The latest numbers are in for our Southern Baptist Convention and they are not pretty:
• Baptisms fell by nearly 5 percent to their lowest in 60 years (this marks the eighth time in ten years SBC baptisms have plummeted);
• Membership declined for the fourth straight year;
• Worship attendance dropped nearly two percent;
• Tithes and offerings slumped by $153 million;
• The number of missionaries through our International Mission Board plunged by twelve percent;
• Though boasting a membership of over 16 million, actual attendance barely topped 6 million.
And all this despite an increase in the actual number of churches.
“This is not a blip,” says Ed Stetzer, vice president with LIfeWay. “This is a trend and the trend is one of decline.”
Where have we/are
we going wrong?
I entered the ministry as a pastor during my college years in the 1960s. I well remember the influential World Council of Churches invading American Christianity like a Trojan Horse. At the 1966 World Conference on the Church and Society in Geneva, it was determined that the work of the church was a liberation of the oppressed. Twenty-five years later newer concerns such as feminism, environmentalism, and other religions were considered. While affirming that salvation is in Christ, that report indicated that it is not only in Him. Those attending affirmed: “We seek only to remain open to other people’s expression of truth as they have experienced it.” Unfortunately, such misinformation about the church’s true mission seems to have our denomination in a degrading hammer-lock. We use the right words while in our corner, but fail to execute when we break to carry out our calling as His Church.
What can I do?
The legendary coach, Vince Lombardi, reportedly began each spring’s training by holding up a football saying, “Gentlemen, this is a football!” We too must get back to the basics.
Since everything rises or falls on leadership, stress reaching people from the STAGE. Never underestimate the influence the pastor has to motivate, challenge and encourage people. Strategically use sermons, personal examples, challenges, announcements and vision casting from the stage to raise the evangelistic temperature of your church. What gets presented from the stage is more likely to get accomplished in the pews.
The next step in raising the evangelistic temperature of your church is to expect and inspect a high level of evangelistic involvement from your STAFF. In my last pastorate, each month’s business meeting included a report from the staff regarding their ministry visits, soul-winning contacts, the times they had shared Christ and the number who prayed to receive Christ. The Deacons turned in a report of their evangelistic endeavors as well.
The third step necessary to raise the spiritual temperature of your church is to STRUCTURE for evangelism. Have you structured in a way that helps you mobilize your people for evangelism? Simply speaking, that means planning regular evangelistic events (Back-to-School Sunday, Friend Day, etc.), enlisting, equipping and empowering Sunday School members through a study on evangelism (even during the Sunday School hour), all the time emphasizing that evangelism is a “both-and” proposition, not “either-or.” What do I mean? Evangelism is not “come-see” or “go-tell,” it is “both-and!”
In the late 16th century, the mayor of Windsor engaged architect Christopher Wren to design and oversee the building of a town hall. When it was completed, the mayor refused to pay the bill, insisting that it needed more than the few columns Wren had designed. No matter that it was pointed out to him that the columns were holding up the building just fine. He wanted more columns and would not pay until they were installed. Christopher Wren had several more columns added to the building. Each was identical to the first ones he had installed, with one exception. Each lacked one inch going all the way to the ceiling. Some columns were load-bearing and others were cosmetic.
It is the wise church leader who know which is which in the Lord’s work!
GARY TAYLOR / MBC Director of Evangelism