Oct
09
2009
Albert Mohler: The SBC, Evangelicals & Denominationalism
SESSION 15
SPEAKER: R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Seminary
TITLE: Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism (Audio here)
THE GIST: In 1989, Southern Baptists were looking for a future and determined that the future must be in conversation with American evangelicalism. Dr. Mohler’s imperative was that we recognize our evangelical identity in a time of Baptist controversy. Today, made the case that we should recapture our Baptist identity in a time of evangelical waywardness.
BRIEF OUTLINE:
An Overview of the Current State of the SBC
- Generational distinctions
- Death of cultural Christianity
- Decline in our numbers
A Word to the Younger Generation
- You are a hinge generation.
- You are a generation of social transformation
- You are a generation of global responsibility
- You are a generation of spiritual confusion
- You are a generation of institutional disinterest
A Plea to Younger Southern Baptists
- Give yourself to Christ.
- Give yourself to the local church.
- Give yourself to cooperation with other churches.
- Go deep (in devotion, missions, fellowship, doctrine, ecclesiology).
MEMORABLE QUOTES:
The identity question once loomed large over Southern Baptists. Every generation must ask those questions.
The media only knows “liberals,” “evangelicals” and “everybody else.” Southern Baptists are not “everybody else;” nor are we “liberals.” So… like it or not, we are “evangelicals.”
Baptists have come to understand it is best to be both “centered-set” and “boundary-set” regarding our doctrines.
The Southern Baptist Convention is currently experiencing the death of cultural Christianity.
A new slogan will not save us.
Many people who will hear the gospel preached by this generation will not respond with rejection, but simply a shrug.
Do not be a Southern Baptist because your grandmother is. Give yourself to the SBC because you will see, as you are faithful first to your local church, that this really can be a denomination that is transformed by a Great Commission passion for the glory of God.
I’m not imploring you to leave the SBC, but to save it.