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It has been said that one should guard their
strengths because often that is where we become the most vulnerable to error or failure. That very possibly could be the case for the growth of Independent fundamental Baptist Churches in the 60’s and 70’s. For a time, it seemed as if there was no end to the potential growth of our churches, but then something happened. With the same meteoric rise, there came a |
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The Assemblies of God, Non-Denominational, Charismatic and other groups took over where we had left off. What we had started, others were finishing. Sadly, not only were our churches not the largest in America, but very few of them were even the largest or fastest growing in their communities. Theories popped up galore, but did they really |
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blaming the leaders of the movement for misguiding
us. However, in retrospect, perhaps it was not our weaknesses that caused our decline but rather our strengths. Let us take a judicious look at a few of the strengths that may have derailed our growth. Our passion for souls. Go ahead and pick up |
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Quite possibly it was for two reasons. First, our methods became watered down. Second, the emphasis on soul winning often was accompanied by a weakness in building new Christians. Let’s examine both of these briefly. Soul winning fervor was strong in those |
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Some lost the methodical part and became quite mechanical
and, perhaps, even careless. Rather than bringing our sheaves with us, we brought back inflated reports of numbers saved, but had little fruit to show for it. It is not the names recorded on earth, but the names recorded in Heaven that matter. Also, the lack of emphasis on baptism by some is a reflection of an attitude shift during this period. I fear that our pastors are not personal soul winners like they could be. |
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Dr. Hyles, while pastoring his church in
Hammond, averaged 4,000 soul winners on the streets each week with a strong bus ministry. However, the interesting thing about his bus ministry was the fact that his “A” routes never ran more than an average of 20 to 25. It was once again the fact of the church members seeking to find their ministry in which to serve. |
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This ended up totaling numbers that resulted in the “World’s Largest Sunday
School.” Dr. Hyles was a personal soul winner and he led his church by example. Exhortation is only a small point of impact compared to actually doing it and providing the example. The motivation of example, accompanied with exhortation, is an unbeatable formula. These great churches were also built with the |
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There were around 800 Sunday school classes under the ministry of Dr. Jack Hyles in Hammond, IN, with |
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The reason was Brother Hyles understood the foundational fabric that made growth possible. Eight hundred teachers required 800 assistants with all of them learning the Sunday school lesson and participating in the soul winning program of the
church. This widespread and broad foundation was the strength of the growth factor for Brother Hyles. This was not new to him in Hammond, for he |
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The decline in growth of some during the 80’s and 90’s resulted in a precipitous decline in Sunday school Ephesians 4:11-12 points out a vital truth and |
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When the decline started churches all over America began to over react and it was this overreaction that hurt. Some began abandoning aggressive soul winning
and started combining Sunday school classes. We went from being soul winning churches to using methods that we hoped would attract people. The altars were no longer abuzz with converts and soul winning was no longer the main emphasis. The Sunday school became more of a social tool than a tool of discipleship. When soul winning is viewed as a tool for church growth and then that growth does not occur, some then abandon soul winning for other man-made methods. Soul winning is a command not a tool for growth! |
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Even if the soul winning does
not bring growth, it should never be disused. Soul winning is right to do regardless. Matthew 9:38, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of
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The Bible does not say, “Go into all the world
and put them into one room.” I fear we do not see the value of one soul and have substituted that thought for a big church ideal. During the 60’s and 70’s church growth was a by-product, not the product. Our hatred for sin while loving the sinner. There is no doubt that
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Those churches who began to decline became unkind to those who
were guilty of the sins. In many cases we deflected them from Christ rather than drawing them to Him. Our hatred became hateful and hurtful. Some lost their heart for convictions because they lost their love for the sinner Dr. Hyles was an enigma in the sense of his |
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He was very
transparent in his love. He was also transparent in his hatred for sin. Jack Hyles was truly the one who could hate sin and love the sinner at the same level of commitment. This has been lost in the last three decades. We must return to winning the sinner to Christ while hating the sin of the sinner. |
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Great churches all over America had pulpits and pews
filled with those who loved the sinner while despising the sin. Now, we cuddle the sin and the sinner. Our emphasis on separation. “Be ye Suddenly, it was almost as if we were |
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We separated over preferences rather than convictions. Conviction
is defined within one’s own local church, and a preference is one from the outside looking into another church. The great men of the 60’s, 70, and 80’s never If his position on the King James Bible was attacked he was secure in his beliefs which kept him from over reacting. If his position on soul winning was attacked he was comfortable and secure in his position. If his position on personal standards was attacked he did not need to make it an issue because he was comfortable with his convictions. He was very careful who he would allow to fill his pulpit. He was more concerned about the direction another preacher was headed rather than where he was on the path. He had three levels of interaction with other men of God. Some he would preach with, some he would preach for, and some he would allow to preach for him. It took an awful lot in order for Dr. Hyles to make a public statement of disagreement. It had to be a serious doctrinal error or a serious bad fellowship relationship. Some would call this one secondary separation. He felt influence influences those who influence. A fine line, but still a line. |
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Dr. Hyles never did hold to the storehouse
tithing issue as believed by Dr. John R. Rice, the Editor of The Sword Of The Lord. Yet, he served on Dr. Rice’s board and preached with him 20 plus years without it becoming an issue. |
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One time a Hyles-Anderson College student from Madison, WI, told Dr.
