This week I read a short article by Rick Lance of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions in which he was suggesting that we are currently in the midst of a “Southern Baptist Recession” (On Mission: Pastor’s Edition, Fall 2009),   Lance cites what he refers to as an “especially disturbing” decline in the number of baptisms in Southern Baptist churches.   He notes that 2008 marked the fourth year in a row in which SBC churches have baptized less people than the year before.  He also mentions that total SBC church membership is down as was Sunday school enrollment.  How concerned should we be about this as follows of Christ?

     Well, I am a committed Southern Baptist that appreciates our history, theology, and polity.  I’ve served in SBC churches for 12 years and have been supported by our North American Mission Board for the last several years.  My credentials are fairly solid, but I don’t find myself to be the least bit concerned.  Why not, Cody?  Well, for one, Jesus never called us to seek the kingdom of the Southern Baptist Convention.  I know that may seem to be a bit trite.  However, it really should be a serious consideration whenever people start talking about “recessions” in particular denominations.  The SBC is great, but it isn’t the only gig in town and we SBCers aren’t the only ones faithfully carrying the light of the gospel to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.  So, if SBC numbers are down, it may be that other denominations are experiencing a surge.  And that’s okay.  Of course, I know it is difficult to measure things going on outside our denomination, but that doesn’t mean that our in-house numbers should be elevated to the status of a “health-of-the-kingdom-barometer”.

     And as for the decline in Sunday school “enrollment”, be sure you understand what is really being talked about there.  The Annual Church Profile (ACP), which is a report SBC churches are strongly encouraged to submit each year asks both about Sunday School attendance and Sunday School enrollment.  Lance has said that enrollment is down, not attendance.  Since he doesn’t mention attendance, can we assume that those numbers are actually up?  Not sure.  But I am convinced that enrollment numbers are NOT, as Lance suggests, a “really important barometer of church health for Southern Baptists.” Rather, I see the very concept of Sunday School enrollment as a vestige of a bygone era that has been largely discarded as irrelevant by the SBC’s next generation leaders.  I personally filled out several ACPs this year for our church plants.  All of them have Sunday School ministry, but none of them have any kind of Sunday School enrollment practice.  Thus, the statistical decline in enrollment may simply have to do with fewer churches keeping such records. 

     So, like I said, I’m not all that concerned.  Lance’s concern is founded upon his goal to “increase the population of heaven and decrease the population of hell.”  I agree with the sentiment—the earnest desire to reach more and more people for Christ.  However, I don’t really share the same sense of concern or near panic, for a couple reasons.  First, the Bible teaches clearly about God’s sovereignty and that while He utilizes human agency for His own glory in His global plan of redemption, the ultimate success of that plan is not in any way dependent upon Christians hitting upon the right strategy.  After all, the population of heaven has been fixed from the foundation of the world (e.g. Rev. 13:8, 17:8).  But secondly, I don’t want to think even for a minute that Southern Baptist (or Methodist, Lutheran, Pentacostal, etc) decline is the same thing as Kingdom of God decline.

     Something I do appreciate about Rick Lance’s article is that he refers to the SBC as our “denominational family.”  I’ve been doing that myself for some time now and I think it is a very healthy way to think about SBC life.  I was baptized, discipled, licensed, and ordained in SBC churches.  The preacher that performed my wedding was Southern Baptist and I’ve planted several SBC churches.  I love the SBC and consider it to be something of a family.  I absolutely do not agree with every decision made in matters theological, missiological, ecclesiastical, or organizational.  But we are a family and families stick together.  If there really is need for concern about our SBC family, I would suggest that it primarily lies in our lack of commitment to reaching frontier cities in North America, but that’s a topic for another time.  I leave you with something that Lance wrote in his article that is absolutely true:

“When we have a true sense of renewal in our relationship with the Lord, the numbers will take care of themselves.  Why? Because we will be doing God’s work, in God’s way, according to God’s will.”