SBC President Frank Page with some interesting remarks at a recent conference at Union University:

“Oftentimes in our convention we have broken into groups that want to know ‘Who’s side are you on?’ rather than ‘Are you preaching Christ?’” Page said. “There are people in the Southern Baptist Convention who think the convention belongs to them. There are many groups that think that way. I have felt that way at times myself.”

But Page said “this convention does not belong to me, nor to you. It is a Jesus convention.”

Thom Rainer of Lifeway Resources also spoke:

He pointed to several reasons for the SBC’s downward trend in evangelism. Eschatology is one reason, because Rainer said Southern Baptists are increasingly abandoning a belief in a literal, physical hell, which diminishes enthusiasm for evangelism.

Rainer also listed ecclesiology as another reason. On a given Sunday, according to statistics, only about 7 million of the SBC’s 16 million members attend church.

“It would appear that our church rolls are filled with non-members and, likely, unregenerate members,” Rainer said. “That which is dead cannot tell another person how to have life.”

Technorati Tags: Southern Baptist, Frank Page, Thom Rainer, Hell, Evangelism

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