According to the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination is losing members. I read an article yesterday, which I can't find online, arguing that the numbers SBC officials have put out about their church's size are unreliable, and that the SBC is actually a lot smaller than they make themselves out to be. Anybody heard that? Feddie, a former Southern Baptist who is now Roman Catholic, talks about that here and here. Excerpt:
I believe many Christians have a deep hunger to worship the Triune God in a more traditional manner. I am not suggesting that the mega-church or modern style of praise worship is wrong. I am simply saying that many Christians my age and younger are starting to rethink what it means to worship; and I personally think that is a good thing. ...[N]one of this is to say that one cannot be a Christian without tradition. I do think, however, that many Christians ought to seriously consider the degree to which the history/tradition of the Christian faith impacts or should impact their personal beliefs. Unfortunately, for many Christians, the formation of their faith is often limited to the teachings of their pastors (which may or may not be helpful) and their own personal musings about the meaning of various and sundry Bible passages. And while I do not mean to denigrate either, I think this style of Christianity can be dangerous if it leads the heart to curve inward as opposed to outward (toward God). It certainly was for me. I was so confident in my own personal understanding of scripture during my time as a protestant that I became arrogant in my faith. Who needs Augustine? Why is he any more qualified than me to interpret the Bible? Needless to say, I now look back at that attitude and just shake my head in bewilderment.
I'm not sure what's going on here. I would like to believe that the losses in Southern Baptist ranks come from younger people wanting a more stable Christian tradition, and thus lighting out for the PCA Presbyterians, the Catholics, the Orthodox and so forth. I've known and do know former Southern Baptists who have made or are in the process of making that leap. But I also know Southern Baptists who long ago left the Baptist church, though not formally, to start attending nondenominational "Bible churches." As far as I can tell, these Bible churches are not theologically or culturally more liberal than the SBC churches they left behind; rather, the Bible churches appealed more to these particular believers based on the quality of the preaching and the programs offered by specific churches. In other words, the SBC lost these members not for reasons traditionalist Christians would find comforting, but rather the opposite.
Surely we have Southern Baptists in this blog's readership, as well as former Southern Baptists. What's going on inside your church? What explains this trend, from your point of view? And how can it be arrested?
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Can't help but wonder if part of this reported decline has to do with the "seeker sensitive" church movement, which grew out of Rick Warren's church. Many of the observations above can be linked to that. The rock 'n roll praise chants, the sermon that contains elements of the Gospel for those with ears to hear but always with a worldly connection ("Nehemiah had a big job to do. He got all his neighbors to help. We can do our big jobs if our neighbors help. Shouldn't we help our neighbors with their big jobs, too?"), the youth programs that are always watered down in order to not be "too hard" for new kids, the lack of any memorization, etc. all are part of making a church "seeker friendly". The idea is to avoid confronting "seekers" who may become new members with such ideas as sin and redemption, in order to avoid scaring them off.
As many have noted, this has the effect of so watering down the Gospel as to make it merely another exhortation in a world full of self-help books. It also tends to alienate the older members, and those younger ones who know their theology, which is not good. The "seeker friendly" church movement increasingly looks more like a big mistake, a numbers-at-all-cost idea that sacrificed the truth for fuller pews.
Just for fun one day, I added up the membership of all the SBC's in my small hometown. I was interested after seeing that a small church close to my parents house was listed as having 300+ members. On a good Sunday they have around 25 people in attendance.
So...I added them up. And guess what? There are more Southern Baptists in the town in which I grew up than people. And keep in mind, there are many other churches in this town...Pentecostal, Lutheran, Methodist, etc.
Isn't it time for them to get honest about their numbers? After all, a lie is a lie is a lie.
-C
i cant wait too see the extinction of the baptists and the orthodox christian take over!
but i do admit it would be sad for some people to see the churches of thier heritage go extinct.
orthodox church since A.D. 33
I've visited several Southern Baptist churches in my lifetime. I've had the same experience in that I didn't find them very friendly or accepting of visitors. I now attend a Methodist church and within several years was appointed as the Education chairman. It has also been my experience that evangelical churches tend to be very cliquey which to me is a great oxymoron.
souKPN hi! http://msn.com my site
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