By Chuck Kelley The numbers are the numbers. Southern Baptists may be reluctant to accept the reality of the pervasive presence of decline and the loss of a vibrant evangelistic culture in SBC churches, but the official statistics of the Southern Baptist Convention paint a compelling portrait of churches struggling mightily to reach new converts and to hold on to people already in the fold. In spite of multiple efforts by a variety of people to stimulate growth, the SBC continues to decline. Doctors check the vital signs of temperature, weight, and blood pressure at every visit looking for indicators of how healthy we are. The chart below reviews the vital signs of Great Commission health for the SBC from 2010 through 2018, the most recent year for official SBC statistics. Complete statistics for 2019 are expected within the next two weeks. Both charts will be updated as soon as those numbers are made public. Statistical Snapshots of the SBC (2007-2018) This chart does not include two other sobering indicators of Great Commission health. LifeWay Research reports that from 20011-2018, the SBC lost an average of 1,144 churches a year who gave up their SBC ID number. Also, in 2000 the average number of baptisms … [Read more...]

By Chuck Kelley In 2017, SBC President Steve Gaines appointed an Evangelism Task Force, chaired by Paige Patterson, to investigate how Southern Baptists could be more effective in personal soul-winning and evangelistic preaching. Unlike earlier initiatives which received significant Convention attention, this Task Force made its final report to a distracted SBC President and largely uninterested messengers during the SBC meeting in Dallas in 2018. Evangelism and concerns about decline were completely overshadowed by other issues. The report was merely read into the record and formally approved by the Convention with little comment. However, while it is much too early to assess its impact, initial indications are that the recommendations of this Task Force may eventually make a measurable difference in SBC baptism numbers. The Evangelism Task Force (2018) The Evangelism Task Force can be distinguished from others in several ways. Clearly and publicly, the Task Force was instructed by the Convention to focus on direct evangelism. Clearly and publicly, members were told to suggest how churches could act effectively on the evangelism mandate. More importantly, the Task Force created an expectation for the North American Mission … [Read more...]

By Dr. Chuck Kelley In 2013, only three years after the GCR proposals were adopted, Al Gilbert, NAMB Vice President for Evangelism, convened a task force of twelve pastors and five denominational workers to take yet another look at the issue of steadily declining baptisms. The group sought to examine carefully the state of evangelism in Southern Baptist churches, to identify whatever problems might be at play, and to ask how those problems could be addressed. Pastors’ Task Force on SBC Evangelistic Impact and Declining Baptisms (2014) The group assessed key Great Commission statistics, sharing honestly the evidence indicating the regression of evangelism in the SBC. They found clear indications that SBC churches were experiencing a crisis in making an evangelistic impact on their communities. The task force did not refer to the GCR proposals, the God’s Plan for Sharing initiative, or any other previous approach to SBC decline in their report. Without elaborative details, the Task Force concluded that five problems were driving decline in the Southern Baptist Convention: Southern Baptists had a spiritual problem (need for revival), a leadership problem (need to model evangelism), a discipleship problem (lack of intentionality), … [Read more...]

By Dr. Chuck Kelley In 2009, SBC President Johnny Hunt appointed a task force, chaired by Ronnie Floyd, to consider how to generate a Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) in the Southern Baptist Convention. As noted last week, the term “Great Commission Resurgence” was first used at the SBC by NAMB President Geoffrey Hammond in his report to the 2008 Convention as he announced the launch of the National Evangelism Initiative that became God’s Plan for Sharing. There was no connection between that usage of the term and what Dr. Hunt proposed. The GCR name was intended to evoke images of the movement known as the Conservative Resurgence, which produced the most profound changes in SBC history, transforming the theological direction of the SBC and its entities. The Great Commission Resurgence, dealing with SBC decline, bears no resemblance to the Conservative Resurgence in either method or outcome. The Great Commission Resurgence (2010) The Great Commission Resurgence proposal received far more time and attention in Southern Baptist life, both before and during the 2010 Convention meetings, than any of the other approaches to the evangelism crisis, more than all the others combined. There is one simple reason for the dramatic … [Read more...]