More Signs of Change in the Evangelical Community
In an article about the failure of the Southern Baptist Convention to meet its goals regarding numbers of baptisms, there are more signs that some new thinking is breaking through:
Some younger pastors think evangelistic techniques need to change.
"We've slapped a Jesus sticker on everybody who will raise their hand and say 'I do' in a church without questioning whether their faith is legitimate, whether they're making a real conscious decision, whether they're just emotionally responding," said Micah Fries, a 28-year-old pastor of a St. Joseph, Mo., church.
"I can whip a crowd into a frenzy and I can get response. ... I don't want response. I want changed lives."
Amen to that.
The SBC had a quota? That's hilarious! Reminds me of the good ol' days when they published a report of the number of saved souls broken down by county.
Posted by: Scott Ferguson | June 04, 2007 at 01:40 PM
Also interesting in that article is the trend for churches to remove the word "Baptist" from their names. One church near my home took that B-word out of their name and has "an SBC fellowship" on their sign as if they hoped no one would know what "SBC" means.
And the Baptists sniggered when Methodist membership started to decline ...
Posted by: Scott Ferguson | June 04, 2007 at 01:47 PM
That's the first I've heard of the "SBC fellowship" idea, Scott. Interesting.
Posted by: Melissa Rogers | June 12, 2007 at 05:55 AM