Last week, the results of the 2007 Annual Church Profile were released, and the results were not good. Southern Baptists reported a decline in both total membership and total baptisms. Membership in our 44,000 churches has gradually tapered off over the past decade and is now showing measurable attrition. Baptisms have declined 7 of the last 8 years, and are at their lowest level since 1987.

The release of these figures has sent the Southern Baptist blogosphere into a frenzy. Now, I know the kingdom of God is a lot bigger than the SBC, but as a pastor in an SBC church, I would be remiss not to comment on these findings.

One of the first bloggers to offer analysis was Ed Stetzer, Director of Lifeway Research. Stetzer observed three issues that seem to rise to the top and help explain our denominational decline. First, he said, we’ve been steadily losing denominational leaders, most notably among the younger generation. Second, we’ve become known for our frequent infighting. Many of our meetings, churches, and even our blogs are distinguished by conflict and pride. Third, and most importantly, Stetzer said we have lost our focus on the gospel. Evangelism has taken a back seat.

Another insightful post came from Nathan Finn, Assistant Professor of Church History at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Nathan candidly shared his concern over the SBC: “I fear we are too insular, too sectarian, too pugnacious, too ‘Southern,’ too reactionary, too pragmatic, and for sure too proud to have any real future. I hope I’m wrong. I pray that I am not the very things I accuse the convention of embodying, though I suspect I am at times. I hope the SBC does have a future, mostly because we had a great – though imperfect – past. I love who we were. I struggle with who we are. I am very fearful of who we will become.”

What’s the root problem of our denominational decline? And what can bring true reform? One thing is certain. The solution is not another denominational “program” or “conference” or “curriculum” or “initiative.” What we really need is radical, local church reformation. I believe Stetzer hit the bulls eye when he remarked, “Our denomination is only as strong as our churches, and these statistics remind us our churches are in trouble.”

That’s the key. Denominational reform must begin at the level of the local church. The Southern Baptist Convention may be capable of conducting a survey and identifying a problem, but it hardly has the ability to effect widespread change. Reformation is a work of the Holy Spirit that must take place one Christian at a time, one leader at a time, one worship service at a time, one ministry at a time, one small group at a time, until the local church begins to conform more into the image of Jesus Christ!

But how can pastors and church leaders facilitate change? When I consider the path toward local church reform (and thus denominational reform), I can think of no better resource than “9 Marks,” based out of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. As their name suggests, this ministry presents nine basic marks which promote genuine church health and growth: expositional preaching, biblical theology, a biblical understanding of the good news, a biblical understanding of conversion, a biblical understanding of evangelism, a biblical understanding of membership, biblical church discipline, a promotion of Christian discipleship and growth, and a biblical understanding of leadership. Mark Dever has written a book which develops each of these themes. There is simply no replacement for these God-ordained fundamentals.

If there is to be a bright future for the Southern Baptist Convention, we cannot look to Nashville for the solution. We need to get back to the basics. Reform must begin with the local church. Even more fundamentally, it must begin with each one of us. This isn’t about denominational pride. It’s about the glory of God in the church of Jesus Christ.

Eerdmans has just released a new book by David Wells called The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World. It’s the summary and culmination of his last 15 years of research and writing.

Wells is a deep thinker, and is very perceptive when it comes to identifying problems and offering gospel-centered solutions for the contemporary church. Though humble and soft-spoken, he is a theological heavyweight who takes powerful swings at both the seeker-sensitive and the emergent church models.

Here are some endorsements for his latest work:

“David F. Wells speaks for a great many commentators inside and outside the evangelical camp when he contends that American evangelicalism is sick at soul . . . His work is being hailed as a bombshell by evangelical leaders who hope it will wake up American evangelicals and alert them to their peril.”
— The Christian Century

“David Wells is one of the most profound Christian thinkers of our time . . . .His insight is keen, his burden righteous, his moral pain deeply felt.” — Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

I’m very excited about this book, and plan to begin blogging through it in May, taking one chapter per week. Would you like to join me? If so, just order your own copy, and I’ll give reading instructions as we get closer. I’d love to get your impressions of the book and to use this blog as a forum to discuss some of the issues Wells brings up.

