Don’t Wait for Revival

In 2019, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) – the nation’s largest and arguably most conservative and evangelical Christian denomination – reported its 12th year of declining membership. Baptisms also declined by approximately 7,600. In fact, baptisms have declined for the SBC in eight of the last 10 years and are down more than 100,000 from 2009. As Scott McConnell, director of the SBC’s LifeWay Research said, SBC leaders “look at numbers like this and see a wake-up call for the church to get back to the roots of what really matters—very actively sharing, with our local communities, the Gospel, the message of the Gospel and what the church has to offer.”

While the appropriate response, there’s a difference between rhetoric and reality. Similar statements were made in previous years when declines were reported, yet the declines continued unabated. And Southern Baptists aren’t alone. A 2019 study from Exponential by LifeWay Research found that six in 10 of all Protestant churches are plateaued or declining in attendance and more than half saw fewer than 10 people become new Christians in the past 12 months. Most have fewer than 100 people attending services each week, including 21% who average fewer than 50.

It would seem to go without saying that the clarion call of the church would be outreach, coupled with a renewed missional mindset that wrestles with the question Lesslie Newbigin pursued throughout his writings: “What would be involved in a missionary encounter between the Gospel and this whole way of perceiving, thinking and living that we call ‘modern Western culture’?”

Yet many simply lament and pray for revival. Read More