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Art Rogers pointed me to a post by Timmy Brister. “Ministerially Speaking” is a euphemism for exaggeration. Many over the years have given a free pass to those of us who preach when we have overstated to make a point. You may have heard, or said yourself, “Now this is not ministerially speaking.” The reference indicates our own growing discomfort with the reality words mean something. Exaggeration should not pass as the truth.

I repost Timmy’s indictment on us all to continue to make my point our issues tend to be systemic rather than exclusively connected to a single persona. Had Timmy taken the same data from our church he would have made similar discoveries - and dare I say we all would succumb to the evidence of our own pastoral contexts. Tom Ascol’s repeated calls for accountability when it comes to church membership make the same point. Something is amiss when we pass ourselves off as something we are not.

Please note there the peculiar reason Timmy used the illustration he did. Rather than excoriate him, or me for re-posting, pause and think reflectively on the issues at the heart of this problem. Maybe you will offer a solution or corrective. This post is offered with the author’s permission.

“Ministerially Speaking”

“Though official statements still affirm the doctrine of regenerate church membership, statistics indicate a different reality for the great majority of Baptist churches in North America.”
- John S. Hammett, Professor of Systematic Theology, SEBTS

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in class when my professor was discussing characteristics of biblical leadership, and during that discussion I learned of a term often used when talking about churches and their statistics. The term “ministerially speaking” is used when someone does not accurately present the facts or stats but rather exaggerates or embellishes the truth to their own benefit.

In Southern Baptist life, numbers and statistics seem to be a big deal. You will hear the defense and argument everywhere from the fact that we have a book in the Bible called “Numbers” to the pragmatic rationale of management principles for ministerial success. Over the course of my experience as a Southern Baptist with the heightened emphasis on numbers, I had become frustrated because of my conviction that we had auctioned the church off to corporate America and unrestrained pragmatism in the pursuit of upholding denominational dominance and triumphalism. Every time for instance, when you hear that we Southern Baptists account for 16+ million people, we of course are “ministerially speaking.” For example, while in 2004 Southern Baptists reported a total of 16,267,494 members, only 6,024,289 (37%) were on average present for Sunday morning worship. The 16 million is the number we report to the secular media, and the 6 million is the number we report to God–and that on a good day.

“Ministerially Speaking” in Focus

But at this particular juncture and season of SBC politics, “ministerially speaking” perhaps is best seen when Baptist Press announces another candidate for an SBC office. At the very heart of their reporting, you will find a lot of numbers, most of which comes from the Annual Church Profile database. For instance, let’s take the most recent candidate for president, Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Baptist Press reports,

“Cox has been North Metro’s pastor for more than 27 years. Under his leadership, the church has grown from 700 members to more than 4,600, with 3,600-plus individuals added to the church fellowship as baptized believers.”

I have to pause for a moment to emphasize a stat that I love, perhaps the most important of them all. Cox has been at North Metro for 27 years and stands as a testament to pastoral permanence in a flighty generation. I praise God for men like Frank Cox who find their life assignment in loving a congregation and leading them to reach their world for Christ.

But notice with me that the church has grown to 4,600 members with over 3,600 added through believer’s baptism. Those numbers are certainly impressive. But “ministerially speaking,” it could be even more impressive if you consider what Bob Terry, editor of The Alabama Baptist recently shared. In the February 21, 2008 editorial, Terry wrote the following:

“Other out-of-state speakers include Frank Cox, who is returning to the Alabama Baptist Evangelism Conference, and Herb Reavis Jr., senior pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. Cox, who previously spoke at the 2005 and 1998 state evangelism conferences, is senior pastor of North Metro Baptist Church, Lawrenceville, Ga. During his 25-plus years as pastor, he has led the church to grow from just under 500 members to more than 5,400.”

Now which is it? 4,600 members or 5,400? That’s a significant difference, don’t you think? But we must go on as more numbers await us.

A couple of paragraphs further in the same BP article, they add:

“The most recent information available, Southern Baptists’ 2006 Annual Church Profile Survey, lists 110 baptisms and primary worship service attendance of 1,737 for North Metro.”

According to Baptist Press, North Metro has at least 4,600 members but only 1,737 who show up on any given Sunday. We are not talking here about Sunday School, service, or ministry; rather, we are talking about those who simply sit in a pew on Sunday morning. Doing a little math will reveal that 37% of their membership are visibly present on Sunday (exactly the percentage from 2004 stated above), or put another way, nearly 2 out of 3 members do not attend “primary worship” services. Now the question then, is, why do we not talk about the numbers which are more realistic than the big, bloated numbers which so often get touted on newspaper write-ups and articles? But we must go on as more numbers await us.

