I recently attended a meeting of young pastors where we discussed the decline of the church and the need for church planting in our state. We broke down some percentages and statistics into real numbers.
Craig ThompsonIn South Carolina, we have about 2,100 Southern Baptist churches. Of that number, about 1,680 are plateaued or declining, and 634 baptized no one last year. That is depressing, but even more so is the realization that only 420 SBC churches are growing in a state with a population of 4.5 million people. Additionally, 20 to 40 SCBC churches close their doors annually.
Every church and every pastor claims that kingdom growth is their goal; however, the numbers reveal that rhetoric doesn’t match practice. Likewise, at the state level, where evangelism and missions should be at the fore of our efforts, only 3 percent of our annual instate budget goes to support church planting, which is our greatest hope of reaching the estimated 3.25 million lost people in our state.
Realignments and reorganizations are pointless unless there is a true revival among the people of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Our sacred cows must be sacrificed and we must move toward creativity in church multiplication. The rallying cry is that money doesn’t make church plants and conventions don’t plant churches, but budget numbers reveal where our loyalties lie.
If evangelizing the lost is to be a priority, we should be willing to fund church planting through our state convention rather than to continue to perpetuate old ways of budgeting money. Churches need to be planted because there are not enough to reach the population of our state, especially when we consider the urban population. It is estimated that 75 percent of SCBC churches are located among 25 percent of the population. That means that 525 churches have the impossible task of ministering to 3.375 million people, an estimated 2.3 million of whom are not evangelical believers.
For too long we have feigned good health while slowly decaying and dying, yet we continue to perpetuate unhealthy practices because it is the will of some without questioning whether it is the will of The One.
For South Carolina Baptists to accomplish the goals of evangelizing our state, cooperation across age barriers, worship styles and ethnic groups will be necessary. Cooperation is the best way to accomplish the Great Commission, but cooperation must be full-bodied, not segmented and cliquish. Part of that cooperation will come only as leaders, young and old, show up at meetings to make their voices heard. Voting by absence never brings change; it only brings stagnation.
The vote of the state convention in 2008 did not necessarily represent the majority of South Carolina Baptists, but merely the majority of the few people who showed up to participate in the process. Only 396 people voted for president of the convention last year. Assuming that each vote represents one church, less than 20 percent of SCBC churches were represented at the annual meeting of the SCBC last year. Thus, the direction of the convention has been molded by the majority of a very small minority.
Business meetings are not enjoyable, but if missional leaders in the state of South Carolina desire to see the lost of this state saved, then those leaders must make time to show up and cast a vote. Participation in the denominational process can make a difference in accomplishing the Great Commission. However, staying home and refusing to participate while complaining about the direction of the convention does nothing but create division and bitterness.
It may be that with involvement from more missional leaders in associational, state, and national denominational affairs that the number of plateaued and declining churches could be reduced or that revival could ensue. It could be that renewed cooperation will result as young and old leaders come together to learn from the past and dream for the future. We cannot predict the outcome of what may happen if young and missional leaders step up to the denominational plate, but we can predict the outcome if they don’t: decline, decay, and the eventual death of many multitudes of churches – and perhaps even a denomination.
Thompson is pastor of Malvern Hill Baptist Church, Camden.