A few weeks ago the Southern Baptist Convention adopted an important resolution that I pray will bear much fruit in the years to come. I encourage you to read Resolution 6: On Regenerate Church Membership and Church Member Restoration. I think this is a significant resolution for the following reasons:
- It points Southern Baptists to a long-neglected practice of biblical church discipline. It has been my own experience that the average SBC church member knows little or nothing at all about this crucial responsibility laid upon the church by Christ.
- The resolution provides a proper biblical focus on the restoration of wayward church members. So often, those who do take a biblical stand for the practice of church discipline loose sight of the goal of winning those who have strayed.
- Southern Baptists as a whole are called by this resolution to a more humble and accurate view of who we are as a denomination. The statistics and reports regarding membership in the local church do not accurately reflect the condition of the churches in the SBC.
- In addition, as Southern Baptists, we are called to recognize that any action short of repentance in this area is insufficient. There is no programmatic approach that can bring true revival among us. God must lead us to the repentance which this resolutions calls for.
- Further, the resolution helps us to think much more biblically about what it means to be a church. It drives us to consider our doctrinal foundations about the church and salvation. I find this extremely encouraging.
Undoubtedly, there are other reasons why this resolution is important for the churches of the SBC, and I hope we will have many opportunities to discuss all of them in the days ahead.
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