Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
Southern Baptists look for cures to stagnation 'Great Commission Resurgence' » Leaders will present declaration at annual meeting this week. By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service Salt Lake Tribune 02:56:55 PM MDT Decades of painful conservative-moderate fights. Stagnant baptism rates. Membership malaise. Surveying the state of the Southern Baptist Convention, seminary president Danny Akin can sum it all up in six words: "Business as usual is not working." Seeking to turn things around for the nation's largest Protestant body, Akin has teamed with SBC President Johnny Hunt to draft a "Great Commission Resurgence" declaration that will be presented to the Baptists' annual meeting June 23-24 in Louisville, Ky. The goal is to find a new way forward after several high-profile campaigns to boost the number of baptisms -- a key measure of vitality and an article of faith for Baptists -- fell flat. Hunt told one Baptist newspaper that the SBC is like a ship that is "adrift" and needs to consider ridding itself of unnecessary "cargo." For the Rev. Micah Fries, a 30-year-old pastor of a Southern Baptist church in St. Joseph, Mo., such analogies are appropriate for a denomination that has grown in size and bureaucracy in its more than 150 years of history. "We need to lose some excessive baggage," he said, noting a worrisome $30 million shortfall in an international missions offering that will reduce the number of missionaries deployed oversees. For years, political battles -- inside and outside the convention -- put key Southern Baptist leaders in the spotlight. But now, as some of those faces fade from view, a younger generation is taking a different focus. "I think in many ways, the Southern Baptist Convention mirrors the Republican Party in that they have cultivated such a narrow base," said the Rev. Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, N.C. "They have to keep defining themselves to say to a new generation, 'Here's what we delivered you from,' because this new generation doesn't remember." Those fights included whether to boycott the Walt Disney Co., forbidding women pastors, telling wives to "submit graciously" to their husbands and screening out would-be missionaries who pray in tongues, as well as public-square battles over abortion and homosexuality. Akin, the 52-year-old president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., says the annual fights over hot-button theological or social issues aren't moving the next generation of Baptists. "This is kind of the network of younger, enthusiastic Southern Baptists who, to be honest with you, ... find the annual meeting itself a little frustrating and a little boring," said Akin. Akin hopes the declaration will help chart a new direction by combining theology -- with a focus on sharing the gospel and belief in an error-proof Bible -- with a top-to-bottom streamlining that puts special emphasis on racial reconciliation. The Baptist blogosphere is already abuzz with debate over where the document could take the denomination, or if it could even work. "It exposes two divides," said the Rev. Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., who has used his blog to question Southern Baptist policies in recent years. "It's an ideological, not generational, divide and it is a status-quo-versus-change divide." Richard Land, president of the denomination's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the statement reflects particular concern with baptism rates -- now at their lowest since 1987 -- and a total membership that dropped 0.2 percent in a church that for years prided itself on its annual increases. "I think it's a sense of some frustration that we have not seen more growth in missions and evangelism, and [it's] an attempt to re-emphasize that," he said. Not everyone is embracing Hunt and Akin's plans. Former SBC President Morris Chapman (who currently leads the denomination's Executive Committee) has been outspoken in his opposition. "Reallocating our funds will not solve any perceived problems," Chapman wrote in a column in Baptist Press, the denomination's news service. "But a genuine revival might!" Some Baptist state conventions have questioned what the proposed restructuring could mean on the local level, while others acknowledge the need for change. "It is with sadness I declare that many in our churches are spiritually sick and in great need of a fresh movement of God both within the leadership and the laity," said Milton A. Hollifield Jr., the executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, at a May board meeting. "May God help us look to him and to be different." - - - It's nice to see problems among the bigots. |
#2
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
HK wrote:
