We really can’t let this pass without saying something. A week and a half ago, the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis adopted a resolution calling for a re-commitment to the Baptist ideal of regenerate church membership. The resolution as reported out of committee sparked probably the most interesting floor debate and action of the entire convention, and the result—after a couple of amendments were offered and adopted—was actually a stronger resolution than the original.

Here’s the text:

 6. ON REGENERATE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP AND CHURCH MEMBER RESTORATION
June 2008

WHEREAS, The ideal of a regenerate church membership has long been and remains a cherished Baptist principle, with Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message describing the church as a “local congregation of baptized believers”; and

WHEREAS, A New Testament church is composed only of those who have been born again by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, the local church’s only Lord, by grace through faith (John 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9), which church practices believers’ only baptism by immersion (Matthew 28:16-20), and the Lord’s supper (Matthew 26:26-30); and

WHEREAS, Local associations, state conventions, and the Southern Baptist Convention compile statistics reported by the churches to make decisions for the future; and

WHEREAS, The 2007 Southern Baptist Convention annual Church Profiles indicate that there are 16,266,920 members in Southern Baptist churches; and

WHEREAS, Those same profiles indicate that only 6,148,868 of those members attend a primary worship service of their church in a typical week; and

WHEREAS, The Scriptures admonish us to exercise church discipline as we seek to restore any professed brother or sister in Christ who has strayed from the truth and is in sin (Matthew 18:15-35; Galatians 6:1); and now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 10-11, 2008, urge churches to maintain a regenerate membership by acknowledging the necessity of spiritual regeneration and Christ’s lordship for all members; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we humbly urge our churches to maintain accurate membership rolls for the purpose of fostering ministry and accountability among all members of the congregation; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention to repent of the failure among us to live up to our professed commitment to regenerate church membership and any failure to obey Jesus Christ in the practice of lovingly correcting wayward church members (Matthew 18:15-18); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we humbly encourage denominational servants to support and encourage churches that seek to recover and implement our Savior’s teachings on church discipline, even if such efforts result in the reduction in the number of members that are reported in those churches, and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we humbly urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and their pastors to implement a plan to minister to, counsel, and restore wayward church members based upon the commands and principles given in Scripture (Matthew 18:15-35; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15; Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20).

This is good on many different levels, and the SBC should be commended for adopting this resolution. There is enormous confusion in Southern Baptist churches these days about who should be members of a local church, and why. Southern Baptists regularly baptize four-year-olds on little more than their profession that they love Jesus, our rolls claim over 16 million members when really only about 6 million show up at church on any given Sunday, and just last year the chairman of the Resolutions Committee explained that the committee had rejected a similar resolution because removing people from church membership rolls would deprive Southern Baptists of one of their most promising lists of evangelistic prospects.

And a year later, here we are! Now it would be optimistic beyond reality to think that this resolution means that Southern Baptists have realized the problems in all that and walked away from them, or even that this resolution will bring about such an aha! moment. But even so, it’s a good thing.

SBC resolutions normally represent the convention speaking to the world—or to the president, or to Congress—about a particular problem, and staking out what we Southern Baptists believe and what we think ought to be done. All that’s fine. But it’s fairly rare for the convention to turn and use one of its resolutions to speak to itself. This is one of those times, and the result is a document that will be genuinely useful for pastors who are in the trenches trying to restore meaningful church membership in their congregations.

There are many pastors out there who are trying to do that, and who are running into opposition from long-time members who are saying something like “But Baptists don’t do that.” And sadly, they’re right. Baptists haven’t done this in a long time. But here, all of a sudden, is a little help: “But Mr. Jones, take a look at this. The convention is asking us to take this more seriously!”

It’s no magic bullet; that’s for sure. But reform doesn’t happen in a day, and every little bit helps.