The 2021 Southern Baptist Convention
Let's just start and end with that banner. It reads "We are the Great Commission Baptists." This is absolutely false. So, being frank and honest ... in your lifetime ...
When has Baptist knocked on your door to evangelize you?
When has Baptist phoned you to evangelize you?
When has Baptist spoken to you to evangelize you?
(a) At work?
(b) In the doctor's waiting room?
(c) on a public train, plane, or bus?
(d) on the street
The only thing I have experienced in 55 years of life is Baptists screaming hellfire on street corners, alienating unbelievers even more.
"We are the Great Commission Baptists" is an absolutely false statement, they sit in their churches waiting on the unbeliever to find the church, or they send some young 19-year-old girl to some Islamic country to get their evangelism badge. The vast majority of church growth comes from childbirth and people moving from community to community. Something like 1% is by persuasion and conversion.
Paul Chamberlain
As a Southern Baptist, I spent quite a bit of time doing outreach in the park. I helped out at a Christian booth, an outreach to Muslims booth, and talked to people at the Muslim, atheist, and Hare Krishna booths (among others). I also talked to, and gave many tracts to, Uber drivers. There was someone else in my church who did door to door, and our church was involved in a very large seasonal outreach that presented the gospel. I have a relative who was ordained a Southern Baptist preacher, but kept his day job connected to the military so he could be deployed several times overseas in the Middle East and Africa and witness to people.
I left my southern Baptist church when a deceptive Calvinist pastoral candidate was voted in (Google “Stealth Calvinism”). Almost all my friends ended up leaving, too. (The new pastor ended up, from what I was told, largely defunding the large seasonal outreach, and former members took it over as a nonprofit.)
Regularly we have an independent Baptist church that comes through our neighborhood (the church is miles away) passing out tracts, asking if people are saved (I’ve learned that saying you’re a Christian isn’t enough!), and inviting people to both Spanish and English services.
Now I go to an open Plymouth Brethren assembly and a man who went to the above independent Baptist church goes, too. He has spent many hours doing outreach in our neighborhood, at train and bus stations in the area, and has given me good advice on visitor packs, etc.
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