listen to their elders, as Scripture commands. The biblical wisdom of, come out from among them, gives the world a choice. They can see themselves or see Christ. But that won't happen when church looks like a night club and the pastor appears to be a comedian and the Gospel has no substance in godly living.

MP	Posted: June 30, 2009 2:38 PM

In reading this article, it was striking to see just how much this "renewed" emphasis on evangelism is driven by fear and self - preservation. What ever happened to faith, hope, and love? What ever happened to evangelization that is moved and directed by the joy of sharing God's loving goodness with others for God's sake and theirs? What is it necessary for evangelism to pay off in saving the demonination? After all, I thought they were already saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus. This demonstrates just how thin the conservative revolution was; and how this latest "revolution" goes no deeper. If a "cussing" pastor requires executive attention, then God help them all. Perhaps Southern Baptists need to pay more attention to the Calvinism they seem to like. Their life is not self sufficient; to think otherwise is a form of idolatry. To answer Mohler's question: What more can we do? Pray, listen to the Word, come to the Table, and learn to walk in the humility of love.

Glenn Gordon

Posted: June 30, 2009 2:13 PM


Southern Baptists aren't immune to the alarming trend of church youth leaving after high school and never coming back. Ken Ham and Britt Beemer's 'Already Gone' is a wake-up call to what is happening and some insights into the reasons why. Every pastor should read it.

AP	Posted: June 30, 2009 8:23 AM


Will Hall, editor of Baptist Press,... no need to read anymore after this because if you know anything at all about the BP - you know it's nothing more than a lap dog on a leash led around by those that control all things SBC. Cathy... folks like you with your attitude are the reason the Driscolls and the Acts 29s of the world are needed.

Batmo

Posted: June 29, 2009 9:40 AM


The bad news is - it won't take 40 more years for Baptists to lose half of their membership. The cliff is much steeper than that! The good news regarding His church is - "...the gates of Hell won't prevail against it." It just won't have a denominational name on the front door.

Gregory Peterson

Posted: June 28, 2009 5:01 PM

Identity is fascinating to me. Someone I've read, wish I could remember the name, thought that a reason for the decline in my childhood denomination, so successful in the industrial age, was because of an unease with postmodern-postindustrial blurred, complex and shifting identity. Since high school, I've lived in the Southwest, and as an adult, worked and lived in a very multi-cultural, international oriented/cosmopolitan spot of the Southwest. So, I may identify as "Norwegian," as I was growing up in the very rural Great Plains, but that's not really my adult identity. It's just a fun, somewhat unusual here, label, which everyone knows is hardly the whole, but a fragment. I am everyone I know as well as my own, somewhat unusual now, history.

Cathy

Posted: June 28, 2009 11:59 AM

Mark Driscoll has gone over the top and I say praise God for men who are making the effort to protect the purity of the church. To those who would defend Driscoll's influence, style and method of reaching out to our culture, I have got to believe you simply have not heard the two sermons he gave in Scotland or all of the other sick things he has said that reveal "the other side" of this man. It goes way beyond Driscoll's recommendation for a new brew called "Lucifer Light." When John MacArthur publicly declares Driscoll is perverting the Song of Solomon, and when a pastor brags and jokes about knowing all of the breast verses in the Bible, and when a pastor defends anal sex, sex toys and ChristianNympho.com on his church website, it is time for followers of Jesus Christ to say, "Mark Driscoll, we have had enough!" Surely, 21 year old Nick does not have the whole picture. We are acting like fools if we are willing to tolerate such reckless treatment of the Christian faith.

Nick	Posted: June 28, 2009 9:09 AM

Wow, this article is really eye opening. I really appreciate some of the members in the SBC who are purposefully trying to reach out. Being a 21 year old I can honestly say that the SBC does not make me comfortable. I'm sorry, but even Paul clearly stated that he adjusted to the culture to preach the Gospel. Clearly Paul kept firm to the Gospel and God's laws, but the point is that he was a Greek when preaching to the Greeks, and a Jew when preaching to the Jews. The SBC seems stuck in the 1950s, and really the proclomation that pastors shouldn't drink becomes way too legalistic. Jesus, His disciples, and Paul drank (though I agree you shouldn't get drunk Ephesians 5:18). Let us hold the Gospel firmly, yet be adaptive in the way we share it. Legalism is just bitter and nasty anyways

anon	Posted: June 27, 2009 10:55 PM


Much as I long for the day with the SBC denomination is just a memory, your response, Queen, makes no sense.

Queen with Scepter

Posted: June 27, 2009 2:30 PM

Let's see. First they kick out the churches who aren't mean enough to gay people. Next they go after the churches that are friendly to people who cuss and drink. Maybe the preachers who marry couples who have lived in sin or couples who are divorced will be next. Let's not forget the Calvinist or the people who speak in tongues. Soon it will be time to go after the churches with people who practice birth control. The SBC just isn't pure enough. Makes me long for the good old days.

Cynthia Curran

Posted: June 26, 2009 3:12 PM

Well, the SBC has the same problem as Saddleback Community church. It mainly appeals to middle age white people. Take Saddleback for instance, it looks successful today but by 2050 the non-hisapnic white population in Orange County Ca could be as low as 17 percent while the hispanic population as high as 60 per percent. Most Southern Baptist are located in the South where the hispanic population is much smaller. So, actually the usual SBC probably will do better than Rick Warren's church in California in the long term since the demographics will change slower. So, the SBC will have more problems in SouthWestern states like California, Texas, and Arizona and still do better in the SouthEast.

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