Changing the Tide of Decline in the Southern Baptist Convention

Recently my hometown newspaper, the Tennessean, ran several articles on the decline in membership in Southern Baptist Convention church membership. To read the latest article check out:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090117/NEWS06/901170354

There have been a series of blog posts about this decline. Each post has offered a variety of reasons to why the convention is in decline. So while there are opinions floating everywhere I might as well offer my own into the conversation.

So far the reasons being discussed include: the demographics, the move to a more conservative theology, lack of innovation, too much innovation, lower birth rates among Southern Baptist, and the lack of evangelistic zeal among membership (this one is no doubt true, but I think it is a symptom). While all of these may play some roll in the decline I believe there are two major reasons that the denomination is weakening.

The first reason is that we have lost our first love (Revelation 2:4). We have become focused so much on budgets, buildings, weekly attendance, and having the latest technological advances that we have lost our first love, Jesus. Too many times church staff meetings and church business meetings are spent discussing operational procedures and strategies for increasing attendance or baptisms instead of seeking the face of God for wisdom and revival. For us as a denomination to reverse the trend we must return to a commitment to pray for spiritual revival and then wait eagerly and expactantly for where God takes us (he always takes us out to share the gospel, but we start on our knees). Our ultimate goal is to please God, lift up Christ, and walk in obediance. When we wholeheartedly commit to these things I am confident Christ will build his church (Matthew 16:18).

Second, we have lost our commitment to small groups (or Sunday School). This is not the forum to discuss the distinctions between the two, or the pros and cons of each one. However, either method or model whould help to fill the gap of what we need to reconnect with people. The problem is that many of our small groups have given up on being the evangelistic mobilization arm of the church. We have given that role over to the worship service. The worship service cannot fill this role for the church. It has been effective at drawing a crowd. It has been effective at wowing us with creativity in some amazing sermons and music. It has even been effective at engaging the attention of the people and producing "decisions" for Christ. In many places amazing worship and great teaching is taking place. The problem is that worship only attenders have a hard time connecting to the church and " becoming disciples." The disconnect between a decsion for Christ and the process of making disiples has become visable in most churches. In the past (when the denomination was growing) we had a fervant commitment to Sunday School. It was often times the front door of the church. Many people would come for Sunday School but may not stay for worship. Now the opposite is true. People come to the worship experiance, but won't stay to connect. It is funny how everyone says that people are looking to connect and yet the hardest job of a church is helping to make connection a reality.

The small group is the place where people stick. It is the place where they experience authenticity. Authenticity does not come from a guy on a platform with cool hair or a nice suit. It comes with a dinner in a friends house. It comes from a visit to someone in the hospital. It comes when you are painting a house for a single mom or feeding the homeless together. It comes at a monthly party (or as we Baptist call them "socials"). It comes when we begin to invite lost people into this world. It happens when we invite our neighbors, coworkers, and friends to join us in this venture. It happens when they begin to see us for who we really are...Christ followers who need other Christ followers to us make an impact in this world. And small groups are the best way to encourage this.

For us to turn the tide we need to reinvest in our Sunday School or small group ministry (all age groups). I have always said that the two most important health indicators in the life of a church are the number of people involved in a small group and the how many people are being baptized. I can almost promise that when those two numbers are on the rise in your church that healthy things are happening. When those are in decline than it is time to return to your knees and ask God to help you correct the direction of the ship.

Now I know that this is coming from a Christian Education guy so It may sound one sided. If you have other thoughts about how we can turn this ship around please let me know. I would love to dialogue about it. What few things do you attribute to the decline and what can we do to right the ship?