A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way.
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| Preachin's Blog A little blog from an upstart theologian that will do its best to exemplify Christ while sharing a thing or two along the way. |
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Tuesday, June 29, 2004 Frog in KettleThe President of Lifeway Christian Resources (the former Southern Baptist Sunday School Board) Dr. Jimmy Draper wrote an article in follow-up to his remarks at the 2004 Southern Baptist Convention. (Read it: Here!) I would like to take a few moments to comment on the content and spirit of the article from a seminary student's perspective, particularly one who is graduating soon.  The premise of the article by Dr. Draper is to serve as an awakening call to the leaders and the Southern Baptist Convention and congregants alike. The first part concerns the decline in baptisms and the second the growing apathy of young pastors towards the denomination. I believe that Dr. Draper is wisely discerning in all of his comments in his article. The first matter he deals with is that of declining baptisms within the Southern Baptist Convention.
I fear there is a lack of urgency in our churches to baptize. I’ve heard from a number of people across our denomination that professions of faith are good enough. They are not teaching the importance of publicly identifying with Jesus through baptism -– and they’re ignoring His command to baptize His followers. I agree there is a lack of urgency in our churches to baptize, thankfully I have always gone to churches where the baptismal pool is stirred often. The problem, as I perceive it, is three fold:
Now to expound upon these three points; on the first I believe this is root cause of many our problems within western (read: American) Christianity. We have lost the passion for souls. How often do you cry over lost souls all around us? How often are you heart-broken for those who don't Christ? How often do you allow the Spirit to lead you into conversations about redemption with those outside Christianity? We have lost our passion for souls. No longer does the average layperson feel obligated or the need to share their faith the lost, rather bring them to church and let the pastor tell them about Jesus. Yet we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that personal touches in evangelism are far more impacting and lasting in conversion than a pastor behind a pulpit exhorting the saints and sinners alike. We need to pray God's blessings and a Spirit led explosion in evangelistic efforts across our denomination, and across the Christian body alike. This first issue leads directly into and is affected directly by the second issue. It is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a redeemed person's life and a non-believer's life. Now one of the matters is that since the United States has been so inundated with Christian teachings many of the lost have accepted a type of pseudo-Christian lifestyle while still holding to some sinful practices. Yet the more prevalent matter is the lack of victorious Christianly living by Christians themselves. By reducing Christianity to a feel-good, materialistic based, cultural position rather than a growing relationship, based in self-denial we have cheapened the affect of the Gospel on the lives of believers. Neglecting the deep studying of doctrines and disciplines of Christianity leads to a shallow and hollow spiritual existence predicated on some disposition for emotionalism rather than a foundational ethic of transcendence. We currently have more Bible study materials in print than ever before, with more access to exploring the deep riches of Christianity yet our people in the pews have no desire to stretch and exercise their spiritual selves to achieve these deep riches. Laziness and apathy have encumbered our congregants and it is because many of those occupying our pulpits and support positions are not reflecting victorious, Christianly lives. We can affirm all the tenants of the various creeds and confessions, even say we stand behind the Bible as the inerrant, inspired Word of God yet by the actions of those doing so they deny the veracity of the statements they have made. Our orthopraxy must reflect our orthodoxy, or else the latter is invalidated by the common confession of the former. Too many of our church positions are occupied by people who, though possessing a degree from a fine seminary and the ordination papers to match, lack the passion and drive to fulfill their calling. The office of pastor has, by and large, been relegated to position of administration and spiritual motions. Thankfully there are a large number of exceptions to this statement. The final point above has to do with the lack of teaching on the Baptist distinctives as historically accepted and confessed by Baptists. What a tragedy it is that we could go through the line at graduation and ask each person what three Baptist distinctives are, and would find most could answer maybe two but not three. Though we are having our seminary students take courses on Baptist heritage they are not understanding what comprises Baptist doctrine. One of the current shifts in American culture is one towards  lack of concern for distinctives in any regard. I doubt heavily that our congregants could give very good explanations for what is different between a Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, or Methodist church. We are seeing a time of invading post-Christian attitudes that is affecting our congregants where they simply go to church for a spiritual fill and involvement (while that is certainly laudable) yet stop there and do not pursue further doctrinal matters. Our Sunday School literature no longer teaches Southern Baptist distinctives, opting rather for a curriculum which can be accepted by more denominations (and non-denominations) so we can see profit margins boosted. Few times in a year's curriculum study will we see Southern Baptist distinctives or doctrines mentioned save those times when we are asked to support a particular denominational offering. We have lost a generation of up and coming Christians because we have failed to teach them the importance of being Southern Baptist.
As for Dr. Draper's second point on losing young pastors, he said this: We have failed the younger generation by not creating a dynamic atmosphere and showing them the relevancy of being Southern Baptist. We’ve not taught people in our churches how the SBC and its entities work and relate to one another. We battle today over trivial issues like forms of worship, styles of leadership and approaches to ministry. These younger folks may not do it the way you or I do it, but who said our way is the only way? This is certainly an accurate statement and one which is hard to make. I thank Dr. Draper for the opportunity to say this. We have indeed begun losing the younger generation. Frankly it is because they perceive too much controversy and dissention within the ranks of the leadership of the denomination. Now whether their perception is accurate is another matter which I shall not bother addressing. The problem is they still see it. Dr. Mac Brunson came to chapel at SWBTS this year and made an excellent in his sermon when he said too many of our pastors are trying to get on TV and make the newspaper rather than meeting people's needs. I believe he is right. The Gospel does divide people, yet it divides people along the lines of lost and saved. Within the Southern Baptist Convention there needed to be a definite correction made to save biblical principles. Thankfully that correction has been made. Can we now continue to sail forward without having the politically maniacal pull away from our course? I hope so. Many of my friends in seminary have made statements saying they wish nothing to do with the convention leadership at any level and would rather spend their time doing the great work of the Gospel ministry. I agree whole-heartedly that we must be about the Gospel, but as Baptists we have the opportunity to do this cooperatively and merge our efforts without a centralizing control to bring about the Kingdom work much easier than other denominations. I hope and plan on being involved with the Southern Baptist Convention at some level or another in my life so I might be able to help facilitate the bringing of the Kingdom through a cooperative effort. Furthermore we must begin to kill off the sacrificial cows that dominate many of our traditional churches. Just because we have done some things a certain way for many years does not mean we still need to do them this way. We must be in the process of evaluating our methods used to get across our message (the Gospel.) I will be the first to say some of this business of contemporary ministry models is simply wrongheaded, yet some of it bears investigation. To continue to win not only the 50 year old generation, by the 25 year old generation (which I count myself a member) we must have a Spirit led effort to build the Kingdom through our love towards one another and not through selfish political motivations. I count myself privileged to be a Southern Baptist. I believe the Southern Baptist Convention is the most biblically based, doctrinally sound, evangelistic, and missions minded denomination in our contemporary setting. I hope that people within our denomination will read the wise words of Dr. Draper and take heed lest we fall away from our calling. posted by Preachin Jesus | 9:58 AM | |
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