From an acquaintance of mine:
Semper Reformanda: more than a phrase
By Douglas E. Baker
Baptist Press
Douglas Baker |
WASHINGTON (BP)--Can it be that the conservative resurgence in the SBC is turning 27 years old? Southern Baptists in their mid-30s were but children when Adrian Rogers was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1979. Much has happened since those days of large conventions and presidential elections where warring sides voiced their opinions at the open microphones on the convention floor. Few young pastors even remember those days and all the issues involved in the struggle for the soul of the Southern Baptist Convention.
These days the very term "conservative" is being debated among many regarding the precise theological meaning of the word itself. Its etymology seems to be in question, and the process surrounding the struggle toward a cogent definition is both a shock to older “conservatives” and a welcome discussion for younger “conservatives.”
Many involved in the conservative resurgence seem to think that a pale “conservative” version of the old SBC was and is indispensable for denominational success. Simply cast out the “liberals,” replace them with “conservatives,” and all will be well. This strategy, while workable for short-term gains, cannot be sustained over time because the requirement of a carefully learned theology must support the worldview of theological conservatism, or doctrinal slippage will be the inevitable consequence.
The political shell may remain, giving the impression that all is well, but the theological center cannot hold given the force of the cultural onslaughts against the church in this postmodern era. Without doctrinal anchors, the SBC could all too quickly drift away. Why? A denomination of churches reared solely on a warrior motif of “liberal versus conservative” rather than “theology versus program” is destined to slide theologically. In the words of Southern Baptist theologian Timothy George, “A new bureaucracy doth not an improvement make!”
What is needed is a precise theological understanding of the protracted struggle with theological liberalism. Without it, policies of inerrancy and the “the cause” become a recipe for drift and ultimately defeat.
Pragmatically, the conservative resurgence could be in trouble. The prevailing ethos of the day held by critics of the Southern Baptist Convention is that the modern conservatism of the SBC holds no specifically theological ideas –- only political ones -– which are not worthy of serious consideration by the thinking class. Could this be true? Many critics say the level of preaching by “conservative” preachers across the SBC all too easily resembles something between an Anthony Robbins self-help seminar and a used-car salesman peddling his latest deal.
Modern strategies and tactics regarding denominational boards and agencies may quench the thirst of the SBC political animals, but unless conservatives acquire the theological means to translate biblical ideas into practice, the struggles of the 1980s could be all for nothing. The strategic imperative of many remains to seize and maintain control of the denominational infrastructure. This is and has been regarded as an excellent idea, but to what end? Without local churches which are led by capable pastors and/or elders able actually to teach the Word and take the hits which are sure to come whenever biblical preaching takes place, the conservative resurgence could become a mere footnote in evangelical history.
Without the recovery of a denominational imperative that a local congregation is the most important and indispensable agent for Christ and his kingdom, the denominational beast easily could eat her own young. The current cultural and political milieu of the 21st century offers little evidence to sustain the hope that an explicitly theological movement is necessary, desirable or even possible. Many Southern Baptist churches will not abide theologically thick preaching, because every effort has been made to make the church more seeker-friendly -- to modernize the message and soften the sharpness of doctrine so as to make room for people who have never heard of the Apostles let alone the specific books of Galatians and Jude. This plan has resulted in even less response by today’s teenagers and young adults because the seriousness of the themes of Scripture have been presented so obliquely by the church that modern young professionals and students find Nietzsche and Hegel much more appealing and thoughtful than Jesus. For many of them, the philosophers and political pundits seem more confident, knowledgeable, intelligent and interesting than the ministers of their local church. While the real world operates on concrete empirical principles, the church hides her message in fantasy code. Thus, all this sensitivity to the seeker has, in many ways, backfired.
This can be a hard lesson to relearn each generation –- especially now that churches contend, in the words of historian Victor Davis Hanson, “with the sirens of the mall, Oprah, and the latte.” The affluence and leisure of modern church life make it all the more difficult to evangelize and disciple people who find Broadway more exciting than the Bible. The logic proceeds that if people are still attending Broadway shows and movies, then the church had better mimic such venues or else the sanctuary of today will be the museum of tomorrow
To assuage this fear, many churches have sought a dynamic alchemy of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and “biblical” preaching brought to you by the local Baptist church. For the most part, this has failed.
The Conservative Resurgence accomplished much for which all Southern Baptists (and indeed all evangelicals) should be grateful. It rolled back theological liberalism in SBC seminaries and prevented an all-out Schleiermachian stampede. Also, it routed the denominational behemoth that used appointments to denominational posts as favors for friends and/or weapons for enemies of “the cause."
