Roy Fish, professor of evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, recently spoke to South Carolina Baptist field service staff about the status of church evangelism and the impact prayer has on reaching the lost.
Despite a heritage rich in soul winning, the current numbers on Southern Baptist conversions and church membership are disturbing, he said. Fish reported LifeWay Christian Resource data that showed 29.6 percent of churches are growing, leaving 70.4 percent in decline.
Today there are about 11 million active Southern Baptists, but if trends continue that number will drop to 8 million by 2050. As evidence, Fish noted baptism ratios show that it takes 43 Baptists to bring one person to Christ, and that 80 percent of church giving comes from those 55 years and older.
Despite the numbers, Fish urged South Carolina Baptists to consider how God can equip them to reach local families, neighborhoods, and communities for the kingdom. He urged pastors to return to evangelistic preaching from the pulpit. He said churches should offer more organized training to teach members on how to share their faith and develop strong new-member classes. He suggested planting evangelistic churches, which have consistently higher baptism ratios.
Most importantly, he said, Baptists should pray. “If we intercede in prayer for the lost like we ought to, it is going to place us on the battlefield in serious spiritual warfare. We have weapons in this warfare, and they are to be exercised through prayer,” Fish said. He pointed to the Fulton Street Revival of 1857 in New York City’s financial district as an example of how prayer can impact a progressive country filled with savvy businessmen on Wall Street, broken family relationships and cultural differences.
Revival started with a few businessmen and then swept across the nation. At the time there were about 30 million people in America, and it is estimated that 1 million of them made professions of faith during the revival. Today those numbers would translate into more than 10 million people across the country coming to know Jesus.
According to Fish, the revival was unique in several ways. It began with prayer and happened when the nation was at its lowest. The New York papers were almost exclusively covering news about the prayer meetings.
“The God of revival still lives,” Fish said. “This started as a prayer meeting with businessmen who sought the face of God on behalf of a needy city. I join all who hear this by saying, ‘Do it again, Lord, do it again.’ ” – SCBC