State of the Church (2023)

Introduction

Last year after our June business meeting, we paused and reflected on all that God has done, is doing, and we looked ahead with excitement to see what He had in store for the rest of the year. Tonight, as we get ready to enter a new school year in August and a new church year that will start up in September, I wanted to pause and do the same. This has been an incredible year in many ways, but it’s also been a year that has presented much in the way of loss and sorrow. We have had many faithful church members pass away in recent months. We’ve had family members and friends in our community and beyond suffer in many different ways. We’ve been in the middle of some spiritual warfare as many other Christians have endured in our country and all around the world in recent days. I’ve had discussions with pastors within a few hours of Salem who have struggling with everything that is going on in their communities. Division, jealousy, suffering, and loss are taking their toll. I’ve also been able to hear from other pastors that God is blessing them left and right as they remain faithful to the Word of God in the midst of a culture that celebrates pride in more ways than one. Because we find ourselves in strange times, and because this is the middle of the year, I think it’s always healthy to look back and see where God has taken us and look ahead to see where He is currently bringing us. So, this is the State of the Church 2023 as we give God the glory and praise that He is due and we do our part to make sure that we’re continuing to follow Him and not give into secular trends or pragmatic ideas. As we do this, I also want to touch on some of the news that came out of the SBC 2 weeks ago in New Orleans as there is much to be excited about!

Where We Are as a Convention

Depending on which news feeds you’ve seen on social media, you’ve likely heard that the SBC meeting was either the best convention since the Conservative Resurgence or it was the worst convention ever. Here are just some quick facts about SBC23

There were nearly 13,000 messengers from local churches who attended the meeting representing over 4,000 SBC churches

There were nearly 19,000 total people in attendance for the meeting (kids, booth vendors, etc… aren’t included as messengers)

With the exception of 2021, this convention was the highest attended since 1996!

This was a refreshing time to hear encouraging updates from many of our SBC entity heads and organizations. Real quick, let me recap how this works before we hear some of these reports. Whenever you give to the budget of our church here at FBC Salem, as all members do, 10% of our undesignated receipts go to the Cooperative Program. The Cooperative Program is the jet fuel that supports missions and ministries of our convention. Whenever you give, you support missionaries in North America as well as Internationally and you support our seminaries train pastors, missionaries, and future Bible professors and teachers at schools like SBU and Midwestern. Over 95% of the Cooperative Program giving goes to missions and seminaries. 4.64% goes to the SBC Executive committee and ERLC.

As we live in a world that values giving to various causes more than giving to their local church, I’m thankful that our church can honestly say that we are engaged in mission, discipleship, and Gospel work locally, and we support those ministries all around the world. It’s a blessing to be a part of a church full of people who practice sacrificial giving and desire to fulfill the Great Commission in cooperation with other like minded churches to do more together than we could do apart - thank you for giving!

Through churches like FBC Salem, our SBC missionaries are fully-funded. Meaning this: They don’t have to come home every year or every other year to collect funds and go back and miss time on the field. They are fully funded and supported through the giving of churches like ours throughout the year and especially through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

[Hear me say this: I’m not opposed to Shoeboxes - I’m not. Our country spends a billion dollars a year on Christmas shoeboxes… But if I had to give a billion dollars to either shoe boxes or the IMB, I’m choosing the IMB every day of the week.]

Paul Chitwood shared these amazing facts in New Orleans. From 2021-2022, SBC churches like ours raised $203 million during the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and all of those dollars go directly overseas to help out our missionaries! Further, the IMB received over $100 million through Cooperative Program Giving. How did God use those funds? Here’s how: In 2022, IMB missionary personnel

Engaged 67 new people groups with the Gospel

Shared the Gospel with 728,589 people

Baptized 102,417 people

Planted 21,231 new churches

AND in May, we commissioned 92 missionaries and 79 were commissioned in New Orleans to go to the nations.

Each missionary, many of which were couples, stood on the platform and shared their names and a way to pray for them as they entire their country of ministry. Many of them couldn’t display their country and they couldn’t show their face because the country they are going to is closed off to Christianity… but we are sending them. Through our giving, people are being sent, lives are being saved, and disciples are being made.