Taking the same ACP data Baptist Press uses for their statistics, I have compiled the relevant data from 2000-2006 regarding North Metro as it is not really fair to look at a church over one year. So I wanted to see the church over a decent period of time, so I choose this seven-year period, and here is how the numbers shaped up:

Analysis

2000

3980 members
2636 resident members
141 baptisms
185 other additions
2003 primary worship attendance

2001

4000 members
2921 resident members
209 baptisms
246 other additions
2000 primary worship attendance

2002

4488 members
2960 resident members
140 baptisms
229 other additions
1425 primary worship attendance

2003

3931 members
3164 resident members
193 baptisms
219 other additions
1496 primary worship attendance

2004

4055 members
3278 resident members
140 baptisms
214 other additions
1676 primary worship attendance

2005

4188 members
3396 resident members
162 baptisms
199 other additions
1944 primary worship attendance

2006

4302 members
3486 resident members
110 baptisms
228 other additions
1737 primary worship attendance

Total Baptisms 2000-2006 1,095
Total Other Additions 2000-2006 1,520
Membership Growth from 2000-2006 322
Attendance Growth from 2000-2006 -266
Number of “Inactive” Members 2,565
A/A Differential* 2,615/-266
UCM Index** 60%

* A/A Differential = Total additions 2000-2006 / Total attendance growth 2000-2006
** UCM Index = 2006 Inactive Membership divided by 2006 Total Membership

The last paragraph is the totals of 2000-2006 combined. Take a moment, and consider these numbers with me.

First, while North Metro added 2,615 through baptism and “other additions,” their membership increased by only 322. What are we saying about the relationship of baptism and church membership? Ministerially speaking, the church grew by 2,615 members; biblically speaking, church membership increased by 322.

Second, again while North Metro added 2,615 during those seven years, they had a net decrease of -266 in primary worship attendance. What are we saying about the gospel and conversion when we baptized 1000+ people only to see a church decline in attendance during that same period? Ministerially speaking, the church added 2,615 people; biblically speaking, the church declined by 266 people.

Third, the total membership in 2006 was not 4,600 or 5,400 as Baptist Press reported but 4,302. But even with that number, the average attendance of 1,737 divided by 4,302 comes to 60% of the church not fulfilling their basic responsibility of worshiping God and hearing the Word preached on any given Sunday (a total of 2,565 “inactive” members. What are we saying about church discipline and the covenant community we call the local church? Imagine a corporation (if we go that route) where only 4 out of 10 of its employees ever showed up to work. How would it continue to function? So ministerially speaking, the church is comprised of 4,302 members; biblically speaking, the church has 1,737 members.

Conclusion

I could go on, but you do not need more numbers or my analysis to get the point. Numbers do matter - even the ones we cringe to look at and accept. But we must accept them. We must not be “ministerially speaking” but “biblically speaking”. My dean, Dr. Chuck Lawless, has a great blog entitled “Biblical Church Growth,” and I believe that is what we need today. I think it is clear to us all that adding 2,600+ members to one’s church should result in something more like 2,600 regular attenders (roughly speaking), not a decrease of 266 attenders. You see, behind these numbers tell us a lot about how serious we examine our churches, church membership, church discipline, the gospel, conversion, and a whole host of other things that distinctively make us Baptist. But more than being Baptist, we must be biblical, and to be biblical, we must begin with a humble confession and a honest assessment of where we are today. The problems we face will never be solved by denominational politics or presidents or anyone else “ministerially speaking.” They will be solved when we take a look at the Bride of Christ and say, “I will give my life for her that she may be pure, holy, and devoted to Christ our Head.” The reports in heaven will set the record straight, but God forbid that we wait until then to see our great need in the here and now.

It just doesn’t have to be that way, and we don’t just have to be “ministerially speaking” either.

Comment threads present opportunities to either stay the course or chase any number of tangential matters. Recently in the post, “The Difference a Perspective Makes,” Dr. York thought it important to ask if Dr. Page had been asked to sign, “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Betweeen Us and You.” I queried Dr. Page. He did not recall being asked to sign the document. I also asked Dr. Page if he had at any time taken an international mission trip. He replied,

I have been on multiple mission trips and was on one this past year among a group in

Africa, which I shall not name, but which is totally Muslim. I cannot tell you how many international mission trips I have been on for I lost count many years ago. However, I have been on every continent and have ministered and dialogued with an amazing array of people.

Since the original post centered on the differing perspectives between Dr. Mohler and Dr. Edens when it comes to conversations with, in this case Muslims, it should be noted Dr. Edens affirmed the theological position Dr. Mohler gave in the BP article. the issue then turns on methodology. The post stands as an illustration perspective matters.

