Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page re-emphasized the need for the denomination to focus on bringing lost souls into God’s kingdom and announced that a long-planned multi-faceted evangelism strategy will be presented during SBC’s annual meeting in June.
Frank said, “Many of our people simply do not know how to relate to people in 21st-century culture and have been frustrated at their inability to communicate the Gospel. Many believers do not know people who are outside the Kingdom and often do not even know their own neighbors.”
WHAT! Do Baptists live under rocks? Don’t they know how to talk to others? Do they not have jobs? Do their kids not go to school? If one stands arrogantly or judgmental you will have a tendency to avoid or dismiss the world around you (just a thought, not condemnation).
I am certain another meeting or multi-faceted strategy will not solve this problem. You want to reach people, go out and minister to their very real issues without prejudice, condemnation or preconceived expectation. Humbly realize we’ve all fallen short of the mark. Christianity was never mint to be a business-plan, but a plan-for-life.
Matthew 5:46-47 (New Living Translation)
46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.
Imagine what will happen when we start bringing church to people instead of trying to drag people into church! Becoming transparent to the world and sharing with them our personal testimony.
Lets get fired up together, this is not an attack on Baptist. It’s a wake up call for all of us! We’ve all missed the mark.
Just another rambling thought.
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
We all as you put it have missed the mark. We’ve place church attendance and week long programs in the forefront. We seek cleaver ways to trick people into coming to a Sunday service. This really needs to stop, anymore all you see is church hopping. People already inoculated by religion moving from one church to another because of parking, cinnamon rolls, hair color and sandals.
Heck in our church we even have people come from other churches because we are serving food. When I see returning visitors I say, how have you been and they respond fine. I usually then ask something like, so where have you been, and they simple say at their church while eating a hamburger and sipping on a soda.
What’s really crazy, if I ask if they will be coming back next week they say, “Oh No, I’ll be at my church!”
?
The health of the church
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
I thought seeking the lost and making disciples to seek more of the lost was like one of the prime directives, if not the one? Maybe if they would stop creating committees and planning, the members would then have the time to go out and minister to the broken world.
My dad always said, if you want to see how important you are call a meeting and see how many people show up.
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
Tom,
Although we must always welcome everyone with open arms, many people do “church hop”. I guess that’s why we have to bring the real church (our living example and testimony) to them in hopes that they may come to the building with the desire to worship the Lord with us and further commit themselves.
What you’ve said it all so true in many of our churches, it’s almost like you’ve been to our pot-lucks ha ha.
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
If your church is really living it out loud with real accountability and responsibity to Christ, then maybe those church hoppin’ will be touched and begin to see a new more authentic way of living out their faith. Maybe they will become infected. Change can only happen one person at a time.
What is up with the president of the SBC, he’s either ignorant or in denial. Everyone lives in the world, whether we choose to make a difference or not is an individual issue of accountability to God. I think we’ve come to terms with God as a patient, tolerant, all loving and will put up with about just anything as long as we can justify it in our own life.
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
It looks like you are a baptist hater to me. When you have a large strong body like the baptist group, you must take the time to plan and organize. Working together to accomplish God’s will and remaining in complete unity as one body. But then again you wouldn’t understand how an association works. Your one of those lone wolves devouring all that comes into your path.
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
Mmmmmmmm!!!! Tasty!!!
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
Hey could someone pass the hot wing sauce, this piece is a little dry and tasteless. hee hee
Wednesday, 30. April 2008
I don’t have any wing sauce, but I sure have some tastie, hum hum brown giblet gravy. Sorry it wont help with the toughness of the meat though (henry). You can either chew on it or throw it away.
Friday, 2. May 2008
I’ve been gone a a while, glad to be back. I’ve missed some great content
“A long-planned multi-faceted evangelism strategy”, sure that will work. When will we figure it out. We need to confess and repent of our hidden motives. This is all about numbers! Why are we not concerned about the maturing of ones faith.
Maybe they too need to sell some of those big building and place emphasis in the community outside the walls of big business church. Look at some of those salaries also, please. Why does anyone need to make 70, 80, 90 or even 100K a year plus benefits.
Saturday, 10. May 2008
I love this post. How ignorant I was when attending one of the big association churches who only cared about the number. I remember inviting people to come to the most important day of the year in this particular church, no it was not Easter or Christmas it was “Friend Day”, the day when we tried to pull all the people we could away from their place of worship to come to our Church, hoping they would what, like us better? What does that do for the Glory of God? I am so very blessed to be a part of VRM where it will never be about the numbers or how many people come to the alter on any given Sunday or how many contracts we get people to sign to come to our “friend day” Thank you Larry for remaining humble and submitting to the true word of God and just for showing me that when we trust in the Lord for our guidance he will bless us with all the gifts we will ever need.
Sunday, 11. May 2008
Hay Terri Jo we are having friend day at our church too, just sign this contract for me and we will have a wonderful soul devouring day….
ALL HAIL TO THE NAMED MIGHTY ONE