As Alabama Baptists work toward healthier leaders and healthier churches, national groups are noticing Alabama churches.
According to Edwin Jenkins, director of the office of leadership/church growth, this health comes from a focus on spiritual growth, missions advancement, ministry involvement and outreach effectiveness.
Baptist church effectiveness in ministry is often measured by how many members it takes to reach one new person for Christ, evidenced by baptism.
The average baptism to members ratio in Alabama for 2003 was 1:35. This compares with a 1:30 average in the Southern Baptist Convention. The figures are based on resident membership.
With its ratio of 1:13 (resident membership 2002) Canaan Baptist Church, Bessemer, knows first-hand what prolific performance is.
Evangelism tools
Canaan’s use of the LifeWay Christian Resources evangelism and Sunday School strategy known as FAITH resulted in winning the 2003 Charles Haddon Spurgeon Award for evangelism.
The Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., conferred the award. The awards committee accepted churches with a ratio of 1:20 or less into the competition.
“These types of awards are very significant in that they acknowledge churches that have been effective in doing what we are all about, and that is reaching people for and teaching them about Jesus,” Jenkins said.
“The award itself is for the Great Commission commitment to Kingdom ministry,” said Canaan Pastor Barry Cosper.
According to Thom Rainer, dean of the Graham school, Alabama Baptist churches had more finalists than any state in the 2003 competition.
Canaan’s rising to the top of the churches in the final round of competition showcased what Tommy Haralson, minister of education at Canaan, already knew — Canaan’s members were committed to the program.
The members studied all the tiers of FAITH from the basics of witnessing through learning how to answer difficult questions potential converts may pose.
FAITH teams at Canaan meet Monday evenings for instruction, prayer and visitation in the community, according to Cosper.
“It’s a tremendous evangelistic tool,” he said. “FAITH fits our church and it works.”
The church consistently conducts backyard Bible clubs in neighborhoods where there are many unchurched families. The church uses block parties, Vacation Bible School, youth camps and adult camps as evangelistic efforts.
While pastors have used different methods of evangelism for many years, it’s the commitment and leadership from the pastor, as in the case of Spurgeon, that makes the difference, ministers say.
Spurgeon was a British pastor who lived from 1834 until 1892 and served as pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. “We use Spurgeon’s name for these awards … because he was a Baptist who had a high view of Scripture and believed that no church could be healthy without firm theological convictions,” Rainer said. “He had an evangelistic passion as clearly evident in his book, ‘The Soul Winner.’ ”
Spurgeon “insisted on churches having some type of accountability beyond themselves,” Rainer explained. “That is why he urged churches to report records of attendance and baptisms. He had no interest in numbers for numbers sake, but he did believe in congregational accountability through numbers.”
Being accountable has accomplished award-placing results for Alabama Baptist churches. They were finalists in several of 12 categories, according to Haralson.
“It is exciting because most of these churches are not big city churches,” Haralson said. “We are reaching people where they are, and our churches are growing.”
According to the Billy Graham School, finalists from Alabama were: Bethlehem Baptist Church, Hazel Green, for ministry; East Memorial Baptist Church, Prattville, for innovative approaches; Ford City Baptist Church, Muscle Shoals, for evangelism; Lord of the Harvest Baptist Church, Northport, for discipleship; Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell, for evangelism; Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, Cordova, for prayer; Sharon Heights Baptist Church, Birmingham, for innovative approaches; Union Hill Baptist Church, Bessemer, for worship; Union Hills Baptist Church, Oneonta, for Sunday School/small group; and Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery, for prayer.
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