Correct. Only about 30% of SBC churches identify as Calvinist.
But I have to wonder how many people will say, as I do, that I am not a Calvinist, I am a Particular Baptist.
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Should I Leave the Southern Baptist Convention?
- Thread starter Steven Yeadon
- Start date
But I have to wonder how many people will say, as I do, that I am not a Calvinist, I am a Particular Baptist.
Correct. Only about 30% of SBC churches identify as Calvinist.
But I have to wonder how many people will say, as I do, that I am not a Calvinist, I am a Particular Baptist.
The average church member does not even know what that moniker even means.
I don't think that came from the convention; it was what the churches believed was proper. (This is a separate issue from recent decisions by the mission boards to reject candidates whose baptisms were by non-ES groups).
In the church I grew up in, our longtime piano player had to be baptized before she could become a member because her original baptism (by immersion) was in a Pentecostal (Wesleyan in soteriology) church. No one from the convention forced the baptism; it was just accepted within the church that it was the way things should be.
In the church I grew up in, our longtime piano player had to be baptized before she could become a member because her original baptism (by immersion) was in a Pentecostal (Wesleyan in soteriology) church. No one from the convention forced the baptism; it was just accepted within the church that it was the way things should be.
In my part of the world I would venture that the percentage is much, much lower and would not include any of the larger churches. For years I attended a large church whose pastor was decidedly anti-Calvinistic. The only ones I know of locally are small, and there aren't many of them.
But I have to wonder how many people will say, as I do, that I am not a Calvinist, I am a Particular Baptist.
Probably about the same as would understand me if I said I leaned toward being a Reformed Baptist. Not that I would, of course. Too much to explain with no real benefit. The folks love the Lord and want to do his work.
Yes you should, you are not SBC material.
Could you explain why this is so?
It could be that you don't understand salvation enough that you entertain the possibility that a false Jesus can save?
The SBC is about doing missions. With all the other focus you have you seem to have lost site of that.
To an extent that is very true. I have certainly lost sight of personal evangelism recently, but I am very involved in missions in a few ways. The problem has been what to tell people when I witness to them because many in my area (Orlando, FL) are 7th day Adventist, Mormon, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, United Methodist, or Episcopal. I am now certain that the false Jesus these organizations spread is non-salvific. Yet even when I run into other baptists, and I'll specify from my age group, who are the most common, I am constantly amazed at their loose lifestyles compared to the bible's commands.
I guess what I'm making sense of as I type, and thank you for the correction, is that it seems like most "Christians" I meet in Orlando, FL are in need of someone telling them only the Jesus of the bible saves. They also need to be told that the worries of this world, the allure of wealth, and the desire for other things are deadly dangerous. I need to get past my cowardice, I see, and just say the true but hated thing with nearly everyone I meet in evangelism.
Thank you for the correction. But I must disagree on international missions to an extent. The last thing I want to inflict on anyone overseas is a false Jesus, and there are now a seemingly growing part of the convention that have a more Moderate, Ecumenical. or even Charismatic Jesus in mind than the real one.
Not "To an extent" - Missions is the reason the SBC was formed.
Take a look at this pie chart and see what % goes to missions!
Sorry I should have been more specific, the cooperative program is all about missions, I knew. I meant that to an extant I had lost sight of missions and evangelism, but more evangelism than missions.
Precisely. As W.A. Criswell said, it's what holds Southern Baptists together together like cables of steel; the SBC would be a weak rope of sand otherwise:
SBC President W.A. Criswell at the denomination's 125th Anniversary Annual Meeting in 1970
"Criswell told Southern Baptists 'if ever we lose that missionary passion we shall dissolve like a rope of sand.' He explained it this way: 'Our world-wide mission program holds us together like cables of steel.'"
Isn’t that sad... but the term “average” is distinctive.
Oh jeeze
, so tell me then, just what is SBC Material?