Since I have been back at Faith Baptist, I have spent much time carefully contemplating the future of our church through prayer, through the study of God's Word and works related to church revitalization and growth authored by people much smarter that I am, and through conversation with the saints at Faith Baptist and with the ministers and leaders of other local churches. This work is the result of this labor and it reflects what I believe to be God’s will for Faith Baptist Church. This work is not necessarily my own; it represents a culmination of what I have heard and learned from the Lord and many other people.
Introduction
When I came back to Faith at the end of 2014, I came looking for a home. I was broken and in desperate need of God’s grace. I was hesitant to come back here, to Faith Baptist Church, because I was afraid of how everyone would react to me. After all, this church sent me into the world to minister and I had made quite a mess of it. As scared as I was, I knew God was leading me back here and when I followed his leadership I was glad I returned. In my broken condition, I was afraid of finding judgmental sneers and whispers behind my back, but what I found was a group of people who loved me, were concerned for me, and wanted to help me be all that God had designed for me to be. I found a family. Sure, we don’t always agree, and sometimes we get mad at each other, but no matter what, we are all in it together.
God has used the people in this church to encourage me, to guide me, and to sustain me. Here, at Faith Baptist Church, I have found the hope and help that I needed and I found it in the Gospel. It’s God’s desire that we help others in our community to find the hope and help of the Gospel and I know that it is the desire of many among you here now.
In the time I have been here at Faith I have listened to what many of you have said about what you feel regarding the church. I know that you love this church and the people here. I also know that many of you are tired. Tired of putting in countless hours with limited results. Tired of “going through the motions” and feeling spiritually dry. What I want to share with you this evening is what I have heard from each and every one of you and from the Lord. I hope as you read through this document and as you listen to my presentation that you are able to recognize some of your own ideas. I take absolutely no credit for creating this vision; I have only put together what I have heard from the church and from Jesus.
We are going to move forward together, and we are going to continue to seek God’s will for Faith Baptist Church as a community, and I believe that God will lead all of us into a vibrant and thriving future.
What should a church be?
The English word church is translated from the Greek word ekklesia, which is derived from ek, meaning “out of,” and kaleo, which means, “to call”; hence, the church is “a called-out group.”[1] There are many different definitions floating around today of exactly what this “called-out group” should be. Some of these definitions are rooted in sound biblical doctrine and some are based more in what people want than what God has designed. We at Faith Baptist Church believe that the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice and as such seek the answer to the question of what a church should be in Scripture. Fortunately, we can find a clear description of a biblical church in the Book of Acts.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47 ESV)
By summarizing this description of what a church should be, we can form a biblical definition of church as God meant it to be:
The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe biblical the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and are unified by the Spirit, disciplined for holiness, and go into the world to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as missionaries for God’s glory and their joy.[2]
In light of this example and definition, we find that there are five things that an organization must accomplish to be a true New Testament church: (1) worship, (2) fellowship, (3) discipleship, (4) ministry, and (5) evangelism.
Where are we?
In order to get an accurate picture of where we are today, we must look at two things. First, we must have an idea of where we came from. We can gain a hold of where we came from by looking into the history of our church. Second, we must clearly understand where we are in relation to where we started. We must capture an accurate snapshot of the present state of the ministry of our church.
A Brief History of Faith Baptist Church
On September 23, 1982, a group of believers met at the home of W.H. and Sandra Pender in Ridgeland, South Carolina to discuss the need, and their desire, for a new Gospel work in Ridgeland. Each one of the brothers and sisters in Christ shared how they felt and voiced their opinion. The group met again after much prayer and urging from the Holy Spirit and agreed together to form the new church, Faith Baptist Church.
In their “Statement of Reasons for Organizing a Church,” the group stated that they hoped the Lord might, through their small group, “reach out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in that our Father’s House might be filled,” and that their purpose was specific, to “reach the unreached for our Lord.”
The newly constituted church named three trustees (Billy Pender, Frank Smith, and Omer DuBose) and on October 17, 1982, held their first worship service at the original building, located at 1010 Adams Street. The Reverend Joseph McTeer led this first service with thirty-three congregants in attendance. Faith Baptist Church’s first deacons were Omer DuBose (who still serves the church as Deacon Emeritus), Frank Smith, and Bill Floyd.
On November 26, 1982, the church met again in conference, having found a property on which to build a church building. The land for the church building was purchased from Mrs. Thelma Z. Woods and the church members all participated in clearing the land and building the church building.
