Filed under: Baptist Courier, Hottub blog, NAMB, SCBC, The 50's, church planting, contemperary worship styles, leadership, observations, opinion, pastoral leadership and problem solving, traditional churches
Getting Back to the 50’s
Can we have old strategies with new tactics?
WHAT WE STILL HAVE THAT THE 50’S DEVELOPED INTO A FUNCTIONAL AND EFFECTIVE MISSION AND MINISTRY STRATEGY:
Here at Corinth Baptist Church we still have some things that were developed in the 50’s
- Sunday School flourished in the 50’s and we still have it because in the 50’s it became the outreach arm of the SBC. Where would we be without the development of an outreach based Sunday School?
- The revival and VBS was fully developed in the 40’s and 50’s in our church. Most of our senior adults will tell you that they were saved either in VBS or during a revival service. During these days at Corinth BC the local elementary school would dismiss in the morning and walk all the children down to the church to meet the revival speaker and worship with the church. Many of our senior citizens were saved during these services. According to LIfeWay 25% of all baptisms in the SBC still come from VBS conversions.
- Our sanctuary building was built in 1953 for a total of $68,000(IT IS NOW VALUED AT over 1 MILLION). It has been modified and recently renovated for $328,000. Where would we be without the visionary leaders who decided to build?
- In the 50’s a full time pastor and budgeted support to the cooperative program were added. After almost 100 years of shared pastors Corinth Baptist Church in the 50’s called there first full time pastor. After doing so they began to regularly budget money to the CP. Where would we be if this decision would not have been made?
- In the 40’s the church decided according to church records that “they would not raise money through sales, lotteries, or any other form of religious gambling.” All support would be through tithes and offerings. The bulk of our income still comes from those who were saved during the 50’s and 60’s. Where would we be without the stewardship commitment of the past?
- In the late 50’s a men’s Sunday School class began to meet for prayer. A couple of these men are still deacons today and are wise spiritual leaders for the younger deacons coming along. Where would we be without the revival spirit of the past?
- My previous church saw its greatest expansion of conversions and baptisms during the 50’s and received a donation from a community leader of 20 acres to build a church. The church remains on that 20 acres today.
I guess what I am saying is before we jump on the bandwagon and beat down our congregations telling them they need to get out of the 50’s we should probably ask ourselves what can we learn from the 50’s. Obviously something was happening then that is not happening now. If pragmatism is the word of the day (OBAMA’s favorite), then we must look at the tried and true and see how we can redevelop the old strategies with new tactics
I see young pastors in traditional churches being misunderstood because they fail to understand what has been built over time.
My experience is that spiritually minded people in traditional churches long to see all ages brought to Christ and to see young people serving alongside them in mission.
I am blessed to pastor a church where people tolerate each other’s traditions quite well(I realize I may be an exception but I doubt it) We do not have worship wars, so to speak, even though we have a variety of different things going on. I often hear our senior citizens celebrating and supporting our young people and we try to make the most of that. I think young pastors of traditional churches instead of using the slogan “get out of the 50’s” need to be looking back and seeing what strategies in the 50’s were reaching people and how do we deploy new tactics to accomplish those goals.
- How do we restructure Sunday School or Bible Study Groups for outreach?
- How do we make VBS, revivals, or large events missional again?
- How do we teach spiritual stewardship to a generation taught to borrow and spend?
- How do we incorporate all ages, traditions, and preferences in mission and ministry
- How do we regain a spirit of revival and prayer?
That is what was working then. How can we get back there?
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Dr.Easler,
Comment by hottubreligion June 6, 2009 @ 8:27 pmComing from a young pastor(30 something)makes this post most interesting.I appreciate your honesty and forthrightness about the church in the 50’s.It’s hard to deny the facts as you have presented them.
In my opinion the average church has drifted from Bible doctrine and has embraced extreme prgmatisim.Today’s manta is..”If it works it must be right and bigger is better.”One can only wonder what will be the next port-of-call for the SBC.
Pastor Dwight,
Comment by jenni35 June 9, 2009 @ 1:47 amI enjoyed hearing some of the history of the church. I love studying history especially local history. What I consider my home church has a long history as well.
Being brought up and saved in a small church, I find that a large community church can be overwhelming. Everyone is friendly and demonstrates Christian love but just swallowing and digesting all that Corinth has and offers can be intimidating for the visitor. One of the big outreaches of my previous church, was with the children/ youth. On Wednesday, we did not have preaching but all adults participated with the children/ youth. We had lessons, crafts, and a snack or meal. It was like VBS every week (sometimes with craziness) but we ratioed 1 adult per 5 children / youth. On an average week, we would have 75 children / youth. We didn’t usually have that many in attendance on Sunday for the whole congregation (like I said, it was a small chuch built in the 1800’s, the same building still in use today). We would send home Bibles or Bible lessons, extra food, and invitations for other siblings and friends to come back next week. The church might not have increased Sunday attendance but the message was definitely put out weekly into the community. The preacher gave us the mission to reach others through the children. It is amazing to see adults start reading and discovering the Bible through the eyes of a child. Christ calls us to receive the message with the mind and heart of a child.
I don’t know the solution for Corinth, but I think activities that bring the church together as a whole instead of being broke up into age assorted groups would help bonding and develop relations for folks who have never met each other but attend church together every week.
I realize the church of my upbringing was not Southern Baptist and was small, but I don’t feel that I was less of a Christian or that we worshipped in a strange or unusual way. The one plus was that we did know each other and our families that attended and came to church as visitors. I think one of the focuses of the 1950’s that is different from today was the family. Today the focus seems to be on the individual and the self pleasing.
Thank you for your comments. I believe you hit the nail on the head with your comments about relationships and family. CHurches of all traditions that are growing the right way are growing through relationship building. All churches struggle to build atmosphere’s that encourage relationship building. The small church is typically better at this than a larger chruch. However, the small church many times closes itself off to new people because of the strong ties it has internally. A larger church that is program driven has more resources but often ends up less personnal in approach. In the end all churches including ours must seek to be the church that God has called us to be at this point in history. We are not called to bring back teh good old days we are called for such a time as this.
I appreciate your observations and suggestions. I hope we can work together to continue to strengthen our family cohesiveness and relationships with each other.
Comment by pastorinthewoods June 9, 2009 @ 4:10 pm