Do YOU have the courage to be protestant? Why not read the book and find out?

Last Saturday, I attended the “Equipped for Excellence” conference in Riverside. This annual event is organized by the Inland Empire Southern Baptist Association and hosted at Cal Baptist University. The conference began 17 years ago as a Sunday School Teacher Training workshop, and has evolved into quite a large-scale teaching conference. This year, attendance surpassed 1500 – what I believe is a new record for “E for E.”

There were three things I really enjoyed about this year’s conference. First, the fellowship with other church members. A total of seven members from our church attended. It was so good to spend the whole day with them, traveling together, singing together, eating together, and learning together. It made the day not only a time of personal enrichment, but of mutual edification and team building.

Second, I appreciated the organization. From publicity, to registration, to meals, to speakers, to handouts, the whole event was executed almost flawlessly. It’s obvious that Marty Leech and his staff put a tremendous amount of time into planning and praying for this event. I applaud them for modeling good organization, communication, and spirit of excellence to all of the Sunday School teachers who were present.

The third highlight was the parables class. After an opening general session, all the attendees split up into different electives. Several from our church chose to attend a class on the parables, taught by Richard Mobley, New Testament professor at Cal Baptist. Mobley did an outstanding job giving an overview, interpretive framework, and specific examples in the parables. His passion and knowledge held our attention all morning and afternoon. Perhaps I’ll share some of these principles in a future post.

For now, let me summarize what was said during the general session. We were privileged this year to have Thom Rainer as the keynote speaker. Rainer is the president of Lifeway Christian Resources and has written many books including The Unchurched Next Door and Simple Church. The title of his message was “7 Trends for the Modern American Church.” Rainer is a statistics guru. So it came as no surprise when he said most of these observations came from statistical or anecdotal evidence. Here are the seven trends, with some brief reflections:

1. More and more churches are de-emphasizing evangelism. As Rainer said, evangelism must be taught and modeled by leadership. But even more importantly, the gospel must become more central to all we say and do as a church. We must “guard what has been entrusted to us, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge'” (1 Tim. 6:20). As our people develop a higher view of God, a more accurate view of man, an appreciation for the work of Christ, and an understanding of human responsibility, we will naturally begin to share the gospel with greater compassion, frequency, and effectiveness.
2. The increasing receptivity of lost people to the gospel. While lost people are probably becoming more receptive to spiritual things, this does not necessarily mean they are receptive to “the gospel.” Our postmodern society is driven by feelings, opinions, and experiences, but many resist any claim to absolute truth. We must offer them biblical truth and certainty in a spirit of grace and humility. We must proclaim with confidence that Jesus Christ is exclusively “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6).
3. The closing of 100,000 churches in the next 10 years (though many others will be started in this same time period). This statistic is too broad to mean much. Does this include all religions? Only Protestant Christianity? The mere existence of a church does not guarantee spiritual health. A little town with 30 churches may be better off with only 10 churches a decade from now, if those 10 churches are more faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, our goal is not simply more churches, but healthier churches.
4. Sermons and Bible studies based on the same text. If synchronized sermons and Bible studies are helping more churches get into the Word, then praise the Lord! But if more preachers would just be faithful to exposit the Word of God, this would not be a problem. There is a spiritual famine in modern evangelicalism, and many of God’s people are starving for biblical truth. Those of us called by God to be pastors have a responsibility to feed the sheep (Jn. 21:17).
5. Churches implementing a process of discipleship (often tied to a purpose statement). I’m thankful that more churches are becoming clear in their goals and proactive in discipling new believers. We must make sure that these goals and priorities align with the Word of God.
6. Churches are moving toward four major emphases: right structure, right content, right attitude, and right action. Rainer was moving pretty fast by this point, and didn’t have a chance to develop his last two points very much.
7. Great disparity between the churches that do survive. Rainer didn’t explain what he meant by this, but I can attest that churches seem to be growing more diverse rather than more alike. In fact, this seems to be part of the NAMB church-planting strategy. They want to plant a church to reach every sub-culture. So, you end up with a hip-hop church, a biker church, a yuppie church, an emergent church, etc. The problem with this is that the church should be a “melting-pot” of all ages, races, and cultures. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). We must balance our zeal to reach different sub-cultures with our zeal to promote Christian unity. I believe churches should have ministries that cater to these different sub-cultures, but we should ultimately be able to put aside our differences and serve and worship together. Otherwise, we will lack diversity and become dangerously self-centered. One of the hallmarks of the local church should be our ability to co-exist through our common bond in Christ. It may be difficult at times, but I believe it’s worth the effort.
   