The church continued to serve as a Gospel outpost over the years and has been led to serve by many men called of God.
As the years have gone by, Faith Baptist has seen lots of people come and go. Some went on to minister to others as pastors and teachers and some, including Faith’s present membership, continue to serve as missionaries in our community as we await the coming of our Lord and Savior. Even our present pastor, Henry Criss, came to faith in Christ and was called into vocational ministry through the ministry of our church. Today we are continuing the traditions established by that small group in 1982 by seeking to go out into the highways and byways in the hopes to reach the unreached for our Lord.
Our Present Situation
The most effective way to measure the successfulness of a church is to look at statistical information. There are three main statistics that we typically use to measure the successfulness of a church: the number of baptisms per year, annual average worship attendance, and annual average gross undesignated gifts received. It is worth noting that these three metrics are not the most accurate way to judge the successfulness of a church because the church’s mission is not to baptize more people, draw more attendees, or collect more money, but we use these metrics because they are the easiest to measure. Also, remember that the mission is not to increase these specific numbers, but to transform Ridgeland by the power of the Gospel, one life at a time. If we are successful in accomplishing our mission we will see these numbers go up. When we look at statistics, we must bear in mind that it is not the actual numbers we are looking at, but the story they tell. We look not at individual measurements, but at trends in a variety of measurements so that we can get a clear and complete picture of what the numbers represent. Also, we have to keep in mind that the statistics are only indicators. They don’t tell us what is right and what is wrong, they only indicate potential problems or advantages.
Unfortunately for us, statistical information has not been collected in the past couple years. Even though we don’t have the actual data, we can still discuss how these three areas (baptisms, attendance, and giving) relate to our current situation.
The fact that our attendance has declined over the past several years, along with our gross undesignated gifts received and the fact that we have had no baptisms at all in 2015 reveal that there we have not been effective in reaching the unchurched and making disciples.
Where are we going?
The reality of our present situation can be discouraging as we obviously have not been living up to the expectations of those who came before us in this journey. However, God remains faithful and Jesus’s promise to build his church is still valid. Jesus is already working in Ridgeland and, as his followers, it is our job to join him where he is already at work. We started out on a path following Jesus some thirty years ago but lost that path somewhere along the way. I am not interested in expending time and energy determining where we lost our way or who is at fault. I learned long ago that one can either spend time and energy fixing the blame or fixing the problem and I am far more interested in getting back on the path. I hope you are as well.
In order to get back on the path, we must refocus on that original goal that those who founded Faith set out on. The goal of reaching out into the highways and byways and compel them (those the Father is seeking) to come in that our Father’s House might be filled,” and “reaching the unreached for our Lord.”
As look at how we might return to that original goal, we must take a fresh look at it through the lens of our current context. No one would dispute that much has changed in the world around us in the past thirty years and as much as we must remain true to the gospel message, we must also be careful to spread that message in a manner that is relevant to our neighbors today.
Vision
Simply put, vision is a description of what we want to achieve in the mid-term or long-term future and it serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action. Vision answers the questions of "who are we”, "what are we doing”, "why are we doing it”, "where are we doing it”, and "how we are going to do it?” Vision is the most basic, fundamental resource we have at our disposal and it is essential to plotting a clear course into the future.
In the setting of the local church, it is imperative that our vision is derived from God’s design for our particular setting, not from our personal preferences and/or desires. Over the past year or so I have prayerfully and carefully taken inventory of our church in the context of where God has put us and I am firmly convinced that God has designed Faith Baptist Church to be a refuge for the sin sick and the weary, a place where those who have been missed by the church can come and connect with each other and with God, a place where the misfits fit in.
In light of this I would state our vision as follows:
Faith Baptist Church seeks to be a community of grace and a point of light in the Ridgeland area that is undergirded by intentional discipleship through meaningful relational small groups, vibrant Christ-centered worship, and personal relationships.
“A community of grace and a point of light in the Ridgeland area…”
We seek to be a community of grace by showing others, both inside and outside of our fellowship, the forgiveness that God has shown us (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13). This forgiveness, which is lacking in so much of the world, makes us a bright light in a world surrounded by darkness. God, in his sovereign design, has planted each of us here in Ridgeland and we should seek to minister to those around us.