The third and most pressing need yet to be realized fully by the reformation of the SBC is a focus on local churches as the primary agent in Gospel ministry to the world. As to this third issue, despite the revolution in theological thought initiated by the seminaries and others, restraining the appetite for big numbers and big Baptist programs has proved, thus far, beyond the human agency -– even for theological conservatives. Still, considering the immensity of what was accomplished and the improbability of its actually being realized, the success of modern theological conservatism is nothing short of remarkable. And its success, by God’s grace, would have been impossible without the vigor and verve of leaders in the 1980s.
The question remains: Is theological conservatism SBC style compatible with healthy churches who aggressively work for biblical preaching and discipleship beyond the level of theological pabulum? The SBC needs only to look at other theologically conservative denominations such as the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) and see their rapid growth (fueled by some former Southern Baptists who left the denomination) for an answer.
The most recent Religious Congregations and Membership study published in 2000 by the
The SBC’s progress since the 1980s has brought the denomination more than halfway toward a biblical worldview. The denomination knows who the “bad guys” are, and while the SBC seems to know who the “good guys” are and why, old Baptist reflexes might render the Southern Baptist Convention irrelevant in the modern world.
Only God knows. Only time will tell. Semper Reformanda.
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Douglas Baker is a writer who lives and works in the
The odd thing at BP is that his is omitted from the Previous Posts when you click on the First Person columns, yet it was only published yesterday!
2002
3812 members
296 baptisms
190 other additions
2100 primary worship attendance
2003
4011 members
209 baptisms
137 other additions
2031 primary worship attendance
2004
4163 members
237 baptisms
204 other additions
1874 primary worship attendance
Would this church meet Dr. Welch's own criteria for "declining?" It went from a counted Sunday morning worship attendance of 2200 in 2001 to 1874 in 2004. If my math is correct, that is a 15% decline.Granted, they have baptized 945 people during that 4 year period and they have added 784 people by other means. But the church membership only grew by 657. It took 1729 new members for the church to grow by 657 members.In addition those 1729 new members resulted in 326 fewer worshipers! If the church continues to grow at this rate then by the time it adds around 10,000 new members Pastor Welch will be preaching to an empty auditorium at his "primary worship" service.
When I see Dr. Welch's programs, and I see Douglas Baker's article, knowing this information about the statistics our churches report (Dr. Welch's church is actually fairly typical of the Convention's churches), I have to wonder if it wouldn't be more discerning and be more helpful for those whom BP News serves if the both Dr. Welch's perspective and that of Mr. Baker aren't presented alongside one another? This Convention is discussing baptism as we speak, in connection with the IMB policies. Just this past week, I received an email from a pastor in TX asking me some questions about the wording on the ordinances in Baptist confessions, including their own. Moreover, some of the folks in his own church had concerns about the administration of baptism and whether or not baptisms from Free Will Baptist churches and the Assemblies of God is proper, so the IMB issues aren't simply unique to the IMB.
Just yesterday, I communicated with the editor of my own state's Baptist newspaper and asked him to consider running a series on baptism in the paper. Baptists used to discuss baptism all the time, both in debate and in print, and, with the focus on baptism in the new policies, perhaps a series of articles that actually deal with differing perspectives on baptism and its administration would be a helpful way of laying out the issues for your readers to help them understand them. Most Baptists take our views on baptism for granted and simply don't give them much thought. After all, we're all Baptists. What more needs to be said, right? The new IMB policies, at least in my opinion have shown us that apparently the answer is "Quite a lot, it seems." Why then, are we "baptizing a million" when our members don't understand baptism? Doesn't anybody think that's just a little bit, how shall I say," odd?"
Moreover, the pastors in the Convention are very, very concerned that, in the press to "baptize a million," we are rebaptizing too many persons and we are baptizing too many unregenerate persons because we tend to get them to believe some facts about Jesus, pray a prayer, walk an aisle, hand them assurance and then baptize them. If our own president is baptizing in the numbers he is baptizing, yet his own attendance is declining, this does indicate that we have a problem. Mr. Baker's article addresses that problem by discussing the material, not just the formal principle of biblical reformation.
Normally, I don't have a problem with content posted BP News. However, I found this particular editorial choice to be, how shall I say, disappointing. Is there a particular reason, his article was removed from view so quickly, as it was published only yesterday (3/16)?
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