God Gives the Increase

God Gives the Increase

The announcement that Southern Baptist baptisms were up a little more than 10,000 in 2004 when compared to 2003 is good news. The announcement reverses a four-year decline on the number of people baptized annually in cooperating Baptist churches.

In 1999 Southern Baptists reported baptizing 419,342 individuals, the highest number since 1980. That figure fell each year to 377,357 in 2003. Last year’s number was 387,947.

Some Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders such as LifeWay Christian Resources president Jimmy Draper credit the “Everyone Can Kingdom Challenge! Witness, Win, and Baptize … One Million!” emphasis of Alabama native Bobby Welch, now serving as SBC president, for the turn around. Since his election, Welch has sung the single note of evangelism. He toured every state in the nation in a much publicized bus tour encouraging Baptists to concentrate on evangelism.

Prior to the June 21–22 SBC annual meeting, Welch will lead the largest ever CrossOver event yet. CrossOver is an evangelistic event sponsored annually by Southern Baptists in the city hosting the convention. The annual meeting also will be the kickoff for a drive to see Southern Baptists baptize 1 million people by the 2006 annual meeting in Greensboro, N.C.

Draper said he would be “surprised if we (Southern Baptists) didn’t see a considerable jump” in baptisms when results are gathered in 2005 and 2006 because of Welch’s emphasis on evangelism and baptisms.

Obviously only God’s Holy Spirit can convict people of sin and draw them into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Yet God has chosen to use the efforts of Christians to tell the story of His great love. The more Christians share the gospel, the more the Holy Spirit seems to work.

That principle is evidenced in another Welch innovation — FAITH. FAITH is a Sunday School-based evangelism strategy built around a gospel presentation using the words Forgiveness, Available, Impossible, Turn and Heaven. Many people have been brought to faith in Jesus Christ and become active in a local church as a result of the FAITH strategy.

Welch created FAITH at First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, Fla., where he has been pastor for the past 30 years. Now the strategy is marketed by LifeWay Christian Resources and used across the nation and the world with wonderful results.

Southern Baptists are known for a commitment to evangelism. For at least the past 25 years, every SBC president has emphasized the need for evangelism. Ironically, however, the highest year and the highest decade for SBC baptisms go back to the 1970s.

The highest number of baptisms in a single year reported by Southern Baptist churches was 1972, when 445,725 individuals were baptized. The only time Southern Baptists have exceeded the 400,000 mark in baptisms for five consecutive years was from 1971 until 1975: 1971 — 409,659; 1972 — 445,725; 1973 — 413,990; 1974 — 410,482; 1975 — 421,809.

Not surprisingly, the decade of the ’70s was the most productive decade in SBC history in terms of total baptisms. During that 10-year period, SBC-related churches reported 3,905,502 baptisms.

The second most productive decade, when measured by baptisms, was the 1950s with 3,892,851 baptisms reported. During the 1950s, Southern Baptists baptized more than 400,000 people in a single year for the first time in their history. They did that not once but three times during the 10-year span.

The 1990s were a close third with 3,888,870 people reported as baptized by SBC-related churches. The 1980s was a distant fourth with 3,763,655 reported. In the 1960s, 3,743,817 baptisms were reported.

What were Baptists doing in the 1970s that resulted in the best evangelistic results yet reported? WIN. The acronym stands for Witness Involvement Now. It was a program to train lay members of churches to use a pamphlet to present the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The program was led by Kenneth Chafin, chairman of the evangelism division of what was then the Home Mission Board. Chafin had been a noted evangelism professor at both Southwestern and Southern Baptist Theological seminaries. He also led Billy Graham Schools of Evangelism for years.

After learning how to use a simple evangelism track, thousands of lay church members began sharing their faith and inviting people to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. The principle worked. The more people shared the gospel, the more people were saved and baptized.

But there is a word of warning. In the 1970s, Southern Baptists also reported baptizing the fewest number of people in any single year in the past 50 years. In 1978 only 336,050 baptisms were reported. Only one other time since 1950 have baptisms fallen below 340,000 and that was in 1987 when 338,495 baptisms were reported.

Obviously success for a season does not mean success forever.

A study that looked behind the numbers might find a lot of reasons for the results reported in the last 55 years. No one explanation is complete. Still there is that historical principle that seems to remain valid. When Christian people prepare, when they go and when they share, God’s Holy Spirit gives the increase.

Please join me in praying that Southern Baptists will focus on sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and that God’s Holy Spirit will give us record increases during the coming months.