The President of the IMB, Paul Chitwood, shared that back in 1866, a little bit before my time, the IMB had $1.78 in their account and as Baptists do, they appointed a committee to consider the future of SBC missions work around the world and if it was worth it to keep giving and keep going. 150 years ago, Southern Baptists made missions a massive commitment and the report said this: We are burdened with but one duty, we feel but one desire in this work - Go Forward. Through God we will obey.” It was humbling to hear stories of how God is using our missionaries to impact lives around the world and this is what I am most hopeful of as a Southern Baptist on a national level. God has blessed us to bless the nations and FBC Salem is but a small part in God’s plan to reach the nations with the Gospel.

The next thing that was extremely good to hear was a report from our seminaries. Southern Baptist seminaries train 1/3 of all pastors in our country… but if you eliminate groups that we would say are not born again Christians, that number jumps to over half of the pastors in our country either have been trained or are being trained at SBC seminaries. That’s a massive responsibility but it’s also an amazing honor that God has given to us. Through the giving of churches like ours, SBC students (not just pastors) are able to receive their education at a 50% discount which makes seminary education at least an opportunity where it wouldn’t be otherwise. As a side note, we have the fastest growing SBC seminary with a world class faculty literally in our own state - about 4 hours away - and if you’d ever like to sit in on a seminar, take a class, or just go tour campus, let me know and I’d road trip with you. Theological education is important stuff and we’re blessed to have Midwestern reasonably close by.

Very few blog posts and articles were written on the good reports from the IMB and our Seminaries… because that won’t attract clicks. If you’re in the loop on things, you know that there were several unique things at this years convention, including the disfellowshipping of 3 churches: Freedom Church in Florida, Fern Creek Baptist Church in Kentucky, and Saddleback Church in California. Why were these churches disfellowshipped?

Freedom Church was deemed not in friendly cooperation due to failing to cooperate in resolving abuse allegation concerns regarding their Senior Pastor who was accused of these while in a different denomination.

Fern Creek Baptist Church was deemed not in friendly cooperation because they have a Senior Pastor who is a woman and exercising pastoral authority over the whole church. Saddleback was deemed not in friendly cooperation because they have recently ordained 5 women to pastoral ministry and have a woman serving as a Campus/Teaching Pastor. The former founding pastor of Saddleback, Rick Warren, had recently been on a tirade on Twitter explaining how wrong the SBC is. He even said that SBC churches aren’t fulfilling the Great Commission with 50% of their members sitting on the sideline. The argument from our changing culture is that if you don’t affirm Women as Senior Pastors and Preachers, then you are outdated and that you are the problem because you are limiting God’s power and restricting them from serving in the church. This is the Egalitarian position which is contrasted with the SBC position of Complimentarianism.

Let me be perfectly clear tonight that the SBC, of which FBC Salem voluntarily is a part of, is 100% in support of women serving within the church and using the gifts that God has given to them to lead in servant efforts as well as many other aspects of ministry. To say that SBC churches force 50% of our members to sit on the sidelines by not allowing Women to serve as Pastors is to say that only pastors do ministry work which is bologna. God has gifted each Christian with a spiritual gift in order to serve Him and serve within the body of Christ. At this convention, we passed a resolution entitled, “On the Legacy and Responsibility of Women Fulfilling the Great Commission.” You will find the wording of this resolution on the screen as I believe this is important to celebrate!

WHEREAS, Both men and women are created in the image of God, sharing equal value, dignity, and worth, and are commissioned by God (Genesis 1:26–28); and

WHEREAS, Scripture calls women to obey Christ’s Great Commission and demonstrates women are crucial and indispensable to His mission (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; 2:17–18); and

WHEREAS, Shiphrah and Puah protected the children of God (Exodus 1:15–20), Miriam proclaimed the glory of God (Exodus 15:20–21), Rahab saved her family from certain death (Joshua 6:22–25), Deborah judged God’s people (Judges 4:4–9), Jael delivered Israel (Judges 4:17–22), Hannah prayed for and dedicated her child to God (1 Samuel 1:10–11), Huldah prophesied God’s judgment and mercy (2 Chronicles 34:22–28), Ruth and Naomi exemplified loyalty to God (Ruth 1:16), and Esther risked her life for the sake of the people of Israel (Esther 4:16); and

