SBC WON'T CONSIDER NAME CHANGE

It's not that they are not wanted. They have segregated themselves from the rest of society and have enjoyed their own litle group of worshipers. They are transplanted southerners and have not assimilated into society. They have not welcomed the locals to their local church.

 

gb, is it really because they haven't welcomed the locals or, as some posts suggest here, the locals have not welcomed them because of the Southern in Southern Baptist. Southerners are often ridiculed for our Southern accent and ways. I know that is a fact because I have been North of the Mason-Dixon line and was made to feel like I was as dumb as a post. I did not feel welcome nor wanted and it made me very sad. To make things worse, I was alone with no one to talk to about it. I was certainly glad to hit that Tennessee line on the way home.

Here in the South, when new people move into the community, it is our custom to welcome them. Now, I know this probably doesn't happen in some other regions but it sure would be a nice gesture to make as Christians.

Since we now know that the word Southern is offensive to folks in other parts of the country, would do you expect these people to do, deny their heritage? Southerners don't do that. Just ask my brother who has lived in Napa, Cal. since 1963. He still has his Southern accent and is proud to be from Tennessee. His friends and neighbors don't seem to mind at all. With his cheerful nature he has assimilated very well. I, on the other hand, am very shy and I'm sure I would not assimilate quite as well as he has.

It's not easy being the new guy on the block. Some parts of this country are like living in a foreign land. I can vouch that New Jersey even has it's own foreign language that no Southerner can understand. lol

All I can ask is: what have you done to make these people a part of your Christian community?

 

So Bro. Robertsson, churches should just stay in their own regions huh? Especially Southern ones. I take that as; Them Southerners better stay away from us cause we don't want them here.
It must just be terrible for you when companies send their Southern employees to your region.

Whatever happened to the Great Commission? It say Go ye therefore and teach all nations; not Go ye therefore and teach everyone except you own countrymen because they feel like you are too dumb to teach them anything.

 

Not only do we Southern Baptists have a name that doesn't do much for our missions efforts in the Northern and Western Climes of our Country - We also have an attitude that compounds the problem.

The idea that if a town doesn't have a Southern Baptist Church then there is no evangelical witness in that town is offensive to all who are followers of Jesus Christ.

 

I guess we're uneducated, too. I had to look this up!

Quit talking over my head!

 

I had no idea it was wrong to take pride in where one was born and raised. Oh well, at least we know where we stand with the rest of America. Yes, I may be ethnocentric, but that also seems to apply to everyone here; even you, Squire Robertsson. You seem to believe that you can be proud of your heritage but I have no right to be proud of mine and that is a very un-Christian attitude. I have defended my home and my culture.
Now that I know where I stand as a Southerner, this will be my last post on this subject.

I have only this last thing to say.
You will never take me alive. hahahahahaha

 

Evangelism is not about the local welcoming you. It's about winning people to Christ and discipling them.

I spend my time discipling people and if they want to sit in their easy chair then I want no part of that lifestyle. Where I live there are people from al over the US. Even those who come here as SBC soon want no part of them. The SBC folks have done nothing to participate with the other evangelical churches. In fact they have refused to participate in anything. The general comments I here is that there is something wrong with the SBC churches.

If you start winning people to Christ it won't take long and people will start coming to your church. The SBC has come here with "all the answers" from Nashville but it doesn't work and the locals know it. The DOM from the SBC met with me and asked me to pastor a local church. I told him I was not interested because the folks at that church were too stuck in their ways and didn't want to change. They did not know why their church is not growing. Two years ago I met with the leadership of a church that was dying. I suggested ways they could grow but when it came right down to it they didn't want to pay the price and work. They were comfortable enough to do nothing and watch the church die.

 

Is it just too simplistic to suggest that churches who feel the "Southern" nomenclature would be a hinderance (but who wish to participate in SBC cooperative missions, etc.) not include the word "Southern" in their name?

I don't see Rick Warren or David Jeremiah worrying about such matters.

 

I could refer to Krispy Kreme donuts here ...


When we use the term Southern Baptist, you know what to expect. When someone says American Baptist, I know what not to expect, etc. I agree with RandR. If a church doesn't want to use it in their name, no problem!

 

Diane,

Good post and good point.

In Great Falls, Montana, I was pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church. We decided the name Southern was an asset since we were located in a military town and a lot of Southern Baptist Air Force people would be able to tell at a glance that we were what they were used to and looking for.

In other towns in the West the name Southern was a turnoff.

It's up to the church to use it or not.

 

GB, it's distressing to see that your experience with SBC churches has been so bad. I want you to know however that there are many SBC churches that are working and witnessing - reaching out to the lost world. There are many SBC churches that are embracing change where needed. And although there are several churches of many varieties on the decline because of disobedience and apathy (and the SBC doesn't have the corner on this market), there are good numbers of SBC churches that are growing in Christ and in number. Many of these churches are on the west coast. Perhaps you haven't had much experience with these particular fellowships.

I hope there will come a day when you're looking from the outside and see something more vital than you're seeing now on the west coast. I pray for that, and for the churches that have contributed to your low opinion of the SBC (lack of) influence on the left coast.