Jim Elliff hits the nail on the head in this article about Southern Baptist membership not showing up. Most Southern Baptist members do not attend more than once or twice a month if at all. I cannot do the article justice by the few quotes of his that I quoted below so you will have to read the full article below.

First, I will make my own observations and comments on this subject. They probably will not totally agree with Elliff’s observations and conclusions.

The issue in this article is why Southern Baptists do not faithfully attend their gathering and what should be done about it? For that matter we could be be talking about every other evangelical denomination or church in America. I have been a member of several denominations and I have attended many different churches for extended periods of time. They all have the same problem. Only about a third of those on the membership role show up on any given Sunday if they show up at all. For Sunday night and Wednesday services your lucky if 15 percent attend if they even have such a service. In church business meetings you see the same ten percent show up each month or quarter and most of them are on the board or some committee and have to be there. The rest of the membership apparently could care less about the affairs of their church.

I have been saying all along that over half of the people in evangelical denominations are not Christians at all, nothing I read or observe leads me to think I am wrong about that. When I attend Sunday school and observe that most of the few members that actually do attend do not read or know their Bible it is apparent to me that they are not serious about learning about the things of God. The churches and denominations do not encourage real Bible study either by having magazine studies about the Bible (often Lifeway Bible study material).

First lets take a look at the membership roles and numbers. Pastors and church boards l o v e  n u m b e r s. It gives them bragging rights. I would not be in error to say that I am still an active member of some churches that I have not attended for years. Many churches simply do not remove inactive members from their roles. So, I would say Jim Elliff is underestimating that factor. The truth is that many churches are only half of the size that they like to advertise.

Next, we have to look at the purpose of the Church. Some in leadership seem to think the purpose of their church is to meet for Sunday ritual and worship. Actually you can worship at home in spirit and truth. The main purpose for the assembly of the Church is for Christian fellowship and for the members in the Body to use their God given spiritual gifts for others in the Body. The main reasons why members do not like to attend the Sunday ritual services is that they often find no fellowship and they just leave empty. Another purpose for the assembly of the Church is for teaching and the building up of each other in the faith. One of the main reasons why members do not attend is that they are not getting biblical teaching and Christian instruction at church. They go to church but hear a seeker friendly gospel lite service or in the Charismatics churches they have an emotional trip but learn nothing. If I joined a food coop to get nourishing food and they only had sweets I am ether going to go somewhere else to get real food or I am only going to get real fat and lazy. Many that attend some churches faithfully are spiritual diabetics or emotional speed junkies it is the healthy people that are long gone. So I am not sure you can even say that the people who attend the services faithfully are the Christians. The Christians might be the healthy ones who got tired of junk food or charismatic amphetamine and left.

Many unstable postmodern teachers teach that Christian doctrine divides and keep us from unity but these people are the real problem in the churches because you cannot have true Christian unity without agreement on the essentials doctrines of the Christian faith. Here is a fine article on this doctrine debate. There are many fine points within this article. One section is where Dr. Norman Geisler points out 14 essential Christian doctrines that all Christians have to stand firm on. There can be no unity with those who claim to be Christians but oppose these essential doctrines. The doctrine debate article also points out that those who do not understand Christian doctrine will not have a Christian worldview and that means that God will not be a major factor in the choices they make in their everyday life choices. The Bara Group survey claims that where Christians do not believe the Bible is the moral standard of absolute truth, only 9 percent of born-again adults and 2 percent of born-again youth have a biblical worldview (two percent of born again Christian youth!!). Here is another article that will give you even more excellent perspectives on what is going on in our churches. If you wonder why the country is a mess, query the believes of those that attend and lead your own congregations and you will know why.

Lets face it many that are on the church membership roles are only there because someone pressured them into it. Perhaps they had to become a member to get married in that church. Perhaps they joined to please their parents, their family members, or their spouse or even their pastor. Perhaps it was to enhance their standing in the community. Perhaps it was a response to an altar call where peer pressure mind control methods were used. How many churches have you been in where almost everyone is coerced to come to the altar to get saved or rededicate their lives? You feel like the social leaper if you are one of the few people left in the pews that do not respond to such coercion. So when mind control techniques like these are used, and they are used more than you think, don’t expect it to produce genuine conversion. Chances are once these “new converts” see how they were manipulated they will avoid your church like a plague. This is what cults do to build membership. Pastors need to teach the good news for those with ears to hear but only the Holy Spirit can bring people to repentance and true conversion.