Southern Baptists look for cures to stagnation 'Great Commission Resurgence' » Leaders will present declaration at annual meeting this week. By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service Salt Lake Tribune 02:56:55 PM MDT Decades of painful conservative-moderate fights. Stagnant baptism rates. Membership malaise. Surveying the state of the Southern Baptist Convention, seminary president Danny Akin can sum it all up in six words: "Business as usual is not working." Seeking to turn things around for the nation's largest Protestant body, Akin has teamed with SBC President Johnny Hunt to draft a "Great Commission Resurgence" declaration that will be presented to the Baptists' annual meeting June 23-24 in Louisville, Ky. The goal is to find a new way forward after several high-profile campaigns to boost the number of baptisms -- a key measure of vitality and an article of faith for Baptists -- fell flat. Hunt told one Baptist newspaper that the SBC is like a ship that is "adrift" and needs to consider ridding itself of unnecessary "cargo." For the Rev. Micah Fries, a 30-year-old pastor of a Southern Baptist church in St. Joseph, Mo., such analogies are appropriate for a denomination that has grown in size and bureaucracy in its more than 150 years of history. "We need to lose some excessive baggage," he said, noting a worrisome $30 million shortfall in an international missions offering that will reduce the number of missionaries deployed oversees. For years, political battles -- inside and outside the convention -- put key Southern Baptist leaders in the spotlight. But now, as some of those faces fade from view, a younger generation is taking a different focus. "I think in many ways, the Southern Baptist Convention mirrors the Republican Party in that they have cultivated such a narrow base," said the Rev. Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, N.C. "They have to keep defining themselves to say to a new generation, 'Here's what we delivered you from,' because this new generation doesn't remember." Those fights included whether to boycott the Walt Disney Co., forbidding women pastors, telling wives to "submit graciously" to their husbands and screening out would-be missionaries who pray in tongues, as well as public-square battles over abortion and homosexuality. Akin, the 52-year-old president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., says the annual fights over hot-button theological or social issues aren't moving the next generation of Baptists. "This is kind of the network of younger, enthusiastic Southern Baptists who, to be honest with you, ... find the annual meeting itself a little frustrating and a little boring," said Akin. Akin hopes the declaration will help chart a new direction by combining theology -- with a focus on sharing the gospel and belief in an error-proof Bible -- with a top-to-bottom streamlining that puts special emphasis on racial reconciliation. The Baptist blogosphere is already abuzz with debate over where the document could take the denomination, or if it could even work. "It exposes two divides," said the Rev. Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., who has used his blog to question Southern Baptist policies in recent years. "It's an ideological, not generational, divide and it is a status-quo-versus-change divide." Richard Land, president of the denomination's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the statement reflects particular concern with baptism rates -- now at their lowest since 1987 -- and a total membership that dropped 0.2 percent in a church that for years prided itself on its annual increases. "I think it's a sense of some frustration that we have not seen more growth in missions and evangelism, and [it's] an attempt to re-emphasize that," he said. Not everyone is embracing Hunt and Akin's plans. Former SBC President Morris Chapman (who currently leads the denomination's Executive Committee) has been outspoken in his opposition. "Reallocating our funds will not solve any perceived problems," Chapman wrote in a column in Baptist Press, the denomination's news service. "But a genuine revival might!" Some Baptist state conventions have questioned what the proposed restructuring could mean on the local level, while others acknowledge the need for change. "It is with sadness I declare that many in our churches are spiritually sick and in great need of a fresh movement of God both within the leadership and the laity," said Milton A. Hollifield Jr., the executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, at a May board meeting. "May God help us look to him and to be different." - - - It's nice to see problems among the bigots. That's good news for Harry Krause, isn't it. The fear and intimidation you suffer at the prospect of being asked to consider a moral, ethical, and religious life must have you shakin in your boots. |
#3
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
On Jun 22, 6:20*am, Jim24242 wrote:
That's good news for Harry Krause, isn't it. The fear and intimidation you suffer at the prospect of being asked to consider a moral, ethical, and religious life must have you shakin in your boots except, of course, the s. baptists have never come close to living a moral ethical and religious life. the church was founded as a proslavery church in 1845 and has opposed freedom for anyone ever since...in the name of god. it's also america's leading pro- creationism church IOW it's wrong about everything. |
#4
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
