Ecclesiastical Migration and the Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence

A dear friend of mine, Doug Baker, published an article in
Baptist Press this week and asked me to read and comment on it. I thought the subject matter of value and would like to publicly remark on its content.

Doug argues that there is an exodus, and perhaps a coming mass exodus out of the Southern Baptist Convention by conservatives who are fleeing to other denominations, like the Presbyterian Church in America for example, and he crticizes the heirs to the Resurgent Conservative SBC for failing to produce grounded theology and instead being purely programmatic. He argues that "the prevailing ethos of the day held by critics of the Southern Baptist Convention is that the modern conservatism of the SBC holds no specifically theological ideas--only political ones--which are not worthy of serious consideration by the thinking class."

I would completely agree with this criticism. However, I would argue, the chief problem lies not merely in the laity's inability to comprehend such theological ideas, but in that the laity has no desire to comprehend such ideas, and as a result of the forces of supply and demand, the lowest common denominator of preaching often emerges in SBC sermons. This stems in large part from the fact that the conservative resurgence was accompanied by a resurgence of fundamentalism. The two are often confused as being identical, but I would argue that they are not. There are many philosophically consistent conservatives, most of them in the Calvinistic tradition, who are able to present a systematic theology. There are few fundamentalists, however, who are capable of such academic rigor. But more importantly, they could not care less about academic rigor.

The faith of today's fundamentalists lies in its ability to produce power politics collectively for the congregation. Academic rigor and philosophical inquiry necessitate a certain level of humility and willingness to make concessions for the sake of philosophic consistency. Fundamentalists are unwilling to make any such doctrinal concessions, even on the most obscure jot or tittle of their belief system. This stands immediately in the way of the kind of theological depth that Doug argues is necessary for the Southern Baptist Convention to continue its success.

I would partially criticize Doug's comparison near the end of his article on the basis of methodological soundness, as he compares the SBC's 5% growth to the 42.4% growth experienced by the PCA and the 57.2% growth of the Evangelical Free Church of America. The PCA and EFCA are of course much smaller denominations, and so the percentages betray the hard numbers entering those congregations. He is probably correct, however, in his conclusion that most of that is because of theological migration. Those hard figures, though, still leave the SBC with a significant 5% net growth rate.

I would like to explain the reason I believe the SBC's success has been as remarkable as it has, and why it will continue, though this explanation contains primarily criticism of these ends.

One of my favorite authors, M. Scott Peck, M.D. outlines the stages of spiritual development in this way: 1) Chaos, wherein the persons is an emnity with God and the world and acts out of pure selfishness and without restraint. 2) Structure, the person has a spiritual conversion and then possesses a simplistic and generally legalistic faith that he adheres to rigidly. 3) Agnosticism, where the person begins to doubt some or all of the teachings he so readily accepted in phase 2 and may even reject the existence of God. 4) Mysticism, where the person has a peaceful understanding and love of the world and sees the interconnectedness of creation and of God's place therein.

The success of the Southern Baptist Convention has been in its ability to take people from Phase 1 to Phase 2, and because they see the appreciable gains in the quality of their life when they make that transition, they are easily kept there in Phase 2, unwilling to question doctrine or philosophy espoused by their respected authority out of fear that it will disrupt the benefits they received from their conversions. The Fundamentalist approach of Faith through Fear is particularly heinous, and rather than encouraging discussion and understanding, it represses dissent and thought in order to maintain its safety. The Catholic church had centuries of success with this methodology, if one defines success as being full pews and full coffers. But the quiet trickle of the thinking faith community within the conservative culture is evidence that some people, although they will not stand up to such oppression, will at least not subject themselves to it, and so they walk out of the doors one by one.

The reality is that the one holy catholic (universal) and apostolic church must recognize that if it is to maintain its legitimacy in the public sphere, if it is to succeed in remaining relevant in the post-modern era, it must not and cannot resign itself to doctrinal rigidity and thought oppression. The only reason a person has to fear being questioned is that he lacks the substance to provide a satisfactory response, and so his fear causes him to react in a way that is generally contraposed to the personality of Jesus Christ. It is most in the defense of the faith where Christians utterly abandon Christian Charity.

Baptist Preachers are quick to quote 1 Peter "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is within you," but they often fail to finish Peter's admonition "But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your Good Behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." Rarely is there gentleness from the pulpit, and never respect. But this is what keeps the masses fired up. It keeps them writing checks and filling pews.

Religious zealotry is the best friend to the charlatan, and a trusting dupe to the con-artist. I want to be careful that my generalizations are not too broad or sweeping, as I know there are many honorable and decent men in the pulpits of Southern Baptist and Fundamentalist churches across the United States, but it takes little effort to turn on the television or walk into a mega church and find one of these charlatans getting the masses to shout a collective "amen" at his uneducated assertion that so energizes people in Phase 2 of Spiritual Development.

The Church must be willing to undergo the pain of helping people develop beyond Phase 2, however, and the great challenge is how to skip the 3rd Phase and go directly Phase 4. The boldness required to achieve these ends is generally lacking, as the will to undergo pain is usually lacking from preachers who have good salaries and nice benefit packages.

Sadly for the fundamentalist wing of the Church, Paul did not tell the Philippians "That your judgment may abound more and more in dogma and shallowness of insight." No, he prayed "that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight."

The Conservative Church will always survive--there have been zealots throughout human history in every religion and sect and cult, and Christianity is not immune. The question for the relevance of the Conservative Church is whether it chooses to be a purely political organization whose goals are rooted in adhering to a rigid set of doctrine and imposing it on the rest of humanity or if it chooses to be a thoughtful, truth-pursuing culture rooted in love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Shall it be Pat Robertson or J.I. Packer? If it is the former, the Conservative Church will be irrelevant in the postmodern world and will fail to have an impact. If it is the latter, then important and sensitive issues can be faced with sincerity, diligence, and charity, and the zealots might be kept at bay.

It is my hope that Doug's analysis that the thinking populace of the conservative resurgence in the SBC are fleeing to other denominations like the PCA is an indication that there is a backlash against the anti-intellectualist, dogmatist bent of the SBC. Perhaps the Conservative Church will not be marginalized in the wake of higher criticism and postmodern philosopher, and whatever its successor may be. But more importantly, let all Christians hope that the zealots and biggots who call themselves Christian do not marginalize the entirety of the Faith of Jesus Christ and His message of love and forgiveness that was borne out on the Cross of Calvary.