WHEREAS, Anna proclaimed the arrival of the Messiah (Luke 2:36–38), and many women, including Mary Magdalene, Mary, and Salome, followed Jesus and financially supported His earthly ministry (Mark 15:40–41), remained with Him through His crucifixion (Matthew 27:55–56), and were commissioned as the original witnesses to and proclaimers of his resurrection (Matthew 28:1–10); and

WHEREAS, Lois and Eunice cultivated a biblical legacy in the family (2 Timothy 1:5, 3:14–15), Phoebe served the church and contributed to its mission (Romans 16:1–2), Lydia and Priscilla provided their homes for the churches’ gathering (Acts 16:14–15, 40; 1 Corinthians 16:19), Priscilla supported the apostles and clarified Christian doctrine (Acts 18:18, 26), Euodia and Syntyche were gospel co-laborers (Philippians 4:2–3), Philip’s daughters prophesied (Acts 21:9), and God commanded women to pass their faith through the generations (Titus 2:3–5); and

WHEREAS, Baptist women like Ann Judson, Henrietta Hall Shuck, and Charlotte H. White were among the earliest missionaries commissioned by the Triennial Convention, and Southern Baptist women like Annie Armstrong, Lottie Moon, and many others spent their lives propagating the gospel for future generations; and

WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith and Message states that “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture” (Article VI), and that “It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations [and] to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness” (Article XI); and

WHEREAS, The Southern Baptist Convention affirmed the gifts, ministries, and value of women in the kingdom of God in our 2021 resolution “On The Dignity And Worth Of Women”; and (resolutions continue on next page) Page 8 SBC BULLETIN Tuesday, June 13, 2023 (resolutions continue on next page)

WHEREAS, Women today serve courageously, sacrificially, and selflessly in our Southern Baptist churches and entities, and in a multitude of contexts around the world, through praying, giving, and obeying the Great Commission of our only Lord Jesus Christ; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 13–14, 2023, praise God for His authoritative call to all Christian women to fulfill His Great Commission, for His providential guidance of the multitudes of women who have faithfully served our Lord Jesus throughout history, and for the Holy Spirit's continuing call to women to edify His church in a plenitude of unique, critical, and indispensable ways; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we affirm God sovereignly granted to women their intrinsic worth, gifting, and dignity for the purpose of His own mission and glory, and that we express our gratitude to the countless women who serve among us as missionaries, writers, apologists, teachers, mentors, and leaders, both volunteer or professional, and that we celebrate their absolutely vital and too often unrecognized contributions to the expansion of His kingdom; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we as Southern Baptists see and honor the works that women today are doing in homes, churches, communities, workplaces, and on the global mission field to further the kingdom of God, and most importantly, we affirm that the God who sees will reward for eternity the beautiful works women do by his grace, in His name, and for His glory; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage pastors to equip women in their congregations “for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we exhort all Southern Baptists to work together to commission, train, and support women to go and make disciples while serving courageously, giving sacrificially, and praying continuously, in order to effectively impart the faith to the next generation; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we commit ourselves to cultivating an environment within the Southern Baptist Convention where women are fully respected, valued, and mobilized as co-laborers for the fulfillment of Christ’s Great Commission and the glory of the Triune God.

So - miss me with the statement that says that the SBC is misogynistic because that’s nonsense. How many of you got saved at a young age? How many of you had a mother who played an intricate role in your coming to know Jesus as Savior and Lord? SBC churches wouldn’t survive without Godly women using their gifts to glorify Jesus. I want to champion and we must support as vocally as possibly the men AND women of FBC Salem using their God-given gifts in the places that God has called them to serve.

So, why were these churches disfellowshipped? Because they strongly believe something different than the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 regarding women as pastors. The crux of this comes from 1 Timothy 3 but it’s much deeper than that through the New Testament as Paul grounds the authority of the pastor of the local church in the creation order, Adam created first and Eve was created after from one of his ribs.

