Decline For Baptists

I was very interested in the editorial you wrote in the March 29 issue — “Will Alabama Baptists Become References in a History Book?” — about the danger of decline for Baptists. 

One of my concerns is that we are currently in a day when many young believers feel God is calling them to ministry but not to local church ministry. I believe we have to recover a sense of investment in the local church. 

I can think of a number of reasons why we have lost this connection to the local church, among them the fact that for a generation churches have transitioned from using students as part-time staff to full-time staff members, the rise of the megachurch model and the influence of writers and teachers who sometimes encourage skepticism toward local church ministry. Nonetheless we live in a time when we desperately need gifted leaders to be ready to commit themselves to local churches again.

Jim Cooley
Haleyville, Ala.