Rice and that he and Dr. Hyles disagreed on storehouse tithing. Brother Hyles related this story to me. He told me that Dr. Rice wrote him a hot, three page letter saying that he was “shaken to his foundation” to learn that Brother Hyles disagreed with him. The next time they were preaching together he went to Dr. Rice’s motel door and knocked on his door. He then asked Dr. Rice to come with him. He took Dr. Rice to a men’s clothing store and bought him a new over coat, suit, tie, shirts, shoes, etc. He said he took Dr. Rice back to his room. He hugged his neck and told him that he loved him. The issue of storehouse tithing was never brought up again. One time a young man asked Dr. Hyles, in |
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Our over excitement with size. The 60’s and |
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Suddenly churches were sustaining their size
by overusing gimmicks and promotions. Sunday morning attendances were a far cry from Sunday night when the real church showed up. We became out of balance in order to prop up our growth. Again, we over reacted by condemning ourselves for using perfectly good methods and we abandoned them altogether. Not all churches are equal in their potential. Not all pastors are equal in their potential. |
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Ninety-five percent of the churches in America are in rural areas. The average membership of all churches in America is 125 with the average attendance being 75. From my travels, I have surmised that Independent Baptist churches are doing better than we think. However, not all churches were meant by God to run 10,000 in Sunday school; and to berate beat ourselves up for not doing so is foolish. There is such a thing as spiritual greed that Comparing ourselves with others is a terrible mistake. I refused to allow Longview Baptist Temple, Longview, TX, to be compared to First Baptist Church under Dr. Hyles ministry. |
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Dr. Hyles had a twelve to fourteen million population area to
draw from while the East Texas region has 300,000 to 400,000 to draw from. Dr. Hyles had a 100,000 membership while averaging 20,000 in all his Sunday schools over a five decade period. Every potential is different and there is no difference between a big church and a little church in God’s sight as long as they are winning souls, while teaching and preaching truth. I again remind you that ninety-five percent of the churches in America are rural and have varying degrees of potential. |
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Our misunderstanding of simplicity. This
may ruffle a feather or two. However, the great church builders of the 60’s and 70’s were great because of the simplicity of their message and methods, but not because they were simplistic men. These men were Bible students and had amazing depth. Sadly, many took their simplicity too far. We should be men of substance and work to avoid being issue oriented. |
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Good Biblical and balanced “topical preaching” was replaced by issue oriented topical preaching, which often came from a small number of pet issues. In many cases some went from feeding the people to often berating them. This will amaze you, but these great men of the past rarely were stuck on one issue or even a few issues. Dr. Hyles preached less on standards in his own pulpit than what he was accused of from around the country. Brother Hyles preached less on aggressive personal soul winning than he was thought to have done from his pulpit. These men were deep, but understood the multiplicity and ethnicity of their congregations. All of this was a result of aggressive soul |
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Our starting of schools. There is no doubt The day school gave birth to the Christian college. No longer did our young people need to go away to college, but they could stay home and supposedly learn how to build a church at home. Some colleges were started by local churches that in reality were not very successful. This seemed to water down the evangelism. |
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With the day school came other issues. The sports programs became more popular than
the church soul winning programs. The athlete mentality, or jock mentality, that we so despised in the public arena of education has now captivated and captured the Christian school in many churches. We have our state champions while our churches are dying spiritually. We have found an alternative for the glory of the public school sports; our own spiritualized glory of sports. At the same time our baptisteries are dry, our altars are empty, and our soul winning is dying back to a faithful few. When a pastor is drawn from his God-called |
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Our children
should not be “isolated” but rather “insulated.” I do not have all the answers, but I do know that our local churches have declined since we entered into the Christian school business. Please do not misunderstand me. I am for the Christian school, but someone is going to have to analyze this and provide some answers. Something is wrong! Our impressions of our standing. With the
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We overbuilt and overspent in order to build buildings to improve images. However in many cases it hurt and placed financial strain on the people. Pastors who never had to worry much about offerings suddenly viewed the bus ministry as a financial liability rather than a necessary soul winning tool to reach the unsaved.
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In 1979, at a financial seminar, I recall a
spokesman saying that 856 Independent Baptist churches had filed for bankruptcy. We moved from a balanced budget run ministry to a build and expand mindset believing the people would come. In other words, we built for growth of attendance and offerings. Sorry, but that old dog won’t hunt. No one should ever build beyond their church budget. Win more people and raise the weekly offerings in order to build with fiscal responsibility. No church should ever spend more than 25% of their income on a mortgage debt. |
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With these new buildings come increased
utilities, increase insurance, increase of staff, increase of maintenance, etc. There are so many hidden costs to a new building that many a pastor has never even taken the time to consider. I fear for the fall out that will come in the future to those who violate financial common sense. Our monthly and quarterly financial reports at |
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What is the solution? Well,
certainly it is not to do what we did by throwing out the strength to rid ourselves of the problem. No, it is to have an understanding of how to use our strengths to build a work for God without them negatively affecting us. For every action that hurts a church there are 100 overreactions that do the same thing or worse. Our goal is to address both the good and the bad of those great days. We hope that we can return to the strengths without falling prey to the overreactions that led to the demise. Can it be done again? Absolutely! |