International Mission Trips by Dr. Page - “lost count many years ago … on every continent”

International Mission Trips as President of Southern Seminary (14 yrs.) by Dr. Mohler - 0

Perspective matters when it comes to methodology.

(In 1985 our family moved to Dallas to attend Seminary. We visited a number of churches. A good friend suggested I visit a church in far southwest Dallas. Not a year later, I was asked to serve on staff of this church and would do so for three years while finishing the M.Div. at SWBTS. Dr. Rick Davis served the church as pastor. He would become my mentor. Now more than 20 years we continue to mentor one another. Rick served in evangelism as the Evangelism Director for the BGCT before moving to FBC, Brownwood, TX. I have asked him to write from time to time as an “Interested Outsider.” Rick writes at Aintsobad.)

The most evangelistic thing we may ever do as Church is worship. If we can do it more or less together, it is no more evangelistic but is possibly more effective evangelism.

At FBC, Midlothian, TX a few years ago, I knew a small Pentecostal church near us was in a building program. They were excited (Pentecostals are always excited, even when they are sad) about moving into their new place. At the last minute, a city inspector decided they would need just a little more cement in the parking lot before they could occupy. This scrape and fill congregation was about as close to raising the additional $9,000 as I am to buying Trump Tower.

They were excited. And devastated.

I went to my (pick one) leaders, deacons, elders at First Baptist and asked them for $3, 000 for this Pentecostal group. They refused to give what I asked. Instead, they doubled the amount to $6,000 and a few private donations later, we were excited to get the whole amount.

Never let the left hand know the activity of the right, surely, but you cannot keep this kind of story quiet. Soon, everyone in town knew.

Amazingly, people began to stop us on the street to talk about one church supporting another in what the local public seemed to understand as an endless competition of “My Steeple is Taller Than Yours.”

Please understand, at the Pentecostal church, they think we are a tad, well, baptist. I do not think they mean this as a compliment. They get excited, beat drums and engage in general euphoria, inciting interpretation of tongues, encouraging women to speak (aloud, presumably) in church. They are fired up, wired up and ready to ride before we pass out all our worship folders.

How is it we can participate in evangelistic worship across the denominational divide? If Christian unity is evangelism in the active tense, how can we manage to cooperate with persons of variant polity and practice without the alteration of the system generally brought on by active observation?

I suppose we should first ask if this kind of evangelism is interesting to us. For me, the answer is in the positive.

If there is a next step to practice unified Christian worship as evangelism, I suppose a definition is needed. I do not have one, however, and you will have to settle for my groping toward it.

By unified Christian worship, I do not mean the All Faith Worship Service we have at Thanksgiving. I do not mean the monthly ministerial lunch in the basement of the local Presbyterian Church. I do not mean we all join the Roman Universal Church, itself an oxymoronic term, imperium notwithstanding.

In short, I am not talking about the ultimate blended worship service, designed like a body shop, “Beat to fit, paint to match and certain to offend all.”

I do mean, by unified Christian worship as evangelism, the unique individual experience of reconciliation. We do not need four denominations gathering in one place, trying to decide if Amen is pronounced A-Men or Ah-Men in the closing prayer.

In fact, it would be a worshipful occurrence worthy of note if one baptist Christian church (anyone, anywhere, any time) could meet in a spirit of soul salvation generated by the source of light in God the Father, refracted through the prism of God the Holy Spirit and so warming/illuminating worshippers in the embodiment of God the Son. Christ draws nigh to us in order to draw us nigh to the Father. We snuggle up to Him as though He is our sister who keeps us safe, our mistress who excites us, our wife to satisfy and correct us.

I use baptist as an adjective rather than as a noun. Spell check tells me this is incorrect, because I do not use the capital letter. Spell check must be run from Louisville or Fort Worth.

Baptist Christians just barely need God in our churches. We have our doctrine, our Bible, our organizations. Baptist Christians might seek the unique individual experience of reconciliation to make us comprehensible to the portion of the world not yet drawn close to God. Just look one pew over or barely outside the door.

I posit reconciliation as the balancing of accounts, like when your bank statement shows you have as much in your account as the bank thinks. Then, you are reconciled.

This is a unique individual experience each time. We may be reconciled in a mass meeting, a prayer meeting, a meeting by the road. Whether we come as one of thousands or one of ones, we still experience reconciliation as a unique, individual experience. Salvation, like a hug, comes breast to breast, or it is cursory.

If unified worship is better evangelism, as it declares and manifests the faith simultaneously, the barrier to reaching people outside the covenant community may simply be we do not have anything of durative quality to show them. To be sought by a love-crazed God willing to literally die to meet us is the beginning statement of reconciliatory living.