How the GCR Could Win.
In my last post I discussed why I believe that the GCR would fail. However I do not believe that the GCR is a failed hopeless attempt at bringing life into a dead convention. I think there is hope. So here are some ideas that I believe will be vital for the success of the Great Commission Resurgence.
Remember, the core problem of the Southern Baptist Convention is not a lack of Church planting or national mission boards. These are simply symptoms and causes of a greater problem, a complete lack of desire to do any evangelism at all.
So how can the SBC address the root cause?
American Missionaries
I want to suggest that one of the functions of the Southern Baptist Convention should be to hire and equip full time “American Missionaries.” These would be men of God who are actively involved in evangelism in the United States. Their primary goal would be to travel and proclaim the Gospel all over the United States while their secondary goal would be to visit local Southern Baptist Churches, hold evangelism training seminars and encouraging the congregation by example to go share their the glorious truths of God’s word.
I got a twitter about this yesterday from @Witnesses
@Witnesses – Not that I am out there [doing evangelism] all that much myself, I’d like someone local to encourage me and join me to ease my nervousness.
How many people within the Southern Baptist Convention desire to share the Gospel but have no idea how to do it? They just need someone to come along side of them and support them. A traveling evangelist could come to a local area spend a few weeks with several churches and encourage people to share the Gospel.
This would be a great way to “just be there” and support those who desire to do evangelism but never had the support.
The great thing about this is that there are many Southern Baptist across the nation who are already actively involved in street ministry/public evangelism. They may not be the most scholarly but their heart is there and they are experienced in the work of evangelism. Some of them I know personally, they have quit their jobs and are supporting their family based on donations from friends and family members. Why not have the SBC come and financially support these guys who are already actively involved in the work of the Great Commission and allow them to be more productive then they could be on donation based ministry?
Shouldn’t the SBC desire to support active evangelism in the community anyway?
The people within the congregation need to see first hand that mission work does not take place overseas but right in their backyard. They need to see normal, average people being bold for the Gospel while being encouraged to do the same thing.
I am not saying that we should exclude seminary graduates from this position but I do not think we should exclude non-seminarians from this either. The Southern Baptist Convention has done such a fine job of creating a caste system with it’s elaborate seminaries and education requirements for missionaries that the people who just “go to church” believe that the work of the church is to much for them. They feel that they don’t know enough. The average people in the Southern Baptist Convention need to see average Southern Baptist giving their lives for the Gospel.
This is all part of nurturing the ground for the work of Church planting. It’s all part of the goal of getting the average joes involved in the dirty yet rewarding work of the Gospel. Without it the Great Commission Resurgence will be lost among the other great convention meetings and heated debates, becoming nothing more then a Southern Baptist battle over carpet color.
December 4th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Your welcome! Certainly it was my question about what the solutions were that inspired you to post this! Right? Just kidding. But I agree that we need American Missionaries. And we also need to send them where they are needed most. the MN/WI Convention just had to cut two staff members and now has only 8 people for the Two State convention's entire staff. Yet there are more administrative assistants working in the NC convention's offices. Not that NC doesn't need them. But so does MN/WI.
December 4th, 2009 at 11:00 am
[...] But then I read a blog post this week that criticized it. The heart of the GCR at this point seems to be a call to reorganize the way we are doing missions. And this blog post said that will have little effect because he said that the organizational structure of the denomination has little to do with our decline. He said that our decline was because Christians don’t care that much about the Gospel or witnessing. He said, announce to your church this Sunday that after service you are going to the local stores and passing out Gospel tracts. See how may show up to go. [Update: the blog has a new post about how the GCR could win] [...]
December 4th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I like this idea. I recently drove two hours to participate in evangelism to expose myself because I couldn't find anyone closer. I'll probably make the two hour drive several more times.
First people need to learn what evangelism is. There are many incorrect opinions in our churches on this.
The first thing I would like to see the average church member doing is telling their friends and family the Gospel. Perhaps when you said you wanted them on the streets, you assumed they already share with their friends and family, but they do not. Of course, getting them some training on street evangelism could spill over into their personal lives.
Thanks for the post.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
In addition to traveling/training evangelist their are ministries that are targeted to teaching evangelism using the Law and the Gospel. Living Waters (Way of the Master) for one has many training resources that can be done as a group study you can find out more about them at http://www.livingwaters.com
and Hearts For The Lost which will come and do training along the lines of Way of The Master http://www.heartsforthelost.com/ I believe they do not charge for their seminars.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
[...] the next blog, I’ll give you some ideas on how to accomplish [...]