The Future of the Southern Baptist Convention

Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Dr. Daniel Akin

Times are changing in the Southern Baptist Convention, and I did not realize how much had changed over the past year. I guess this shows that I have not kept up with it lately, but Dr. Akin mentioned that the president of the NAMB and IMB are retired or are retiring within the year as well as the president of the Executive Board. Changes such as these can be both exciting and scary at the same time. With such a dramatic change within the same year, people have a right to wonder what the future of our convention holds. But Dr. Akin wanted to sound hopeful. He said that he sympathizes with the fact that with the decline of baptisms and understands why many people would think that we have a bleak future. In fact, he suggests that the future will be bleak if we do not stay on the right track with Christ.

First off, Akin said that as Southern Baptists, we must remain in submission to Christ’s Lordship. If we fail in this area, then nothing else will matter. We can attempt to develop the greatest convention with the greatest programs. We can rally around great “names” of the great men of the day. But if we do not remain with Christ, then it does not matter what else we do in life. Christ has to be our foundation. Thankfully, I feel like we have allowed Christ to be our foundation, and as long as we never forget this central truth, there will always be a hopeful future for our convention.

Dr. Akin’s next few points focused on the importance of Scripture and the doctrines that we rally around as Southern Baptists. First, Akin expressed the importance of committing to God’s word, believing it to be infallible. Once more, this is an issue that Baptist’s have been united on for decades (if not centuries), and if we remain committed to His word, we have nothing to worry about right now. But the Christian life is not about knowledge. We can know all sorts of information of how we are to live or how God would have us live, but we must also actively serve Him. Although works are not necessary for salvation, they show our commitment to Christ. If we do not live out what we believe, then we will have no influence on the lost. So Dr. Akin also commented on how our message must be theologically based, as we unite around the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. This pamphlet outlines our common beliefs, what Southern Baptists rally around. These are theological truths that there is (or at least should not be) any discussion on. If you find yourself outside these boundaries, then you must reconsider your commitment to the SBC. But we must remember that although there are also secondary issues that we do not all agree on (such as worship), and since we differ, we must never allow these issues to split churches and friendships. We must remain united around our most common beliefs.

The next few points Dr. Akin made were about how the convention should be run. First, we must reflect the racial diversity of the world, not limiting ourselves to one race. Revelation 7:9-10 shows us the future, and as Christians, we have been commissioned by God to reach the nations. So as Baptists, we must not allow nationality or ethnicity or social classes to prevent us from preaching the Gospel. We must go to all the nations, without question. As a result, if we need to rethink the way that the SBC is organized, then we must be willing to change. Now although we cannot change for the sake of change, if change is needed, then we must be willing to allow this to happen for the advancement of the kingdom of God. Who are we to suppress the advancement of God’s kingdom?

Finally, we must be Gospel centered. Our foundation is on Christ, as we saw at the beginning. So if that is the case, then we must follow the commands that He has given us, to spread the Good News to those who have not yet heard. Our churches should be founded on Christ and centered on the Gospel. Therefore those in our churches must view themselves as missionaries. We need people to understand that a missionary is not just someone who travels to another country to preach God’s Word. We are all missionaries, for we are called to peach God’s Word.

So is there a future for our denomination? Yes, if we remain focused on Christ and the Great Commission. I appreciate Dr. Akin’s suggestions, and believe that this is a message that many of our churches need to hear. Some of us need to be reminded of our purpose, and some of us may just need to change so that we make sure that we are focused on what Christ is doing in this world and join Him.

Matt