So what are the answers? Some of the answers are what Jim Eliiff gives in this articles but that is only part of it. The whole Western Christian mindset has to change. Christianity is not weekly meetings and percentage in attendance. It is a way of community life for believers. I think someone should develop a teaching series that should be mandatory before anyone becomes a member of any Western evangelical church. The series would be based on the daily life of Christians where Christians are persecuted and not allowed to assemble in buildings but nevertheless they find a way to assemble and fellowship with each other daily. The leadership of our churches need to go back to the ways of Christianity and stop learning the techniques of the world to grow a church and produce worldly feigned success. When the church is filled with true believing Christians, where Christian doctrine is taught the Holy Spirit will lead the people there to learn about salvation but the Holy Spirit is not going to lead people to a sugar shack of diabetic sheep.

What reward will you get from God if you lead a church filled with 10,000 people but the works of the Holy Spirit are absent? It would be better for you that you led a small church where the Holy Spirit was working because then you will certainly receive a reward from God.

Southern Baptists, An Unregenerate Denomination

Like the unfortunate person above, the Southern Baptist Convention has a name that it is alive, but is in fact, mostly dead (Rev. 3:1). Regardless of the wonderful advances in our commitment to the Bible and the recovery of our seminaries, a closer look reveals a denomination that is more like a corpse than a fit athlete. In an unusual way, our understanding of this awful reality provides the most exciting prospects for the future-if we will act decisively.

Although the Southern Baptists claim 16,287,494 members, on average only 6,024,289 people (guests and non-member children included), a number equal to only 37% of the membership number, show up for their church’s primary worship meeting (usually Sunday morning). This is according to the Strategic Information and Planning department of the Sunday School Board (2004 statistics). If your church is anything like normal, and is not brand new, your statistics are probably similar. In other words, if you have 200 in attendance on Sunday morning, you likely have 500-600 or even more on your roll. Many churches have an even worse record.

Discerning who among us is regenerate is not an exact science, but a closer look at these numbers will at least alert us to the fact that most Southern Baptists must certainly be dead spiritually. That is so, unless, of course, you claim that there is no difference between a believer and a non-believer.

We don’t need better methods to get people down to the front. What we need is more biblical content and more unction in our preaching. You cannot beat sinners away from Christ when God is bringing them in (see Jn. 6:37, 44-45). When as many as 70-90% of “converts” are giving little, if any, evidence of being saved after their first weeks or months of emotional excitement, questions should be asked, both about our understanding of the gospel and about our methods. Forget the fact, if you must, that there is no clear biblical precedent for the altar call. Even considering the matter pragmatically ought to make us quit. Though prevalent in our churches for decades, it has not helped us.

The dangerous practice of receiving new members immediately after they walk the aisle must finally be abandoned. Also, more careful counsel should be taken with those entering in as members from other churches. And add to this a need for much deeper thinking concerning childhood conversion. An alarming percentage of childhood professions wash out later in the teen and college years. For unconverted yet baptized church kids, the more independence they are granted, the more they live out their true nature.

4. We must stop giving immediate verbal assurance to people who make professions of faith or who respond to our invitations. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to give assurance. We are to give the basis upon which assurance can be had, not the assurance itself. Study 1 John in this respect. What things were written so that they might know they have eternal life? (1 Jn. 5:13). Answer: The tests given in the book. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16).

5. We must restore sound doctrine. Revival, I am finding as I study its history, is largely about the recovery of the true gospel. The three great doctrines which have so often shown up in true revival are: 1) God’s sovereignty in salvation, 2) justification by grace through faith alone, and 3) regeneration with discernible fruit. Revival is God showing up, but the blessing of the presence of God is directly affected by our beliefs. God most often comes in the context of these and other great doctrines, preached penetratingly and faithfully, and with the unction of the Holy Spirit.

Which army would you rather have? Gideon’s first army or his last? No church, and no denomination, should call itself healthy unless more people attend than are on the roll.

Today, in rough numbers, it takes 300 people on our rolls to have 100 attenders. In the 1790s, it took only 33. Or, to put it in larger figures, it now takes nearly 3000 people, supposedly won to Christ and baptized, to result in a church attendance of 1000. Then, it took only 333. Our potency has diminished to such an extent that we must “win” and “baptize” over 2,000 more people to get to the same 1000 to attend.

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