Baptist writer: Unregenerate church members might spell R.I.P. for SBC

by Melissa Deming, TEXAN Correspondent                                         Vol. XX, No. 2, February 2007

Despite the doctrinal victories of the conservative resurgence, the Southern Baptist Convention is dying, contends Jim Elliff, founder and president of Christian Communicators Worldwide. With congregations of many unregenerate members and long rosters of inactive members, Elliff urged Southern Baptists to combat the rising trend of unregenerate membership before it is too late.

“The Southern Baptist Convention has a name that indicates that it is alive, but is in fact, mostly dead. Regardless of the wonderful advances in our commitment to the Bible, the recovery of our seminaries, a closer look reveals a denomination that is more like a corpse than a fit athlete,” Elliff wrote in an article published on his website, www.ccwonline.org, titled “Southern Baptists, an Unregenerate Denomination.”

With Southern Baptists claiming 16,287,494 members nationwide, only 6 million people or 37 percent attend services at their church, according to statistics from LifeWay’s Strategic Information and Planning Department.

“In other words, if you have 200 in attendance on Sunday morning, you likely have 500-600 or even more on your roll,” Elliff said, adding that the numbers of attending members is even lower in evening services. “These figures suggest that nearly 90 percent of Southern Baptist church members appear to be little different from the ‘cultural Christians’ who populate other mainline denominations.”

Even if the small percentage of members who attend services are considered true believers, Elliff said Southern Baptist congregations are still more dead than alive. “If we are honest, we might have to ask ourselves, ‘Do Southern Baptists believe in a regenerate membership?’”

Haing served on church staffs in Florida, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma and speaking to groups and congregations across the United States and overseas, Elliff shared some practical examples of unregenerate congregations obtained through his travels.

“In one church, with 7,000 on the active roll, there were only 2,000 in attendance on Sunday morning,” he said, excluding an additional 500 for guests and non-member children. “You have about 1,500 actual members coming in the morning and 500 or so in the evening. Where are the 5,500 members who are missing on Sunday mornings? Where are the 6,500 who are missing in the evening?”

Another church in which Elliff spoke reported 2,100 on the attendance roster with 725 showing up for Sunday morning service. “Remove guests and non-member children and the figure drops to 600 or less. Only about a third of that number came out on Sunday evening, representing less than 10 percent of the membership.”

If love of the brethren serves as evidence for love of the Father, Elliff believes that many of the “missing Christians” are probably not Christians at all.

“Attendance alone does not guarantee that anyone is an authentic believer, but ‘forsaking the assembling,’ is a serious sign of the unregenerate heart,” he said, referring to 1 John 3:14-19. “But their apathy towards regular and faithful church attendance betrays their true affections.”

Despite evangelistic crusades that yield large numbers of converts, only a small percentage of new believers remain in the church to continue spiritual growth, Elliff said, adding that poor follow-up is not to blame.

“In many churches there is every intention and effort given to follow-up, yet still the poor numbers persist,” he said, citing an example of a church that followed discipleship methods “by the book” after the crusade of an internationally-known evangelist. Yet the pastor reported that very few of the new believers wanted to “talk about how to grow as a Christian.”

Elliff said authentic believers will not reject opportunities for spiritual growth, having been given love for the body of Christ and the Word of God. “But you cannot follow-up on a spiritually dead person. Being dead, he has no interest in growth.”

With little evidence of true conversion in the local church, Elliff gave five recommendations for examining traditional methods of sharing the gospel.

First, the church must preach on the subject of the unregenerate church member, he said.

“Every author in the New Testament writes of the nature of deception. Some books give major consideration to the subject. Jesus himself spoke profusely about true and false conversion, giving significant attention to the fruit found in true believers,” he said, adding that the goal is for the deceived to find true conversion.

In examining the fruit of the Spirit that should be evident in a believer’s life, Elliff said some may take offense and leave the church. “But if they are truly regenerate, patient teaching and care will help them to overcome their doubts and gain biblical assurance.”

Second, pastors must address the issue of persistent sin in the lives of members through church discipline. “Each church should adopt guidelines that state just what will happen when a member falls into sin. Everyone in the church, including new members, should be made familiar with the biblical steps of church discipline.” Elliff said, adding that leaders might be required to enter the homes of erring church members to bring them to Christ or “to reluctantly release them to the world which they love more than Christ.”

“Nowhere in the Bible are we taught to keep non-believers on the rolls,” Elliff said, emphasizing a loving spirit should accompany church discipline. “… [L]oving church discipline is a careful process by which the obvious sinner in essence removes himself by his resistance to correction. The church is made up of repenting saints, not rebelling sinners.”

Third, churches should exercise more caution “on the front end of membership.” Elliff said biblical preaching itself is the most effective invitation for the gospel and church membership.

Elliff cites the example of C.H. Spurgeon, who led thousands to Christ without an altar call. “His message was his invitation,” Elliff explained. “We should always offer a verbal invitation in our gospel preaching, meaning we must invite people to repent and believe.”

Fourth, Elliff cautioned churches about readily giving verbal assurance to new believers or members who respond to the altar call. “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to give assurance,” he said. “We are to give the basis upon which assurance can be had, not the assurance itself.”

For those who might disagree, Elliff directed attention to the biblical principle found in 1 John 5:13. “What things were written so that they might know they have eternal life? Answer: The tests given in the book. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are children of God.”

Fifth, sound doctrine must be restored through genuine revival. “The three great doctrines which have so often shown up in true revival are: 1) God’s sovereignty in salvation, 2) justification by grace through faith alone, and 3) regeneration with discernible fruit,” Elliff said. “Revival is God showing up, but the blessing of the presence of God is directly affected by our beliefs. God most often comes in the context of these and other great doctrines, preached penetratingly and faithfully, and with the unction of the Holy Spirit.”

While local churches must be on the front lines of the battle for unregenerate church members, Elliff also posed two challenges for the Southern Baptist Convention.

Elliff urged the denomination to face the facts by introducing preachers in convention settings more honestly.

“Try using this introduction: ‘Here is Brother ______, pastor of a church of 10,000 members, 6,400 of whom do not bother to come on a given Sunday morning, and 8,600 of whom do not come on Sunday evening. He is here to tell us about how to have a healthy, evangelistic church.’”

“It might be better to ask a man to speak who shepherds 100 members, all of whom attend with regularity and all of whom show signs of regeneration, a man who, in the last year, has baptized five people who stick—rather than a pastor of 10,000 members, 7,000 of whom do not come. The smaller, but more consistent numbers of the first pastor reveal a far more effective ministry and thus a far better example for other churches.”

Elliff also suggested that the SBC should form a study group to explore the issue of unconverted church members plaguing the convention.

“This group should also seek to re-examine the biblical mandate to have a regenerate church. Then this study group should report back with a strategy to help us out of the dilemma,” he said.

Unless Southern Baptists begin to measure ministry effectiveness by true conversions and healthy churches committed to biblical doctrine, Elliff fears the denomination will gradually become like other mainline, ineffectual denominations.

“Our only alternative is to carry on in the old way—the way that produces 70-90 percent fallout. By continuing on as we are, we will gradually blur, and eventually obscure altogether, any distinction between the professing and the authentic Christian,” Elliff said. “We are only one-third to one-tenth alive now. If we want to avoid complete deadness, we must take dramatic measures immediately. Like cotton candy, our apparent size does not add up to much.”

[Reprinted from the Southern Baptist Texan, 18 December 2006, p. 10.]