The Southern Baptist convention, which recently convened for the year in San Antonio, TX, turned down a popular resolution that called for integrity in church membership. For whatever reason, this has been the case for several years. Those in leadership (resolutions committee) refuse to entertain this resolution. Perhaps they are afraid of SBC numbers suddenly slipping on paper. The sad reality is that, at best, only about 40% of Southern Baptists attend church at least once a week. It is worse than that in many churches. The resolution presented by Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries calls for a “recovery of the gospel and reformation of local churches” with regard to, among other things, church membership. It seems that SBC churches will allow just about anyone to join, and remain a member in good standing no matter how they live. It is a problem that needs correcting. Read Tom’s article on the subject for more information. Here’s an excerpt:
This morning, the Resolution Committee and messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention took actions that confirmed that theme–every number has a story. Sadly, the numbers involved tell a sad, sad story . . . The chairman of the Resolutions Committee, Gerald Harris, responded to my appeal by saying that the committee thought it inappropriate to bring my resolution before the body because they feared it would infringe on the autonomy of local churches. We should not try to tell churches what to do, he said. Well, anyone who read my resolution and the resolutions that were passed this year and other years will recognize that this argument holds no water. However, it is a tremendous advance over last year’s response from the chairman that, if churches took my resolution seriously we would lose our most promising prospects for evangelism!
