While this article is directed at the younger generation of Southern Baptists, it is applicable to all younger evangelical Christians.
As is often the case with high-stakes moments in history, the decision to forge a new identity often comes at a cost. When Luther battled corruption within the medieval Catholic Church, he did so under threat of ex-communication and death. When America's founders forged ahead with a new project in self-government, they did so cognizant of possible sacrifice of their "Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Truth is costly. Similarly, architects of the Conservative Resurgence paid a price for orthodoxy. Relationships were strained. Churches divided. Left and Right flanks took shape. But the biblical Gospel was worth something to these men -- worth dividing and even losing a denomination over. It wasn't just disputes over property and trustee alignments, it was a dispute about what the Gospel demands of its adherents.
Today, a new generation of young and doctrinally conservative Christians face another identity-determining moment and decision: whether the cost of orthodoxy is worth the sacrifice of our credibility to a culture that grows more foreign to the cultural Christianity that all too conveniently propped it up.
Every generation must "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." So I want to challenge a younger generation of Southern Baptists to count the cost of orthodoxy, of biblical faithfulness -- much like what a previous generation of Southern Baptists had to do. But I also want to challenge younger Southern Baptists to see the nourishing effects of orthodoxy. I want us to understand that guarding the sacred trust of orthodoxy requires vigilance, but that it also deposits joy and unity. Keep reading
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