SBCOutpost

The New York Times has an article about the Clarkston International Bible Church, in Clarkston, Georgia (metro Atlanta). Clarkston International Bible Church used to be known as the Clarkston Baptist Church.  It’s still Southern Baptist.  By around 2001 the church had gone from an attendance of 600 to just around 100. The community was changing. Nearly one-third to one-half of the residents of Clarkston were immigrants. Facing a changing community one church member was noted as saying, “If you think black folks are going to come in here and take our church away from us you got another thing coming.”

Today Clarkston International Bible Church has among its members immigrants from the Philippines, Liberia, Sudan and even Afghanistan, among other countries. In a culture in which 11:00 on Sundays continues to be one of the most segregated hours in America, Clarkston International Bible Church stands out as an example of “exegeting the culture” and reflecting heaven. It hasn’t all been smooth. Some long-time members have left. Others, like William Perrin, believe they have no other Biblical choice. The NY Times states, “With his church failing, Mr. Perrin and other longtime members looked to the Scriptures for guidance and found what they believed was a mandate from Jesus to diversify their church.

‘We realized that what the Lord had in store for that old Clarkston Baptist Church was to transition into a truly international church and to help minister to all these ethnic groups moving into the county,’ Mr. Perrin said.”

David Phillips encourages us all to think outside of our own southern culture to find where and how God is moving. Commenter Greg Hicks makes a great observation that the south itself is changing and those of us who minister in places where the SBC is firmly established might need to re-examine our own cultural surroundings as well. The article Ben posted suggests we rethink both our preaching and our historic Enlightenment concepts of God and the relationship between the physical and spiritual worlds.

What challenges are your churches facing in terms of cultural transition? Theological re-thinking? How are you approaching those challenges?

The following is re-posted from Joe Kennedy’s blog Words Are Not Enough.  Comments are closed as prayers should not be commented upon nor should this become an exercise in Luke 18:11-12.  The challenge is for each of us to make it our own.

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Father, I come before you to pray for the Southern Baptist Convention. I know that you are sovereign over all creation, and that your mission will continue with or without our involvement. The true Church exists within the walls of the SBC, and it exists outside of it. There are Christ-followers of many tribes and tongues, from before the SBC existed and from a time long after the SBC ceases. We are yours, forever. I’m overwhelmed that you allow me to serve you, a God who is in control regardless of the power struggles on Earth. Thank you so much for Jesus, who saves us. It is because of Jesus that I am able to come before you with these requests.

I want to pray first for our leaders in the SBC. I ask that you would humble our convention. I am boldly asking that your mission be continued through the SBC, and that any hindrances from that goal be removed. I pray that you would use whatever means necessary to bring us back to a strong pursuit of you, and you alone.

Second I pray that our church members would renew their hearts toward the pursuit of holiness, both on a personal and a collective level. I ask that you would enlighten our minds and soften our hearts, so that we would be more apt to love our neighbors and pray for our enemies. We are so guilty of those things. I pray that we would not take your Word lightly, and by doing so become ultra-conservative to the point of liberalism, or so liberal that the Word has no true meaning in our lives. The Word became flesh. I ask that you would bring your Spirit upon the true Christ-followers in the SBC; that we would walk in your Spirit; and we would be known as “Little Christs” once more.

I pray for the convention’s unity. I ask that you would unify us, not behind a human ego, but behind Christ alone. I pray that we would all, as a whole, repent. For all of us who are blind, I ask that you would give us eyes to see our wicked ways.  I believe that you will convict us of our collective and individual sins. I trust that you will do that, and I ask that you do it soon. Raise up your followers in the SBC. Deliver us from the Evil One, and deliver us from his those who do his work.

I beg you for revival in the SBC. True revival. A renewal of our hearts, a renewal of our minds, and a renewal of our souls. Show us the way again. Help us to crucify ourselves, and in doing so fill ourselves with Christ. Less of us, more of you, Lord. Your way, not ours. Let it begin with me. May it never cease.

Amen.

One of the basic questions facing Southern Baptists concerns how we determine those with whom we will cooperate. In a day gone by cooperation may have inferred consensus. That is, a diverse group gathers and determines on what basis they will agree to work. Some consider the only way competing groups may meld is to force compromise. The basic issue then becomes what is the core for cooperation. At this point in a given group the dominant members assert their will and note cooperation will occur on their terms. Now dominant may not be solely a matter of numbers. We have all been in groups where dominant meant personality rather than, “we have the numbers.”

What happens when diverse groups come together for the cause of the Gospel? Good conversation partners illustrate the difficulty we face when practically working through our positions. By good conversation partners we mean those who take the time to listen rather than plan what to say while the other person is talking - or in the “blog” world of commenting, “typing.” We also mean conversation partners willing to consider their own position with humility. I found Sam Storms’ article regarding the conversation partners who participated in, “Together for the Gospel,” a worthwhile read. (HT:WB)

Much may be made of what makes us Baptists. (No dear critic, we did not forget our “Baptist Distinctives.”) Greater time should be spent with what makes us Christian. We may stand confident we are Baptist Christians, but when Baptist Christians, Southern Baptist Christians, begin sounding as “gatekeepers” to the Kingdom of God we have moved away from the center to the fringe. You will need to read the entire article to grasp the value of the following quote (A caution to “quote miners” - be sure to practice good hermeneutics.),

Jesus himself made it clear that the cup represented or pointed to or in some sense embodied “the forgiveness of sins” that would come from the saving efficacy of his atoning death (Matthew 26:28). In 1 Corinthians 11:26 Paul echoed this truth by telling us that every time we celebrate the Lord’s Table we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” In other words, the Eucharist is a dramatic, visible, vocal enactment of the gospel itself. It stirs our hearts to meditate on Christ’s redemptive work and is designed to stimulate the mind to reflect on the significance of all that he achieved on behalf of those for whom he died.

My question, then, is this: How can we claim to be “together” or “united” for the sake of the gospel and turn away a brother or sister from the very expression and proclamation of that gospel that is so central to the life and testimony of the church? What does this prohibition say to the world around us? What must they think of our professed “togetherness” or “unity” when the elements of the Eucharist would be withheld from a brother such as Ligon Duncan?