The Network for Church Vitality
Bethel is a member of the Baptist Missionary Association of America, which is a wonderful group of churches who cooperate together to share the gospel around the world. I love the BMA and am personally quite loyal to her work. Nonetheless, as many leaders in the BMA recognize, we no longer look like a healthy association.
The problem is not numbers, in and of themselves. Sure we’re baptizing less, adding less members, and starting fewer churches, but that could result from a variety of surrounding cultural factors. The problem has a lot to do with how we define ourselves. Whether we realize it or not, we typically define our association by what sets apart from others - often referred to as our “distinctives” or our traditions. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating a great heritage, unless that heritage becomes a replacement for the movement of the Spirit of God afresh today.
I don’t have all the solutions to our shortcomings. Neither does our denomination, generally speaking. Nonetheless, I’m excited about a new movement in the BMA called “The Network for Church Vitality.” It’s a group of Pastors, many of them young guys, who are deeply concerned with our loss of biblical moorings. Did I say that right? Have we lost our biblical moorings? I believe so.
I love many of the things that set us apart from every other Baptist group out there, but we have often substituted those distinctions in place of the more important issues - namely the primacy of preaching and of the gospel itself. We need a revival, but not a revival of fresh ideas so much as a revival of true biblically-centered proclamation. We need a revival of hope that Jesus can be glorified in today’s world.
I want to plug a conference for any Pastors who may happen upon this blog. Check out Garrett Memorial Baptist Church’s web site for information about the upcoming conference Biblical Preaching. The conference is October 29-30 in Hope, Arkansas and will feature Dr. John Mahony and Dr. Charlie Holmes. It’s a great step in a movement that I hope will sweep our association.
Even if you’re not a Pastor or just can’t go to this conference, would you say a prayer as you read this, that God would use it in a mighty way and that God might pour out His Spirit upon our leaders in a fresh way?
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