Baptist History Lesson 32 A Report Card: Baptists in the 21 st Century

GREAT BRITAIN Baptist Union “Downgrade Controversy” 1891-Merger of General & Particular Baptists 20 th century: highly secularized society J.H. Shakespeare ( ) 25 % of Baptist Churches independent from Baptist Union ! Strict and Particular Baptist or Gospel Standard Baptist The Gospel Advocate The Gospel Herald J.C. Philpot ( ) William Gadsby ( ) The Reformed Evangelical Baptists Dr Peter Masters London Reformed Baptist Seminary

BAPTISTS IN EUROPE “In the year of Waterloo (1815) there was no Baptist church on mainland Europe, and, in the year 1850 there were only about 4,000 church members. In 1900 the number had increased to 220,000.” J.H. Rushbrooke The Baptist Movement on the Continent of Europe Where did they come from? Anabaptists - No English Baptists - No Pietist Awakenings Philip Spener ( ) Augustus Francke ( Intense personal bible study Intense seasons of prayer Intense spirit of missions Count Nicholas Von Zinzendorf ( )

GERMANY Johann Gerhard Oncken ( ) 1823 –returns as Bible ambassador 1828 – Edinburg Bible Society April 22, 1834 Baptized in Elbe River Organized Baptist Church in Hamburg “Jeder Baptist ein Missionar” (every Baptist a Missionary) Julius Wilhelm Kobner ( ) Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann ( ) SWEDEN Frederick Nilsson ( ) Gustaf Palmquist

What about America? 2005:Non SBC 34, 412 churches15,399,000 44,223 churches16,306,000 78,635 churches31,705,000

Mainline Protestant American Baptist Churches of the U.S. A. Liberal theology Social change Ordination of women/recognition of homosexual unions Independent, Fundamental Baptist Bible Fellowship (1950)4,500 churches G. Beauchamp Vick ( ) 1,200,000 members Springfield, MO Independent Fundamental Fellowship 659 churches 61,655 members General Association Regular Baptists Churches1383 churches 132,300 members American Baptist Association1760 churches 275,000 members Baptist Missionary Association of America1254 churches 225,000 members Shared Characteristics:Premillennial Dispensational Militant in stance Some of the predominately black groups National Assoc. of Free Will Baptists2425 churches 198,000 members Ecclesiastical Separation

Evangelical Predominately black groups: National Baptist Association2500 churches/3,500,000 members Nat. Baptist Assoc in USA9,000 churches/5,000,000 Progressive Nat Bapt. Assoc2,000 churches/2,500,000 National Primitive Bapt. Assoc1565 churches/ 600,000 CBAmerica1200 churches / 200,000 National Assoc of Baptist (Swedish)902 churches / 145,000 North American Bapt. Conference (German)272 churches / 47,000 Southern Baptist Convention44,223 churches 16,306,000 members Today: A somewhat recovered denomination Epistemology: the Bible is true Theologically: conservative Methodology: how do you ‘do’ the gospel?

The Era of the Conservative Resurgence: The ‘Truth’ Party The ‘Liberty’ Party The ‘Compromise’ Party New Conservative Coalition Paige Patterson (1942-) Paul Pressler ( ) Leaders Strategy Elect conservative Convention Presidents They would appoint only conservatives to open trustee positions on various agencies and institutions Focus on inerrancy of Scripture What was the motivation for the takeover? Theological purification of agencies & boards Particularly concerned about 6 seminaries

1979 Houston Convention W. A.Criswell ( ) Adrian Rogers ( ) 1980 Birth of the Moderate Movement “Gatlinburg Gang” Cecil Sherman ( ) L. Russ Bush ( ) Tom Nettles “we’re going for the jugular” of the convention

Soul Freedom – We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We affirm the freedom and responsibility of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of creed or the control of clergy or government. Bible Freedom – We believe in the authority of Scripture. We believe the Bible, under the Lordship of Christ, is central to the life of the individual and the church. We affirm the freedom and right of every Christian to interpret and apply scripture under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Church Freedom – We believe in the autonomy of every local church. We believe Baptist churches are free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine their membership and leadership, to order their worship and work, to ordain whomever they perceive as gifted for ministry, and to participate as they deem appropriate in the larger Body of Christ. Religious Freedom – We believe in freedom of religion, freedom for religion, and freedom from religion. We support the separation of church and state. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 1991 Richmond, Virginia

Where is the SBC now? Covenant for a New Century proposed 1995, adopted 1997 Changes to the Baptist Faith & Message “One Faith, One Task, One Sacred Trust” All convention employees required to sign this Where is the SBC going? Great Commission Resurgence Daniel Akin (1957 -) R. Albert Mohler ( ) Great Commission Resurgence Task Force