“Intentional discipleship”
In Matthew 28:19 Jesus commissioned us to “make disciples.” All too often we adopt a “wait and see” approach to making disciples where we “wait” for people to show up at our church and “see” if they grow in their relationship with Christ by hanging around. We must develop a deliberate way in which we help each other grow closer to Christ.
“Meaningful relational small groups”
The Bible teaches us that we grow sharper in much the same way that one sharpens a knife (Proverbs 27:17). If you picture a knife being sharpened against a sharpening rod you will notice that the two must come into contact with each other. Similarly, for each disciple to become sharper we must be in close contact. Life happens in circles and not in rows. If we seek to minister to one another, we must also seek to build real and personal relationships. This just doesn’t happen on Sunday mornings, it happens by sharing life. One of the most effective ways to share life with one another is to participate in informal small group bible studies held in non-threatening environments.
“Vibrant Christ-centered worship”
While a majority of relationships start and grow in smaller group settings, we must not forsake the assembling together in a larger group to celebrate what God is doing and to worship him (Hebrews 10:25). Our worship services must be carried out with excellence as we are gathering to worship the excellent Creator.
“Personal relationships”
This is the linchpin of our vision. We must establish deep personal relationships with each other and with those we seek to share the good news with. The Trinitarian God of the universe has created man in his image, an image of community. As John Donne, the seventeenth-century English poet and minister, put it in his classic work, “No man is an island.” We must establish strong bonds of mutual support with one another, just as Jesus did with his disciples. The relationships must spring from a genuine love for one another, not a desire to be right or righteous. No matter how hard we work or how right we are, without love for one another all of it is in vain (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Mission
Mission is different from vision in that the vision is a description of our desired future state and the mission is the goal to which we will head toward in order to accomplish the vision. It is important that we have a clearly defined mission so that we can tell the difference between things we should be doing and the things we shouldn’t. If a particular endeavor (project, program, activity, etc.) helps us accomplish our mission, then we should do it and if it doesn’t fit our mission we shouldn’t.
As followers of Jesus, we must consider his mission as we consider ours. We also must consider the specific time and place where we are planted as we consider what our mission is. Taking into consideration the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, the specific context around us, and the vision which God has designed for our church, we can define our mission as:
Transforming Ridgeland through the power of the gospel, one life at a time.
The community we live in, Ridgeland, is one that is overcome with the darkness of sin. Ridgeland has been overrun with the brokenness of drug and alcohol addiction, violence, etc. and there is not one among us who has not been touched by this darkness in some way, either directly or through our families and friends. The only thing that can overcome this darkness is the light of the gospel and the only way we can shine the gospel light into our community is through building one-on-one relationships with those who desperately need the hope and help that Jesus offers through a relationship with him.
How do we get there?
How do we get there? How do we get from where we are, a church that is in decline and has become ineffective in our ministry and witness, to where Jesus wants us to go, a community of grace and a point of light in the Ridgeland area that is undergirded by intentional discipleship through meaningful relational small groups, vibrant Christ-centered worship, and personal relationships?
The answer is simple: TOGETHER! We will take many deliberate steps toward our goal and we will take them together. As a family we, will take the time to rediscover God’s message of grace and mercy and we will learn how it applies to our individual lives in real and practical ways. Next, we will learn how each one of us individual followers of Jesus fits together into the Body of Christ and what that means, not only for us individually, but what it means for us as a whole. Then, we will work together to discern where God is at work around us and learn real-world ways in which we can join him by living out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission in an incarnational way.
It is a difficult road ahead of us, but the stakes are high and the rewards are great. The people around us are desperate for the hope and help of the gospel and for the abundant life that Jesus came to bring to this lost and dying world. It is up to us, as his commissioned followers to join the triune God of the universe in his plan to redeem the world from the curse of sin. While embarking on this journey can be daunting and a little scary, we can be reassured that we don’t go alone. We will go together as a church and together with Jesus, who has promised not to leave us nor forsake us!
The bottom line of the “How do we get there?” answer is that we all will work together to figure out all the details. It’s up to each and every one of us to do the part God has laid out for us in realizing our goals. This is an invitation to join in and help make Faith Baptist into the church we all know it can be.
Only one question remains and it is a question that each one of us must settle in our own hearts:
Will you follow?
[1] Enns, Paul. "Ecclesiology: Doctrine of the Church." In The Moody Handbook of Theology, 25. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2008.
[2] Adapted from Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 307.