At the end of his message, Rainer encouraged us to stop majoring on the minors, keep our priorities straight, and remember that “It is a sin to be good when God has called us to be great.” God has chosen to do His kingdom work through the church, and we must learn to appreciate and support it. Very true!

What if Jesus Christ wrote a personal letter to your local church? In Revelation 2-3, Jesus wrote to seven churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey): Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. To those who were persevering in faith, He gave tender words of assurance. But to those who were compromising and disobeying, He offered a stern warning.

What would Jesus say if He wrote to your church? That’s exactly what a friend of mine, Chips Ross, recently asked his congregation at Forest Ranch Baptist Church. And for two Sunday nights, they drafted a letter of what Jesus might say to them. (It’s helpful to know Forest Ranch is a small community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range, just north of Chico, California). Here’s the letter…

To the messenger of the church in Forest Ranch:

The One who sees into the deepest woods¹, who is faithful to even a few, and who reigns over the trees and hills, says this:

I know your deeds, that you have persevered, worked hard, and have been faithful as a tree remaining firm in the midst of storms.

But I have this against you: you have sat like an old tree with too much fill around you² and you have each pursued your own trails³.

Therefore, repent, lest I close the yellow gate⁴ before you. Come alive as a poppy and be faithful as the sun that rises over the mountain.

To him who overcomes, I will make him to be a conifer, standing tall and straight, in the land of my God and to be red dirt⁵ that remains through all.

Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

1 – Pictures that Jesus sees all and thus knows all
2 – Pictures complacency; become like the culture around and thus have begun to rot
3 – Being independent from God and from each other
4 – Yellow gates are put up to close mountain trails
5 – Red dirt of Forest Ranch that clings to your clothing and can never quite be washed out; once it’s on, it’s on.

In A Call to Spiritual Reformation, D.A. Carson writes,

The Church is to see itself as an outpost of heaven. It is a microcosm of the new heaven and the new earth, brought back, as it were, into our temporal sphere. We are still contaminated by failures, sin, relapses, rebellion, self-centeredness; we are not yet what we ought to be. But by the grace of God, we are not what we were. For as long as we are left here, we are to struggle against sin, and anticipate, so far as we are able, what it will be like to live in the untarnished bliss of perfect righteousness. We are to live with a view to the day of Christ.

That means, of course, that Christians constitute a kind of missionary community…until the consummation, we live out our lives down here, a heavenly, missionary outpost in a lost, dying, and decaying world. We are to see ourselves as an outpost of a new heaven and a new earth in an old world that stands under the judgment of God.

Unfortunately, many people look at the church and see only its “contaminations.” The church is often accused of being full of hypocritical, self-righteous, unloving people. Then disillusionment and resentment begin to set in. Yet we must not neglect to see God in the process of redeeming His people as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). Yes, the church has many blemishes (because it’s comprised of sinful people), but it is also a testimony of God’s grace, as He purifies and prepares us for that glorious day when the Bride of Christ will be presented to Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom. And until that time, the church must remember our mission as an “outpost of heaven.”