Evangéliumi Hírnök, 1981 (73. évfolyam, 1-16. szám)
1981-03-15 / 6. szám
8. oldal 1981. március 15. Set the Record Straight About Southern Baptist Churches By Albert McClellan 50.00; Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Hamula, Los Angeles, CA 50.00; Rev. and Mrs. Gabriel Petre, Sr., Palm Bay, FL 10.00; Bethesda Baptist Church, Palm Bay, Fla. 85.00; Mr. and Mrs. Edward Kish, Fairfield, CT 10.00; Mr. Andrew Stumpf, Colorado Springs, CO 25.00; Mr. and Mrs. Ernest J. Kish, Palm Bay, FL 30.00; Mr. and Mrs. Ben Balia, Detroit, MI 12.00; Mr. and Mrs. Mike Ross, Daytona Beach, Fla. 20.00; Elvira Kohler, Wyandotte, MI 25.00; Silliman Memorial Baptist Church, Bridgeport, CT 26.00; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Tatter, Watervliet, MI 20.00; Mrs. Julia Smenyak, Palm Bay, FL 5.00. — Total: $1,314.00. "Peter therefore seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, and what about this man? Jesus said to him, If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? YOU follow ME!” (John 21:21-22.) * * * It isn’t the preacher’s flowery prayer, or the way the choir sings, Or the size of the coin your neighbor gives, or the help your brother brings. It isn’t the size of your favorite church, or the cost of your favorite pew, Or the style of clothes the members wear; for it isn’t the church, it’s YOU. It isn’t the way the work is done, or the way the money’s spent, Or whether the gospel's all brought in, or whether there's some that’s sent. It isn’t the kind of creed they love, or peculiar things they do, Or whether the doctrine suits your taste; for it isn't the church, it’s YOU. For a chain's as strong as the weakest link, and it breaks with a heavy load, But a church that's full of links that pull, can level the roughest road. If you get in tune with the Master’s will with your heart and your labors too, You will love your church, tho’ it has its faults, for it isn't the church, IT’S YOU! __copied R. R. Newberry HOPE I never knew a night so black Light failed to follow on its track. I never knew a storem so gray. It failed to have its clearing day. I never knew such bleak despair, That there was not a rift, somewhere I never knew an hour so drear, Love could not fill it full of cheer. Anon-Creed It doesn’t matter who you love or how you love but that you love. For in the end the act of loving anyone is the act of loving God. Rod McKuen Southern Baptists have often been criticized, both by their own members and by outsiders. In the middle of the last century they were called unscriptural and apostate by some of their own leaders for organizing mission work. In the 1920s they were called liberal and corrupt by J. Frank Norris for their vigorous denominational missions. In the 1930s they were called adolescent and uncooperative by national religious figures for refusing to participate in the ecumenical movement. More recently, they were called irrelevant and other worldly by national critics for their biblical stance. And now they are sometimes called unspiritual and sterile by some of their own inside critics because they do not always respond to innovative ideas advanced by energetic people. Most of these criticisms came head on, but against them Southern Baptists have been able to keep the equilibrium. But another subtle criticism is not head on. It comes in sly offset ways, through the back doors, so to speak, implied or suggested by innuendo and even by veiled compliments. And its comes from some sections of the huge non-denominational paradenominational electronic church. This criticism is rarely publically spoken, but often emerges in conferences in which the fund raisers attempt to enlist Southern Baptist members for their causes. The critics imply that Southern Baptists are doing little or nothing compared with what they are doing, and if the people will only give money to them, they will do so much more with it than the Baptists. Some of these people boast that were it not for Southern Baptist giving they would have to give up their ministries. They do not intend to discredit Southern Baptist work, but the results are the same. Southern Baptist work is indeed discredited, and wrongly so. Somehow, our people must see that God is with them, too. As important as the para-denominational groups may be —and it is not the purpose of this article to put them down—Southern Baptists can pretty well prove their right to exist as an evangelical dynamic community of Christians, blessed as few such groups have ever been. As big as the para-denominational electronic churches are, they do not match what Southern Baptists are doing. Not that we must boast of our accomplishments, for that would be wrong. Yet we must set the record straight, so that our people can see what they are doing in traditional ways is as monumental as what others are doing in their innovative ways. 1. The work Southern Baptists do involves local church members as the congregational level. A popular radio or television preacher can boast of a large listening audience, running sometimes into the millions. But most of the listeners sit cloistered in their living rooms, cut off from their brothers and sisters in the churches. Southern Baptists have 35,605 organized congregations. These have 13,379,073 members, a goodly number of which are involved on a daily basis. Over seven million are enlisted in weekly Bible study in Sunday School These churches are staffed with nearly 50,000 full-time workers, and every week about 700,000 dedicated and trained people lead the various organizations and Bible classes. These dedicated people perform literally millions of personal services in Christ’s name. They witness, they pray, they sing, they teach, and they minister. Their faith is not a passive electronic experience, but an active koinonia experience. A single electronic church may have as few as 60 or as many as 6,000 in a live audience, but the millions are passive onlookers, not involved in what is taking place at the other end of the electronic pipeline. Southern Baptist life is a New Testament expression—a local church involvement. (To be continued)
