GCR (part 1) - The Lordship of Christ

We talked this evening about the Lordship of Christ in our lives, our church, and our denomination.

I want to ask a series of questions for you to reflect on...

1. If you took the commands of Christ literally (to love, forgive, be peacemakers, stop lusting, stop revenge, treasure him, be compassionate, etc.) would your life look different than it does right now?
2. What is stopping you from allowing Christ to literally be Lord of your life in all areas? What are you afraid of if he becomes Lord over all your life?
   
3. How can you begin right now to give lordship of your life over to Christ?

An exercise...

• Read the "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew chapters 5-7. Be intentional on doing what Christ says.

Leave any thoughts you have about the Lordship of Christ.

May you be blessed as he is Lord...

Mark

Introduction to Great Commission Resurgence

Click here for the Great Commission Resurgence website.

In our introduction tonight we looked at why a Great Commission Resurgence is needed among Southern Baptists. In the mid 2oth century we were reaching people quite quickly, but the first decade of the 21st century has seen Southern Baptists plateau with the 2008 data showing us enter a year of decline.

Here's the graphics we looked at.

This is the word cloud of answers to the question, "What do you think when you hear Southern Baptist?"

















This is the history of Southern Baptist growth since 1950. You will notice the fact that we are now on the plateau of our growth curve as Southern Baptists, so something must be done to prevent our denomination from decline and eventual death.
















So the question of the hour is, "What must be done for there to be a resurgence of the great commission among Southern Baptists?" The church grows through conversions. The great commission is about seeing people converted and become disciples of Jesus.

The proposed manner of the resurgence is contained in the Great Commission Resurgence document. Go read the full thing. We'll be talking about it for the next 10 Wednesday nights.

Leave any thoughts you have in the comments section.

Great Commission Resurgence

I have just signed the declaration called the Great Commission Resurgence.

What is the Great Commission Resurgence you ask??? Good question.

In the 1980's Southern Baptists experienced what is now called the the "Conservative Resurgence" where the "battle for the Bible" was won. During that time Southern Baptists firmly reclaimed the belief in an inerrant Bible. Fast forward to our day now, some 25 years later, and we find that the Conservative Resurgence thus far has been a failure in terms of producing the fruit it should have produced. Yes, our seminaries are solid again, as those who did not affirm inerrancy were asked to leave, but the Conservative Resurgence has failed to produce a Great Commission resurgence. That is, the Conservative Resurgence has failed to propel our churches forward in their effectiveness of reaching the world for Christ.

Much has been said of the decline of the Southern Baptist Convention. I will not write again what others have already said in a manner better than I can say it. So I will point you to 2 articles that fully explain the extent of Southern Baptist decline.

• Please read this article by Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, written in April 2009.
  
• Also, please read this article also written by Ed Stetzer in April 2008.
  

The basic summary of these articles is this:

• The SBC rate of growth has been slowing for decades. (see chart on the 2nd article) At the end of any growth curve is a plateau. After a plateau comes a decline. Currently, the SBC has just passed its plateau. As a denomenation we have now entered into our period of decline. If we want to avoid our own death as a denomination then we must do something about it!!!
  

We are desperate for a Great Commission Resurgence to send us into a new growth curve.

Below are the 10 statements of the Great Commission Resurgence. Each statement is explained in fuller measure at the website. Go here to read it in entirety, see who has already signed it, and sign if you wish. I have debated whether I will expound on these individually here on the church blog or if I will commit to speaking about them on Wednesday nights later this year. If you have a preference please leave me a comment.

I. A Commitment to Christ’s Lordship. We call upon all Southern Baptists to submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in all things at the personal, local church, and denominational levels. (Col. 1:18; 3:16-17, 23-24)

II. A Commitment to Gospel-Centeredness. We call upon all Southern Baptists to make the gospel of Jesus Christ central in our lives, our churches, and our denominational ministries. (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Cor. 5:17-21)

III. A Commitment to the Great Commandments. We call upon all Southern Baptists to recommit to the priority of the Great Commandments in every aspect of our lives and every priority we embrace as a network of local Baptist churches. (Matt. 22:37-40)

IV. A Commitment to Biblical Inerrancy and Sufficiency. We call upon all Southern Baptists to unite around a firm conviction in the full truthfulness and complete sufficiency of Christian Scripture in all matters of faith and practice. (Matt 5:17-18; John 10:35; 17:17; 2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)

V. A Commitment to a Healthy Confessional Center. We call upon all Southern Baptists to look to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 as a sufficient guide for building a theological consensus for partnership in the gospel, refusing to be sidetracked by theological agendas that distract us from our Lord’s Commission. (1 Tim. 6:3-4)

VI. A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches. We call upon all Southern Baptists to focus on building local churches that are thoroughly orthodox, distinctively Baptist, and passionately committed to the Great Commission. (Matt. 16:13-20, 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-47; Rom. 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 5)

VII. A Commitment to Sound Biblical Preaching. We call upon all Southern Baptists to affirm and expect a pastoral ministry that is characterized by faithful biblical preaching that teaches both the content of the Scriptures and the theology embedded in the Scriptures. (2 Tim. 4:1-5)

VIII. A Commitment to a Methodological Diversity that is Biblically Informed. We call upon all Southern Baptists to consider themselves and their churches to be missionaries in non-Christian cultures, each of which requires unique strategies and emphases if the gospel is to penetrate and saturate every community in North America. (Phil. 2:1-5; 4:2-9)

IX. A Commitment to a More Effective Convention Structure. We call upon all Southern Baptists to rethink our Convention structure and priorities so that we can maximize our energy and resources for the health of our local churches and the fulfilling of the Great Commission. (1 Cor. 10:31)

X. A Commitment to Distinctively Christian Families. We call upon all Southern Baptists to build gospel-saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and as our first and primary mission field. (Deut. 6:1-9; Psalm 127, 128; Eph. 6:4)