We could spend a lot more time talking about this issue as it’s not going to go away in our present culture - it’s going to continue to grow in popularity. Comp/Egal debate will ensue for generations… But, it’s important to see the fruit of Egal denominations (mainline) as they almost always completely fade away from the core essentials of the faith shortly after going that route with the pastoral leadership of the church. Two things to remember when it comes up: We affirm that every Christian is gifted by God and called to serve in the church and proclaim the Gospel. We affirm the New Testament teaching that only qualified men can serve as pastors/elders/overseers - there was an amendment to the BFM 2000 article 6 as Elder/Overseer/Pastor represent the same person in the Testament in places like Acts 20:17

Acts 20:17 CSB

17 Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.

Acts 20:28 CSB

28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

Some churches use the word pastor, others use the word elder. Elder shows up 60x in the New Testament describing a leader of the church. Pastor/Shepherd shows up 3x to describe this same leader. Overseer shows up 5x describing this same person.

Elders - the word that shows up most in the New Testament, function in the church by overseeing the congregation and shepherding them. Scripture is clear that the office of elder/overseer/pastor is for qualified men - not all men, but only those qualified and called and with that aspiration. Words matter - to call someone not qualified by Scripture a pastor is to go against God’s authority because you give them pastoral authority over the congregation. This is why it matters what we use for titles and things like that - in the months to come, I expect many SBC churches will review what they call their staff and this is a healthy thing because words have meanings and words matter.

One final thought from the convention in relation to how we cooperate and do missions with other churches. The SBC has a statement of faith called the BFM 2000 and it serves as our confessional document where people can go to it and see roughly what we believe about some key things. There are some things that if you disagree with the BFM 2000 about, you’re not a Christian. You cannot get the deity of Jesus wrong and be saved… You can’t think there are 10 ways to be saved and be saved… Those are essentials to our faith and they determine if we are a Christian or not. Then there are other issues that are more matters of cooperation. We’re not saying that if you disagree, you’re not a Christian, it’s just that cooperation in the same convention isn’t going to happen. The issue of a Women in the role of Senior Pastor/Teaching Pastor or in the general office of any pastor/elder/overseer per the BFM 2000 is a matter of cooperation. We’re not saying Saddleback church and its leaders aren’t Christians… We’re saying that they have changed and they aren’t in friendly cooperation with our confessional document and our convention can’t in good conscience cooperate together - this is a secondary issue as you likely can’t worship in the same church with someone who disagrees on these issues. Then there are other issues that the BFM doesn’t even address. Think of the Rapture or how often we take the Lord’s Supper or what time our worship service should start or the songs that we use during congregational worship… the BFM doesn’t address it and there’s liberty there and we should be able to worship in our own congregation with people who disagree with us about those types of tertiary level issues instead of running for our barns and grabbing our pitchforks. That’s not the Baptist way with these types of things.

In short, this convention was much more unified than I could’ve imagined it would be going down to New Orleans. I was expecting a fireworks show and by the grace of God, that didn’t happen and I believe God was glorified as a result. I’m a Christian first, a baptist second, and a southern baptist third… but after SBC23, I’m more excited than I was a year ago about our convention and I think that is something that we should celebrate.

Where We Are as a Church

One thing we did this time last year was we looked at where our church was at and I briefly want to touch on a few things that we need to celebrate. God has been moving in our church and we’ve seen spiritual growth take place as we seek to glorify Him by proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples, and loving God and others as the Great Commandment demands of us! We’re seeing the lost be found and we’re seeing the saved grow in service and sanctification and God is using us as a body to impact this community and I’m grateful for each one of you and your faithfulness in this process to give, grow, and go. Here’s a couple of fly-by facts

We had a great Kidz Choir group this Spring and they learned about the Gospel the last few months and had a wonderful program back in May

We had over 100 people help out in Love Thy Neighbor this year which represented a record number to this point

We had 96 kids come to Camp Joy with several dozen youth helpers and many more adult counselors, cooks, and leaders. We know of 3 salvations from Camp Joy and we’re in the process of following up with many more.

