What Do Unbelievers think of SBC?

Every once and a while, I’ll spend a little time perusing the North American Mission Board web site (www.namb.net). There are times, I come across very interesting and helpful information. Recently, I stumbled on one such web page. From the Center for Missional Research, came an article entitled, “How do the Unchurched View Southern Baptists?” (http://www.namb.net/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=9qKILUOzEpH&b=2027651&ct=3198399) There were three very interesting findings.
First, 40 percent of those who’d attended a service were not familiar enough with Southern Baptists to form an impression. Over half of the people who had not attended a service where unfamiliar with the SBC. The findings show that “almost half of those surveyed just have no familiarity with who we are.”
Secondly, they looked at the “Impact of Knowing a Church is Southern Baptist on decision to visit or join.” These findings were especially troublesome. Among the unchurched people who expressed an opinion, almost three times as many said it would have a negative impact.
Finally, I thought the results of the age and willingness of people to “visit or join” a SBC church was interesting. Younger adults were substantially less willing to visit and join a church if they knew it was an SBC church.
What are we missing? There is no doubt that the over whelming majority of people have no idea who Southern Baptist are. I think there is no doubt loyalties to denominations are a bygone product. Most people could care less what denomination they attend. We, too, must realize joining a Southern Baptist Church does not have an impact upon our salvation. In fact, a person’s affiliation with any denomination means nothing. Salvation is based upon a person’s affiliation with our Savior, Jesus Christ and Christ alone. We can not rest on the simple fact that we are Southern Baptist and beliee people will be knocking down our door. So what can we learn from research like this?
First, we must continually engage our community. Gone are the days where people would simply come to your church. In states like Oklahoma and Texas, Southern Baptist work is woven into the fabric of local communities. However in more pioneer work like Kansas and Nebraska, Southern Baptist work is relatively new and unknown. Furthermore, the days of people simply coming to our church are long gone. We must be out into the community. Jim Toole reminded me that too many of our churches are becoming too much like seminaries (Let’s Worship Fall 2007). All we do is take in and never give out. We must get to know them and address their needs. They must see a church that genuinely cares for them and shows compassion for their families. We can not expect them to simply waltz into our church because we are Southern Baptists. We must be looking for ways to connect to them in their environment and then lead them to a place of faith. Toole goes on to say, “When your people give back to God from an overflow of what He gives them, it makes room for more of God in their hearts. If they hold in the glory of God, they become complacent, complaining, and uncaring. However, if they give God the glory due His name, they become caring, compassionate, and contagious” (Let’s Worship pg 62). We must continually be creating avenues for people to come and link arms with us. We can do this through one-day fairs, Angel Food Ministry, revivals, vbs, and maybe the most effective, small groups.
Secondly, we must exhibit Christ-like character. Matthew 9:36 tells us that Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were harassed and helpless. Do you have the same compassion for people? Do you care that many do not have the most basic necessities in life? Do you care that many are lost without Jesus? Not only do we need to continually engage society, we must be willing to exhibit the attitude of Christ. We must develop a heart that truly seeks the well-being and welfare of others. This is one of the reasons I believe compassion ministries of our church are so very important. Ministries like Angel Food are open avenues to meet the physical and spiritual needs of others.
Finally, we must care enough to explain the Gospel to others. Let me outline a few very simple steps to help us all become more focused upon sharing the gospel with others:
1. Pray God will give you an attitude of multiplication. In most churches, if a survey were taken and the question were asked if they wanted to see growth up to ¼ of the people would say no. This should not be.
2. Be attentive to God’s Spirit. Everyday, ask God to bring people to you that you can share your story with.
3. Answer God’s prompting. If you are asking God to bring people to you, be ready to respond to His prompting.
4. Talk with them – don’t be pushy or use religious jargon – once again, follow God’s leading.
5. When the door is open, share your testimony in 100 words or less. Are you able to share who you were before Christ, how you can to know Christ, and who you are today with Christ as your Lord and Savior? Can you do this in 100 words or less? You may not have much time.

Let me share a very quick story of how God uses opportunities to let us share the hope of Jesus. I was going to a garage sell this past Friday. I’m always looking for cheap books. As I was looking in a box of books, I noticed that many of the books were Bibles and a few other Christian books. Talk about an easy opening for the Gospel! I simply asked the person, “I see you have a lot of Christian Bibles, do you have a faith in Jesus?” Her answer was simple, “Oh, those are my mother’s books. I’m not religious – I’m spiritual but not religious.” I asked her, “What do you mean spiritual?” Over the coming minutes, I was able to talk about the importance of Jesus Christ in our lives. Come to find out, this lady was a mother of a little girl who had already been coming to our church. As we closed, I was able to invite her to our church. I have taken her name and have begun to pray for her every time God brings her name to me. I have no doubt God will honor the effort at a garage sell and will bring this lady into the Kingdom. I had to have my eyes open to the opportunity. I had to be bold enough to ask a question and finally I had to be sensitive enough to talk with her. Every Christian can do what I did. It does not take a preacher, just a person who really cares enough.
We must be willing to engage society, exhibit a transformed life, and be willing to explain the Gospel when God opens the door. In other words, we must invest in lives of people. In order to offer change, we must invite them to church. We must begin to pray to have a positive influence upon people so we may have a major Kingdom impact upon lives. Are you a caring, compassionate, and contagious Christian? If not, why not? Pray that God will take your heart and create in you a compassionate and caring heart so you can be a contagious on fire Christian.