Future Issues

by   T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                   Vol. XXII, No. 1, January 2009

In preparing the “State Wrap” article for each January Baptist Banner, I call one or two dependable contacts in each state Baptist convention. This year I took the opportunity to ask each of them what future issues he sensed that may be peeping over the horizon as potential problems to be met, either at his state level or the SBC level.

As one might expect, there was a wide diversity of responses. Also, some of the issues as framed by my contacts overlap with others. The issues suggested and the number of times each was raised are:

“Strict”, 5-point Calvinism divisive between pastors and/or within local churches   6

Evangelism: to be effective in reaching, converting, training up people                   5

– One particularly interesting comment on this was that if we pursue holiness first, we will be successful in evangelizing. If we don’t pursue holiness, we will not be able to evangelize meaningfully.

The “Emergent Church” movement among young pastors                                         4

Develop leaders; none of the SBC entities has this responsibility                            2

[The remaining issues were each mentioned by just one contact.]

Charismatic movement. Pastoral transitions. Most members do not consider themselves Southern Baptists. IMB policies narrow the tent. The Baptist identity movement (neo-Landmarkism). Churches contributing to individual state missions rather than the CP. Moderates seeping back onto some state and national boards. Church planters not preaching the whole counsel of God. State institutions leaving biblical roots. We must stand firm on marriage. Stand firm on homosexuality but not sound judgmental. The SBC bureaucracy is stealing the best from the field. National entities becoming out of touch. Exorbitant salaries for national executives. Finding an appeal for young people. Similar to the previous item: Young people don’t have the denominational loyalty of yesteryear and this will probably worsen. We must move from casual Christianity to a distinctly Christian church. Avoid legalism. Need renewal and revival throughout the SBC. Young pastors seem not to grasp the value of the SBC and CP. We lack an SBC vision. Issues between SBC leaders.

Conclusion: There is no doubt that every age has its challenges. We will face issues as we move into the future. Above you have a broad list of possible up-coming issues as suggested by some very alert Southern Baptists all across the country. My question for your contemplation: Which of these issues (or others) are the most likely, the most dangerous to our God-given missions? And what should we be doing about them?

If one or more readers are led to write an article about any of these issues, I will be glad to consider it for publication.