If People Keep Coming, How Much Do We Spend??

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….. I attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, Texas. Who’d a thunk it, right? Back then, SWBTS was considered the conservative theological stalwart of the Southern Baptist Convention. If you were a serious Christian, who wanted to be a serious conservative minister - SWBTS was the place for you.

I did not graduate. But they send me these nifty magazines each month: Southwestern News.

I was noodling through the Winter 2006 edition a few weeks back and came across an article entitled: Modern Church in Need of Reformation. The article was by Gregory Tomlin - and speaks of a sermon given by Associate Professor of Historical Theology Jason Lee.

Lee, who was preaching during the seminary’s annual Reformation Day Chapel (notice it’s not the Halloween chapel) said the following:

“The church is in need of a new Reformation just like the first one that swept across Europe in 1517…anything that is added to faith in Christ replaces Christ’s merit and puts us in jeopardy of our just reward of punishment.”

He offered these five theses (just 90 short of Martin Luther) to help recapture a proper understanding of the doctrine of salvation and the purpose of the church:

1. Preaching must center on the gospel of Jesus Christ and the need for faith - it must not center on self-help.
2. Preaching must be consumed with the Bible and not topical sermons.
3. Pastors should avoid the temptation of seeing bigger as better. He said he finds it troublesome tha pastors or a pastoral team will attempt to shepherd a flock when they do not know where half the sheep are and when they don’t know the names of 60% of those who do attend on a regular basis.
4. Pastors and ministers should truly equip the saints to do the work of the ministry so that they can experience the maturity that comes as each part does its part (ref. Eph. 4).
5. Now is the time for American Christianity to influence the world for Christ.

And finally he said this:

“We can spend our time, money and energy constructing affluent church buildings, but I have been to the great cathedrals of both Protestant and Catholic in Europe. Those cathedrals are empty. How did they spend their days of affluence? How will we spend ours?”

Do you agree with the assessment that the modern church is in need of reformation - like that of the sixteenth century?