Jesus Isn't Laughing

It's the old joke: The Southern Baptist Convention is reported to have 16 million members...but the FBI could not find 5 million of them!

Jesus isn't laughing.

The joke appears again in this CT editorial, this time spoken by our President Frank Page. I'm not trying to be critical of Dr. Page - I've heard variations of that joke my entire life (since I grew up Southern Baptist and attended many coventions with my dad). Rather, I want to openly say that I do not believe that Southern Baptists grasp the seriousness of this matter. If we're joking about it, we do not share God's perspective.

What does it mean that we are missing 5 million of our members? It means that our churches are failing to communicate to our people the seriousness of church membership. It means that we are failing to practice biblical church discipline. It means that we are not reporting our numbers with integrity. It means, quite simply, that we are being disobedient to God.

How did we come to this? By placing numerical success above faithfulness to God. By thinking that getting a lot of people to pray a prayer is the same thing as seeing them born again. By being theologically immature and pragmatically driven. By having a zeal without knowledge.

The problem is not that we have failed to disciple our converts. Our problem is that we have been too quick to call goats sheep. And we've been too slow to call sheep to accountability.

The CT editorial drives the point home:

"A fate worse than insignificance awaits us if we fail to be honest. The numbers trap tempts evangelicals to implement programs that will boost the bottom line, regardless of their biblical warrant. "What works?" begins to replace, "What does God's Word teach us?" Such programs may appear to succeed for a time. But Jesus told a parable about what happens when we do not build on the foundation of his Word. The rains will come, the floodwaters will rise, and the winds will blow against that house. Sooner or later, the house will fall. And great will be that fall, Jesus warned (Matt. 7:24-27)...One day, the elements will test what we have built in our churches, crusades, and mercy ministries. The greater the exaggeration, the greater the fall."

JN