"Denominationalism "is primarily an American phenomenon," Dockery said. "Not because America is the only place where denominations can grow and proliferate, but because the freedoms in America have enabled denominations to expand, to flourish and to break off from those from which they were birthed. ...
"Unfortunately -- I say this carefully and a bit dreadfully -- I believe this development has resulted more in the Americanization of Christianity than the Christianization of America," he continued. "Because of this, we need to think in a fresh way about denominations. We need to think anew about the structure that will be able to carry forth the Christian movement in the 21st century."
From Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:
Young Southern Baptists must not be fixated on numbers or statistics but must fix its gaze on faithfulness to God's Word, the task of taking the Gospel to the nations and the glory of God, Mohler said.
"Those (numbers) are not unimportant, but it is the heart of the denomination that is the bigger issue ˜ the clarity of our vision, the essential importance of our mission," Mohler asserted. "It is going to be yours and you are going to decide what to do with it."
The SBC is experiencing the death of cultural Christianity because the faith no longer holds the spiritual franchise it once did in the Bible Belt, Mohler said.
"Any denomination that bases its future on the confidence of cultural Christianity deserves to die with that culture when it dies," he said. "It [a new identity] is not something we can create with a new slogan, for new slogans will not save us. There is a need for a resurgence of Great Commission passion, vision, commitment and energy in our denomination."
"The Great Commission was the singular reason why the Southern Baptist Convention came together in 1845," Mohler added. "It was the cause of the Gospel that called Southern Baptists together and only the cause of the Gospel will keep us together, only the cause of the Gospel is sufficient as a reason for us to be together."
A refocusing on the Great Commission is going to be costly, Mohler said, because it will require asking questions that have not been asked within the SBC for several generations and dealing with issues not previously considered.
"We were not called simply to receive what has been handed to us in terms of structures and continue it because of brand loyalty," Mohler said. "We've been called to be a church on mission.
ultural Christianity and "easy-believism" must no longer rule the day in the SBC and in local church bodies, Mohler said. The younger generation must be willing to plant its feet upon sound doctrine and faithful Gospel missions if local churches and the denomination are to have a healthy future, he said.
"Do not give your life to the SBC because your grandmother was a Southern Baptist," Mohler said. "Please do not invest your energies in the Southern Baptist Convention because you want to save something as an important artifact of American religion and southern culture and whatever else.
"Give yourself to the SBC because you see this really can be a denomination that is transformed by a resurgence of Great Commission passion to reach the world for the glory of God, a denomination ready to ask the hard questions and to let goods and kindred go in order to do what God would have us do in the generation ahead," Mohler urged. "I am not imploring you to leave the Southern Baptist Convention; I am imploring you to save it."
From Daniel Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary:
Church planting in "unreached and unserved areas of our nation is little more than a trickle," Akin said. "Why we plant more churches in Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee than we do in New York, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington and California is absolutely incomprehensible to me."
Every Southern Baptist congregation should be "a church-planting church and every church a Great Commission church," Akin added. "This must be more than a slogan. It must be a reality."
"We must streamline our structure, clarify our identity and maximize our resources," Akin said. "A younger generation wants a leaner, quicker and more missional convention that pursues the unreached and under-served in our nation and around the world.
"That is where they are going and our leadership at every level will either get on board or be left behind," Akin added. "In other words, we will change the way we operate, whether we like it or not."
Akin warned against nostalgia for the status quo of past decades, which could be an obstacle to revitalization.
"Many Southern Baptists are trapped in a time warp," Akin stated. "They are aiming at a culture that went out of existence years ago. They use mid-20th century methods and pine for a nostalgic golden age. They are convinced if we would just go back to the way things were, we would experience a spiritual renaissance that would restore the good old days. ... We are not going back. We will move forward into the future, whether we like it or not."
