Is the SBC eating its young?

It’s a rhetorical question at best, because the answer is absolutely, positively, “Yes.”

Last October at my local association’s meeting there were exactly two people in the room under age 35. I was one. Another seminary student who is also a pastor, and preaching one of the two nights, was the other. The median age had to be close to or over 55.

The Southern Baptist Convention is dying… of old age if nothing else. Much has been made of the generation gap in recent days. There are several reasons, I believe, why young people are disengaged from denominational activity. I want to highlight a few in short form, and no particular order, that I believe are the most pressing.

• A denial of the sufficiency of Scripture

  Thirty-years ago many Southern Baptists rose against the politically dominant moderate/liberal tide and wrestled control of the convention away in the name of the inerrancy of Scripture.  They won the day.  Active and engaged Southern Baptists, by and large, affirm that the Scriptures are without error and are infallible.  They would also affirm the Scriptures are sufficient for faith and practice, but recent history suggests that is only an affirmation.The same people that taught the current generation of young Southern Baptists to go to the Bible have themselves forsaken the Bible time and time again.  The rising Calvinist tide has been rebutted, not from the Scriptures (mainly), but through libel, slander, caricature, misrepresentation, and flat out faulty exegesis.  The war on alcohol is apparently more important to most SBCers than is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  All in all so many in the Convention, especially the aging generation behind the conservative resurgence, seems to be less about the Bible and more about claiming they are right because they were part of said resurgence.

• Youth ministries divide entire generations from the rest of the church

  I’m no fan of church business meetings, but quick… How many churches hold their business meetings on Wednesday nights, when the youth (many of whom are members of the church) are listening to some praise band, watching a skit, and hearing what is probably a moralistic message?  The answer?  Many.Youth ministries by their nature are an unnecessary division in the body of Christ.  The biblical model of Titus 2 discipleship within the church is forsaken for what is deemed age-appropriate ministry.  All too often, however, these ministries focus on fun, even if they say they don’t, and even if the purpose of the church is not fun.

  But I digress, by siphoning off ages 12-18 into a youth group they are segregrated from the rest of the body, and thus divorced from being engaged in the business of the church, and why Southern Baptist Convention issues matter.  By the time they are in college they have no knowledge of, nor any desire to know, what goes on in the SBC.  This has been going since at least the days I was in a youth group, and probably longer.

• Landmarkish attitudes toward outside affiliation

  This has really come to the forefront in recent days after the Baptist Press did a hatchet job on Mark Driscoll, just days after Driscoll had shared a stage with SEBTS President Danny Akin.  The Missouri Baptist Convention’s move against local church autonomy, by castigating churches dually-aligned with the Acts 29 Network, is an abomination.I have reservations about aspects of the “emergent” movement just like many other Southern Baptists do.  However, too many Southern Baptists are majoring on the minors, concentrating more on method than doctrine, which should drive method in the first place.

• The failure of Southern Baptist leaders to call a spade a spade

  This is the one that too few are talking about.  There are far too many Southern Baptist leaders who remain silent when some of the most important fundamentals of the Christian faith, and the people who espouse them, are misrepresented by other Southern Baptist leaders.  There is far too much accomodation and recognition of some Southern Baptists who, through their words and actions, do not rightly divide the Word of God.Why should the younger generation of Southern Baptists be excited about being Southern Baptist when their trusted leaders fail to raise their voices when truth is spoken against?  What kind of vision of the SBC does that leave with the next generation?  What kind of legacy will that leave to the generation after that?

  Jesus called a spade a spade.  Paul called a spade a spade.  When will the political correctness come to an end and the leaders on the side of the gospel call a spade a spade?

Until these and other issues are addressed, the Southern Baptist Convention will continue to eat its young?  The question then becomes, will there be any Southern Baptists left to grow old?