Al Jackson, one of the men I esteem highly in the SBC has written about unregenerate church membership in the May-June 2011 IX Marks e-Journal. In particular, he spells out the consequences for meaningless membership. Quoting Vance Havner, he says that “we are many but we are not much.” Jackson writes: The Southern Baptist Convention [...]
Archive for the ‘Church Membership’ category
Consequences of Meaningless Membership
May 25, 2011Monday is for “kingly” administration: The Membership Process, Part 2
June 7, 2010Last week, I took up the first part of the membership process, namely the membership application and class. Today, I want to finish up the membership process by taking up the interview and congregational vote. It goes without saying that these processes are always being evaluated and subject to change as we look to discover [...]
Monday is for “kingly” administration: The Membership Process, Part 1
May 31, 2010There are four major components of what I call the “Commission Continuum”–that is the metaprocess of kingly administration from beginning to end. Those four components are assimilation, membership, discipleship, and leadership. I just completed the first component of the assimilation process and want to address the membership process in a couple of blogposts. Once regular [...]
Monday is for “kingly” administration: The Assimilation Process, Part 4 (Prospective Members)
May 24, 2010The Assimilation Process: Part 1: First-Time Guest Part 2: New Believers Part 3: Regular Attenders The fourth and final aspect of the assimilation process is the prospective member (I will launch into the membership process next). Membership in a local church may be a difficult thing for some attenders, especially if they think that it [...]
The Church Consumer
March 23, 2010Now I know this video is somewhat silly, and I assume intentionally so (to make the point). The question I think worth asking is, “Does the culture in my church accommodate, encourage, or tolerate this kind of perspective about the church?” HT :: Phil Awtry
This Week at Sowing Grace (6)
December 22, 2008The following posts were made available at Sowing Grace this past week: Sunday: n/a Monday: Monday Is for Membership: Gospel Saturated, Part 2 Tuesday: Missional Moleskine (Journaling) [Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 8] Wednesday: n/a Thursday: Atheist Penn Jillette on Hating Unbelievers Friday: Fuel Friday: Acts 29 Boot Camp (Dallas) Saturday: Never Empty Your Brain of [...]
This Week at Sowing Grace (4)
December 1, 2008The following posts were made available at Sowing Grace this past week: Sunday: Paul’s Prayer to the Roman Church Monday: Monday Is for Membership: Biblical Theologian, Part 2 Tuesday: “Holy Wordliness” (Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 5) Wednesday: Thanksgiving Break Thursday: Thanksgiving Break Friday: Thanksgiving Break Saturday: Thanksgiving Break You can subscribe to the Sowing Grace [...]
This Week at Sowing Grace (3)
November 23, 2008The following posts were made available at Sowing Grace this past week: Sunday: Paul’s Prayer to the Ephesian Church Monday: Monday Is for Membership: Biblical Theologian, Part 1 Tuesday: Developing Missional Patterns (Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 4) Wednesday: Leadership in the Early Church (study in Acts) Thursday: Greatness Redefined (chapter 3) Friday: Fuel Friday: Church [...]
This Week at Sowing Grace
November 8, 2008The following posts were made available at Sowing Grace this past week: Sunday: Paul’s Prayer to the Colossian Church Monday: Monday Is for Membership: Expositional Listening, Part 1 Tuesday: Cultivating Community Contacts, Part 2 Wednesday: Centrality of the Word in Acts Thursday: The Promise of Humility (Chapter 1) Friday: Fuel Friday: London Dwell Conference Audio [...]
The First Order of Business Is to Know the Gospel
October 23, 2008Thabiti Anywabile, in his excellent little book What Is a Healthy Church Member? has a chapter on being gospel-saturated that is work the price of the entire book. Allow me to post an excerpt where Anyabwile express the importance and definition of the gospel. “The first order of business is to know the gospel . [...]
Steve Lemke on Bethlehem Baptist Church, Baptism, and Church Membership
October 14, 2008Steve Lemke is not a fan of Together for the Gospel. The second half of his article is entitled, “Baptists and Presbyterians Not Together: Nine Marks Which Separate Baptists from Presbyterians,” where Lemke lays out his argument for Baptist separation (or, as I would argue, isolation). Interestingly enough, his first two marks are “soul competency” [...]
Southwest Founders Conference
September 25, 2008The Southern Baptist Founders Conference – Southwest begins today and will continue through the weekend (see schedule). Executive Director Tom Ascol will be speaking four times on topics including “Church Discipline & Church Growth,” “Biblical Church Membership,” “The Emergent Church,” and Ephesians 4:1-16 (others will be speaking as well). The conference is being hosted by [...]
Nathan Finn on Baptizing Children and Church Membership
August 27, 2008One of the important points to address in recovering a regenerate church membership is the issue of baptizing young children. Nathan Finn was recently interviewed by Michael Spencer (iMonk) on the important issue of church membership, and I have provided a portion of Nathan’s answer to the question of baptizing children. Reconnecting the ordinance of [...]
“No One Can Tell Southern Baptists What to Do”
July 9, 2008That’s the comment by Darrell Orman, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, speaking to Christianity Today after the passing of the resolution on regenerate church membership. Tom Ascol’s response: “That’s a sad reality. Even Jesus can’t tell some Southern Baptists what to do.” Am I the only who finds it odd that the chairman of a [...]
Founders Podcast 4: Interview with Andy Davis
June 27, 2008Yesterday afternoon, I did my final podcast of the conference (there is another one with Dr. Tom Nettles yet to go online) with Dr. Andy Davis. I have heard much about Dr. Davis from Nathan Finn and others, and it was at T4G 06 when I first became aware of his little booklet on extended [...]
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