42,000+ Southern Baptist Churches: Do We Really Need Another One? J. D. Payne

Transcription

1 42,000+ Southern Baptist Churches: Do We Really Need Another One? J. D. Payne There has been much talk recently in our convention regarding church planting. The International Mission Board is talking about it. The North American Mission Board is talking about it. Our seven Southern Baptist Seminaries offer courses in church planting and have professors of church planting. Our state conventions are talking about it. Our associations are talking about it. Some of our churches are even involved in planting churches. We are the largest Protestant denomination in the world. We consist of over 16 million members and more than 42,000 churches. 1 Do we really need another Southern Baptist Church? For some, this question is a mystery. In North American today, there is a great interest in crime solving. All one has to do is turn on their television on any given night to find the latest police-detective program. Though the stories vary from episode to episode and from program to program, the bottom line is that the stories have a common thread: a crime happens, the detectives arrive, they examine the evidence, and they make their conclusions. Rather than me clearly giving you my answer to the above question, I ll offer you the evidence and allow you to draw your own conclusion. Biblical Evidence In Matthew 28 and Acts 1, Jesus commanded His followers to go and make disciples throughout the entire world. As they went on mission, they were to baptize and teach. The book of Acts shows the outplaying of Jesus command to His followers. The 1 Taken from

2 disciples go throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and various parts of the known world. Because of the faithfulness of the early disciples churches were planted in Jerusalem, Antioch, Philippi, Rome, Colossae, Berea, Corinth, Laodicea, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Pergamum, Thyatira, Smyrna, and numerous other cities scattered throughout the Roman Empire. In fact, the Apostle Paul desired to travel to Spain (Romans 15:24) because he believed that the gospel had been preached, churches had been planted, and would therefore continue to carry out the Great Commission in their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and throughout the world. For Paul, there was no other place for him to preach; therefore he desired to go to a new territory (Romans 15:19, 23) to repeat his pattern. Traditional Evidence It was because of the faithfulness of the early disciples to carry out the commands of Christ through church planting that I am able to write this article and that you are able to read it. As the gospel was preached throughout the centuries, churches were planted that carried out their missionary tasks. Because of a long chain of obedient disciples, the gospel finally arrived on the shores of our continent, churches were planted, and centuries later you and I came to follow Christ. We are a part of church history and those churches who are planting churches are standing on the shoulders of the faithful who have sacrificed and gone before us so that centuries later we could hear the good news and come to serve the Lord. The church that says, Yes, we will plant churches! is the church who says to the world, We will not allow centuries of church history stop with us. We will not allow the faithfulness and sacrifice of our brothers and sisters end with

3 us. We will look beyond ourselves (if the Lord tarries) to a future generation who will need this same gospel! Demographic Evidence As of 2004, the estimated population of the United States was 293 million and Canada was 33 million. 2 These numbers, of course, increase when you factor in all of those individuals living here temporarily or permanently (legally or illegally). There are over 386,000 churches of all types in the United States and over 22,000 in Canada. 3 This means that there is roughly one church (orthodox or heretical) for every 800 people in North America. 4 In particular, there is no Southern Baptist church in Newfoundland, and less than 250 Southern Baptist churches in the entire country of Canada! Even more surprising, recent reports from Western Canada have revealed that there are towns with populations as high as 1000 without a single church of any kind! Consider the following statistics: 5 It is estimated that the unchurched populations of the United States and Canada are 195,000,000 and 24,000,000, respectively. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the population in the United States increased 11.4%, but the overall Church membership declined 9.5%. Less than 5% of all Canadians are evangelical. Cultural Evidence 2 Taken from Accessed February 18, Taken from Accessed February 18, for every 759 people in the U.S. and 1 for every 1500 people in Canada. 5 North American Mission Board, New Churches Needed: Our Church Can Help!: A Step-by-Step Handbook for Planting New Churches (Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, 2001.), iv.

4 Without going into too much detail showing the ethnic diversity in North America, we should note that 28% of all Canadians originated from the British Isles, 23% of French origin, 15% other European, 2% Amerindian. 6 Not to mention those of numerous Asian, African, and Arab backgrounds. Though 77% of the United States is considered white and 13% black, there are also large populations of Hispanics, Asians, Africans, and Arabs. 7 Though these statistics help paint a picture of the ethnic landscape, they do not tell us about vast cultural differences found within any given ethnic group. These numbers tell us nothing regarding the ways people communicate, learn, organize themselves into groups, interact with one another, all very important elements to understand in church life. Gone are the days when a white man in his forties could assume that another white man in his forties held to the same worldview and ways of life. I was once at a shopping mall in Miami and in need of directions. I stopped by a shop where a twentysomething white girl was sweeping the store. As soon as I started talking to her, she immediately said something in Spanish and ran to get another employee who could assist me. While in the same city, I witnessed a very dark skinned man speaking to another man. I immediately assumed that he was from Africa and would be speaking an Africa dialect, but upon hearing the conversation he also was fluently speaking Spanish and did not call Africa his home. Stories similar to this one can be repeated in various locations across the continent. No church can reach everyone in their community. Churches tend to reach people of a same or slightly different culture as themselves. Culture is a powerful force affecting