We have Day Camp coming up this week and VBS a few weeks down the road where the Gospel will be front and center and we pray that God would continue to change lives for His glory

We have 24 people going to Guatemala next month and 20 of them are from our church - they’ll build 10 homes, feed 200 families, lead a VBS and Women’s Event, and teach English… most of all, though, they’ll be using these physical things in order to share the most important message of all: Jesus Christ saves sinners.

Through Planning Center, we track attendance and the data tells us that our average worship attendance on a Sunday morning this year, 2023, is 281. That is up from an average of 249 last year (July-December of 2022)

If those attending Sunday School 1/3 of the time come on the same Sunday - we would have roughly 360 in our worship service

We’ve had 12 baptisms and 17 new members by statement of faith or transfer of letter - meaning we’ve had 29 new members during this church year (July of last year through June of this year). We’re about to have several added to that number after today and next Sunday!

Giving is holding steady and God is providing as He promises to do. As we continue to put Him first in all that we do individually and as a church, we’ll be fine

As we’re seeing spiritual and numerical growth take place, we’re continuing to see unity exist as we stand on God’s Word - and this is the greatest thing to rejoice about because God takes the unity and purity of His church seriously

I’ve talked to a few pastors specifically in the Springfield area who are experiencing steady numerical growth… and it’s not about the numbers. It’s not about the buildings. It’s not about us, even… It’s all about God’s glory! As we think about our task in our community and in our lives, it is to take the Gospel to our neighbors and the nations and to live a life that points people to King Jesus. God is bringing people here and they are being loved on, welcomed back, and they are hearing the Gospel through song and the preached Word. There are still 12,000+ lost people in Dent County in need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are still people who come to our church who haven’t responded to the Gospel. There are people in need - and we see a reminder over and over in Scripture to avoid complacency and lukewarmness and the temptation to think that we’ve done enough… Because of this, we have to keep moving - which leads to

Where We’re Going as a Church

Can I be honest and say that I’m excited about where God is leading us? There is so much fear in our world about the future and I’m not insensitive to those concerns, but God is still ruling on His throne and until He calls us home, He promises to build His church and use His people for His plans and purposes and I’m excited to see what those plans and purposes are in 2024, 2030 and 2040 for us individually and as a church.

In the future, methods will without doubt change. How many of us had a church app with directory access and meal trains before a year ago? Planning Center has been a positive change for thousands of churches over the last few years. Methods will change… but the message never will. Where are we going? We’re pressing on and as we press on, we’re standing on the solid rock of God’s Word and we will never waver off of that rock regardless of how promising or popular the other side looks. If we want to be a church that stands on the rock of God’s Word and makes a Dent in Dent County for the glory of God, we’re going to have to accept the fact that we’re going to get uncomfortable.

Some of us have had to get a little uncomfortable as we’ve had to move rooms in order to accommodate a growing children’s and youth group. Some of us have had to get a little uncomfortable because our “normal” pews aren’t always available because there’s a new person sitting there. These are good reasons to get a little uncomfortable! I’ve described this season in the life of our church to some like we are a kite caught up in the wind of God’s grace. We keep on planting seed and watering seed and we’ll continue to watch God do His job of bringing in a harvest in His perfect time - that’s where we’re going, where He wants us to go one step at a time. And if we continue to experience this amount of growth over the next year or two, we’re going to be seriously uncomfortable especially during the summer months…

As we’ve talked about during this meeting already, there is much to celebrate as we look back, and there is much to be excited about in the days to come in the life of our church and in the life of our convention. In the months to come, we’ll have some exciting news to share from our architect who has been working diligently with our long range planning and building and grounds teams as well as our staff and taking the input given to them from various teachers and from every single evaluation form that was turned in from our congregation.

God is at work and our job is to keep our eyes on Him - to serve Him - to glorify Him - to trust in Him - to worship Him with our time, talent, and treasure. I’m excited for what He has in store and how He will use our time, talent, and treasure, and bless it beyond our wildest imagination. Let’s keep our eyes on Him and keep on being faithful to do the things He wants us to do!