On Jun 22, 6:50*am, wf3h wrote:
IOW it's wrong about everything. I very much disagree with you , but I won't argue about it. |
#5
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
On Jun 22, 6:05*am, HK wrote:
Southern Baptists look for cures to stagnation 'Great Commission Resurgence' » Leaders will present declaration at annual meeting this week. By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service Salt Lake Tribune 02:56:55 PM MDT Decades of painful conservative-moderate fights. Stagnant baptism rates. Membership malaise. Surveying the state of the Southern Baptist Convention, seminary president Danny Akin can sum it all up in six words: "Business as usual is not working." Seeking to turn things around for the nation's largest Protestant body, Akin has teamed with SBC President Johnny Hunt to draft a "Great Commission Resurgence" declaration that will be presented to the Baptists' annual meeting June 23-24 in Louisville, Ky. The goal is to find a new way forward after several high-profile campaigns to boost the number of baptisms -- a key measure of vitality and an article of faith for Baptists -- fell flat. Hunt told one Baptist newspaper that the SBC is like a ship that is "adrift" and needs to consider ridding itself of unnecessary "cargo." For the Rev. Micah Fries, a 30-year-old pastor of a Southern Baptist church in St. Joseph, Mo., such analogies are appropriate for a denomination that has grown in size and bureaucracy in its more than 150 years of history. "We need to lose some excessive baggage," he said, noting a worrisome $30 million shortfall in an international missions offering that will reduce the number of missionaries deployed oversees. For years, political battles -- inside and outside the convention -- put key Southern Baptist leaders in the spotlight. But now, as some of those faces fade from view, a younger generation is taking a different focus. "I think in many ways, the Southern Baptist Convention mirrors the Republican Party in that they have cultivated such a narrow base," said the Rev. Bill Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, N.C. "They have to keep defining themselves to say to a new generation, 'Here's what we delivered you from,' because this new generation doesn't remember." Those fights included whether to boycott the Walt Disney Co., forbidding women pastors, telling wives to "submit graciously" to their husbands and screening out would-be missionaries who pray in tongues, as well as public-square battles over abortion and homosexuality. Akin, the 52-year-old president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., says the annual fights over hot-button theological or social issues aren't moving the next generation of Baptists. "This is kind of the network of younger, enthusiastic Southern Baptists who, to be honest with you, ... find the annual meeting itself a little frustrating and a little boring," said Akin. Akin hopes the declaration will help chart a new direction by combining theology -- with a focus on sharing the gospel and belief in an error-proof Bible -- with a top-to-bottom streamlining that puts special emphasis on racial reconciliation. The Baptist blogosphere is already abuzz with debate over where the document could take the denomination, or if it could even work. "It exposes two divides," said the Rev. Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., who has used his blog to question Southern Baptist policies in recent years. "It's an ideological, not generational, divide and it is a status-quo-versus-change divide." Richard Land, president of the denomination's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said the statement reflects particular concern with baptism rates -- now at their lowest since 1987 -- and a total membership that dropped 0.2 percent in a church that for years prided itself on its annual increases. "I think it's a sense of some frustration that we have not seen more growth in missions and evangelism, and [it's] an attempt to re-emphasize that," he said. Not everyone is embracing Hunt and Akin's plans. Former SBC President Morris Chapman (who currently leads the denomination's Executive Committee) has been outspoken in his opposition. "Reallocating our funds will not solve any perceived problems," Chapman wrote in a column in Baptist Press, the denomination's news service. "But a genuine revival might!" Some Baptist state conventions have questioned what the proposed restructuring could mean on the local level, while others acknowledge the need for change. "It is with sadness I declare that many in our churches are spiritually sick and in great need of a fresh movement of God both within the leadership and the laity," said Milton A. Hollifield Jr., the executive director-treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, at a May board meeting. "May God help us look to him and to be different." - - - It's nice to see problems among the bigots. You ARE a bigot. |
#6
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
wf3h wrote:
On Jun 22, 6:20 am, Jim24242 wrote: That's good news for Harry Krause, isn't it. The fear and intimidation you suffer at the prospect of being asked to consider a moral, ethical, and religious life must have you shakin in your boots except, of course, the s. baptists have never come close to living a moral ethical and religious life. the church was founded as a proslavery church in 1845 and has opposed freedom for anyone ever since...in the name of god. it's also america's leading pro- creationism church IOW it's wrong about everything. Everything that has evolved was created at one point, one would think. Krause despises all religion, as far as I can tell. |
#7
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
"HK" wrote in message ... Southern Baptists look for cures to stagnation 'Great Commission Resurgence' » Leaders will present declaration at annual meeting this week. By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service Salt Lake Tribune 02:56:55 PM MDT Decades of painful conservative-moderate fights. Stagnant baptism rates. Membership malaise. Surveying the state of the Southern Baptist Convention, seminary president Danny Akin can sum it all up in six words: "Business as usual is not working." Seeking to turn things around for the nation's largest Protestant body, Akin has teamed with SBC President Johnny Hunt to draft a "Great Commission Resurgence" declaration that will be presented to the Baptists' annual meeting June 23-24 in Louisville, Ky. The goal is to find a new way forward after several high-profile campaigns to boost the number of baptisms -- a key measure of vitality and an article of faith for Baptists -- fell flat. Hunt told one Baptist newspaper that the SBC is like a ship that is "adrift" and needs to consider ridding itself of unnecessary "cargo." For the Rev. Micah Fries, a 30-year-old pastor of a Southern Baptist church in St. Joseph, Mo., such analogies are appropriate for a denomination that has grown in size and bureaucracy in its more than 150 years of history. "We need to lose some excessive baggage," he said, noting a worrisome $30 million shortfall in an international missions offering that will reduce the number of missionaries deployed oversees. Reduce the number of missionaries? When I met a family of SB missionaries in post war Croatia, my first thought was "just what these people (Croats) need- another f-ing religion" When I met SB missionaries in Al Hilla, Iraq in 2003, the first thing that hit was that we'd end up finding them in the desert without thier heads. Don't know if they were intact when they left, but going door to door and telling Muslims they got it all wrong doesn't seem like something to put on the 'ol life insurance form. |
#8
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
wf3h wrote:
On Jun 22, 6:20 am, Jim24242 wrote: That's good news for Harry Krause, isn't it. The fear and intimidation you suffer at the prospect of being asked to consider a moral, ethical, and religious life must have you shakin in your boots except, of course, the s. baptists have never come close to living a moral ethical and religious life. the church was founded as a proslavery church in 1845 and has opposed freedom for anyone ever since...in the name of god. it's also america's leading pro- creationism church IOW it's wrong about everything. An absolutely backwards "bunch" of religious zealots, doing "the devil's work" wherever it can. That floridajim believes they're moral and ethical says even more about him than it does about the white southern baptists. |
#9
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
HK wrote:
wf3h wrote: On Jun 22, 6:20 am, Jim24242 wrote: That's good news for Harry Krause, isn't it. The fear and intimidation you suffer at the prospect of being asked to consider a moral, ethical, and religious life must have you shakin in your boots except, of course, the s. baptists have never come close to living a moral ethical and religious life. the church was founded as a proslavery church in 1845 and has opposed freedom for anyone ever since...in the name of god. it's also america's leading pro- creationism church IOW it's wrong about everything. An absolutely backwards "bunch" of religious zealots, doing "the devil's work" wherever it can. That floridajim believes they're moral and ethical says even more about him than it does about the white southern baptists. OK **** for brains. Show me where I said that. |
#10
posted to rec.boats
|
|||
|
|||
Death of a religious sect on the horizon?
On Jun 22, 8:06*am, Tim wrote:
On Jun 22, 6:50*am, wf3h wrote: IOW it's wrong about everything. I very much disagree with you , but I won't argue about it. I wonder why seemingly good people, and of course assholes like Harry feel the need to push their anti-Christian bigotry on everyone whenever they find a remote opening, or even make one up? Why must they shove their "religion" down our throats all the time... Oh, but we can't talk about ours, that would hurt their feelings and they would want to take us to court snerk In other words, why are they so hypocritical? |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Leftists as religious fundies | General | |||
More religious craziness | General | |||
religious humor | General | |||
Maybe a little too religious for some... | General | |||
(OT) "We are in a religious war" | General |