5 the way people interact and see the world. North America is one of the most culturally diverse continents on the planet. Instead of looking at our cities as black or white or rich and poor, we need to see the great diversity that is before us. For example, I grew up in a small Kentucky town, my wife, grew up in one of the larger cities within the same state. I grew up hearing non-seminary trained preachers in small country churches that clearly used non-polished preaching styles to say the least. My wife was never exposed to this type of preaching. Whenever I hear a rough country preacher on the radio, I am able to understand clearly the message he is preaching; however, my wife has a difficult time even understanding the words because the method of his communication style is foreign to her cultural upbringing. Denominational Evidence Denominations that do not plant churches today will cease to exist tomorrow. Approximately 72 North American churches cease to exist at the end of every week. The fact is that churches go through a life cycle and many of those churches do not turn around and eventually cease being the church in their geographical area. Over 80% of Southern Baptist Churches are either plateaued or declining. Church planting is a way to change the present reality. For example, the North American Mission Board helped plant a record-high 1,781 churches (~4.9 churches planted per day) in 2004 (59% were non-anglo churches). NAMB also has established the goal of helping engage 6,300 Southern Baptist Churches in church planting efforts by the end of 2005 and to enlist 11,000 Southern Baptist churches in church planting efforts by 2010.

6 Historically, Baptists have seen the importance of church planting. In the early days of the United States, it was the Baptist farmer-preacher who both pioneered the land and planted churches especially near creeks and rivers where he and his family settled. For Southern Baptists to give up on church planting is synonymous with giving up a fundamental element of our Baptist heritage. Evangelistic Evidence Church growth expert, C. Peter Wagner wrote that the, Single-most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches. 8 Various studies have shown that younger churches have higher baptism rates than older churches. An article in Christianity Today once cited Bruce McNicol as reporting that among evangelical churches, those under three years in age reach on average ten people for Christ for every one hundred members in a given year. Churches who are between three years old and fifteen years old will reach five people per year. Churches over fifteen years old will reach three people per year. According to the article, 90 percent of all churches reach their peak in attendance, outreach, and giving by their twelfth birthday. 9 In a study of Anglo churches from it was discovered that the new churches baptized 13 people for every 100 members compared to established Anglo churches who baptized 3 people for every 100 members. 10 In another study, it was noted that churches ten years old or older average 2.5 baptisms per year per 100 members, and churches ten years old or younger average 10.8 baptisms per year per 100 members C. Peter Wagner, Church Planting for a Greater Harvest (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), No author, Churches Die with Dignity, Christianity Today (January 14, 1991): Charles Chaney, New Churches and the Unsaved, Mission USA (January-February 1995), North American Mission Board, New Churches Needed: Our Church Can Help!: A Step-by-Step Handbook for Planting New Churches (Alpharetta, GA: North American Mission Board, 2001.), 55.

7 There is a vitality and evangelistic enthusiasm found in many new churches. The people have not had the time to develop enough structures and organization to cause them to spend much of their time in maintenance mode. Their missional zeal remains high. Religious Evidence North America contains a very diverse religious landscape, and the Church s growth is not doing so well. Cults and other world religions are growing at a very rapid rate. Aubrey Malphurs noted in his book on church planting that the Mormons have tripled in size between in the United States and that the Jehovah s Witnesses did likewise in Canada. 12 Christianity grew by 5% from in the United States, but compare this statistic with the following growth rates: Nonreligious/Secular 110% increase Islam 109% increase Buddhism 170% increase Hinduism 237% increase Unitarian/Universalist 25% increase Native American 119% increase Baha I 200% increase New Age 240% increase Sikhism 338% increase Scientology 22% increase Taoism 74% increase Deism 717% increase Aubrey Malphurs, Planting Growing Churches for the 21 st Century, 3 rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), Accessed February 18, 2005.

8 Economic Evidence Though some church planting is very expensive, a costly endeavor is not necessarily the case. If we allow the Scriptures to give us our definition of church, then very few financial resources are needed to plant churches. Despite popular opinion, church planting is evangelism that results in congregations and can be one of the most inexpensive evangelistic ministries of our churches. Not only does church planting have the potential for significant evangelistic results, it also is a very wise use of our finances for Kingdom work. Conclusion One hour after an evening television police-detective show begins, the detectives are able to solve the mystery facing them (They must be good!). What about any mystery surrounding the need for more Southern Baptist Churches? Now that you are aware of the evidence facing our Southern Baptist Convention, how do you answer the question: Do we really need another Southern Baptist Church? I ll let you decide that one. As for me... I think the evidence is clear (And it didn t even take you an hour to read this article!). J. D. Payne is a National Missionary with the North American Mission Board and serves as an Assistant Professor of Evangelism and Church Planting at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He can be contacted at jpayne@sbts.edu. This article first appeared in SBC Life- Journal of The Southern Baptist Convention, June/July 2005, pgs Copyright 2006, J. D. Payne, All rights reserved