Comments on: Ecclesiological Foreclosure and the SBC http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/ Trusting God :: Treasuring Christ :: Triumphing the Gospel Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:35:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Timmy Brister http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-15055 Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:18:10 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-15055 Guillaume,

At the end of the show, O’Reilly is known for using some obscure, fancy word, telling his audience to not be a ___________________ (insert word).

But you are spunky and controversial like O’Reilly too. :D

]]> By: G F McDowell http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-15052 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:59:39 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-15052 What does Schadenfreude have to do with O’Reilly? (Remember I don’t own a TV)

]]> By: Timmy Brister http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14985 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:56:46 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14985 Schadenfreude.

Now that is a word I have never seen before! Thanks for that enjoyable experience. So does that make you the SBC O’Reilly?

No precursor here. I am asking questions, sometimes critical questions, because I believe they need to be asked–questions I have found on the minds of other Southern Baptists as well.

Toward the end of the week, some suggestions with an optimistic outlook will be posted (at least I am optimistic about being optimistic). ;)

]]> By: G F McDowell http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14983 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 20:48:30 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14983 Timmy, I am liking this series of posts, but it is not a schadenfreude. I only hope these do not constitute a precursor to you departing the SBC. I don’t hear that tone in your posts just yet. I find your take on the situation to be consistent with what I’ve observed.

]]> By: Rod Carroll http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14976 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:46:30 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14976 I fully agree with you on the biblical world view. I see so many churches preaching to people as if they already understood God’s redemptive plan and already have a world view, and they don’t. Not even in the Bible belt. I have realized this even in my own children, that if left with all that the church teaches them in sunday school, they still have to figure out how it all fits together own their own. That is why I am taking a different approach with my childre at home.

We (the church) are missing so much, it’s hard to just name a few. Our people don’t know doctrine, theology or the importance of walking in holiness or what that even looks like. We don’t know our history and the great men and women who have gone before us, that can inspire us. I could go on and on. And the more I think about it the more hopeless it seems, even though I know it isn’t.

]]> By: Timmy Brister http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14975 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:38:57 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14975 There are two ideologies in the SBC, both which are unsuccessful. One is liberalism. The other is fundamentalism. Neither produce converts; the former produces syncretism, the latter sectarianism. In the past 100 years, the SBC has gone through both. I think that is part of the problem. We don’t know who we are or how we fit in today’s culture. The culture of the 1950′s where many of the SBC churches thrived is vastly different in 21st century culture. In yesteryear, programs were developed, ministry compartmentalized, leadership specialized, and growth pragmatized (my word, sorry). We could start with John 3:16 to people and they have a reference point to start with. All this has changed. Churches are being more organic than organizational. We must start with Gen. 1:1, not John 3:16, requiring a worldview and biblical theology that encompasses the full view of Christianity from creation, fall, redemption, restoration, etc. The categories of modernity and Christianized societies where people understood and filtered truth have been removed. We not only have to prove the biblical truth but the lens through which they properly understand it (worldview).

Alright, I am getting ahead to a post I am going to write on the missional SBC, so I will leave it at that.

My point for now is simply that on the one hand, we must have sound doctrine and firm understanding of our Baptist identity and confessional foundation. But we must know how to communicate that to today’s culture. We can have all the sound, biblical doctrine in the world, but if we cannot deliver that in a way people can understand it, what good is it? That’s where contextualization and knowing the culture comes in. Fundamentalists want the truth without culture. Liberals want the culture without the truth. Neither are right, and if we don’t deal with the tension between being biblically faithful and culturally fruitful (as Stetzer puts it), then I believe ecclesiological foreclosure is inevitable.

]]> By: Vicki http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14974 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:16:57 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14974 So Rob let me get this right pragmatism is the way to go? That is what has got us where we are today. Man’s plan and not Gods, we Christians need to repent and go back and see what the scriptures say about growing the Church after all it belongs to Christ. Untill we stop trying to fit into the world we can only expect failure according to Gods way of doing things.

]]> By: Adam Brown http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14970 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:38:54 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14970 The church is not a corporation. We can’t put out the latest ‘strategy’ that our researchers have come up with and expect that to solve our problems. The SBC mindset is that of a corporation. Let’s hold a business meeting and put together a plan, send it out to the local and state associations and the people we think we are boss over will obey the plan. The matter is a matter of unregenerate members in our churches. People don’t care because they are lost. If they are not lost, they are tired of the ‘latest thing’ that promises to turn the church around. The solution is church discipline, ACTION in witnessing and prayer. The movement back to biblical churches starts in the heart of the average Joe at FBC in Alabama who gets on fire for God. People get on fire for God when they have a model to follow in their Pastor who is on fire for God. If the denomination keeps going like it is now, it will be foreclosed on in twenty years or will be absolutely useless if it is still around.

]]> By: Rod Carroll http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14968 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:05:24 +0000 http://timmybrister.com/2007/10/02/ecclesiological-foreclosure-and-the-sbc/#comment-14968 I believe one thing is that we have lost our love and affection for the Gospel and replaced it with our love of our traditions. We don’t want to have to change. We have become so comfortable with the way things are that we would rather close our eyes and pretend it’s all ok, while it dies, rather than doing whatever it takes for the sake of the gospel and others. The church has become church centered instead of Christ centered, me centered instead of others, and law centered instead of Cross centered.

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