Save the Denomination
When I share reasons for church planting, the number one reason is because of the vast lostness in our country and our world. The terrible truth is that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of planet earth do not know the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” In order to reach this large number of the “far from God”, we must plant new churches. New church plants are the most effective means of reaching lost people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Another important reason for planting churches is to “save the denomination”. Now, I know that today a favorite sport of many people is to kick the denomination, to malign the denomination, to ignore the denomination, etc. I have heard many young planters who have said the denomination is not relevant to them or their plants.
Oh, how wrong they are! The Southern Baptist convention is relevant and church planting is one of the reasons why.
Do you remember the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart? It is a classic that is shown numerous times during the Christmas season.
In the movie, Stewart played George Bailey. George, who owned and managed a savings and loan institution, came to a place where he didn’t think he mattered anymore. He was on the verge of committing suicide by jumping into an icy river when Clarence, the angel, decided to show him what his town would look like without the influence of George Bailey. So Clarence sent Bailey to George’s hometown as it would have developed if George had never existed. As you remember, the town was a terrible place. He learned that his life was not unimportant.
What would the world look like without the influence of the Southern Baptist Convention and the amazing Cooperative Program? I’m no angel, but I can give you a glimpse. There would not be those 18 churches that Lou Anne and I planted in Ecuador and Peru. There would not be those hundreds of believers that were won and became the nucleus of those new churches. And worse, there would be a vacuum of churches and believers around the world because there was no Southern Baptist Convention.
I thank God that the Southern Baptist Convention was created and the Cooperative Program has been used by God to carry the Gospel throughout the world.
This heritage is in danger. The future is not so clear. We can safely predict that thousands of Southern Baptist Convention churches will close their doors in the next 20 years. Without a strong church planting ethic in our convention, there will not be strong missionary- sending congregations and strong theological seminaries that are funded by the Cooperative Program.
Let’s “save the denomination” because it is relevant to reaching our world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s “save the denomination” by planting strong Acts 1:8 reproducing Bible-believing cooperating new churches!
7 Comments posted by: Larry Baker on September 16th, 2008
