Petros Baptist Church

I mentioned the other day this report from Associated Baptist Press and I’ve been pondering it ever since. When it notes

[Frank] Page, [President of the SBC] said the problem “resided in the churches” that refuse to change to stop their inevitable demise. He said the SBC downturn is not the denomination’s fault – because of poor programming or lack of emphasis on the denominational level. “The reality is it’s our fault,” Page told the Pastor’s Disciple-Making Network, an initiative of the North Carolina convention. “People rarely rise above the level of their pastor’s spiritual life, and it is critical that pastors maintain a vibrant walk with Christ.”

I find myself having to disagree. It’s high time that people take responsibility for their own spirituality. While Page may be right that some Church members only rise to the level of their Pastor’s spirituality, many, many more either do not rise to any sort of spirituality at all and others rise well above their Pastor’s. Further, if Page’s suggestion is taken seriously then

1- Lot is to be blamed for the destruction of Sodom because he wasn’t spiritual enough.
2- Jeremiah is to be blamed for the fall of the Southern Kingdom because he didn’t preach well enough or convincingly enough.
3- Hosea and Amos are to be blamed for the same thing regarding the Northern Kingdom.
4- John the Baptist is to be blamed for his failure to persuade Herod to repent.
5- Jesus is to be blamed for his disciples abandoning him at the Cross- if he had only been spiritual enough, they would have followed his example and been willing to suffer arrest and execution instead of running off like scared children and hiding.
6- Paul is to be blamed that the Roman empire as a whole didn’t come to Christianity during his lifetime.
7- John is to be blamed that the world hasn’t opened the door to the knocking Jesus. If he only had been more spiritual they would have done so.

In short, blaming the failure of modern Baptists on pastoral leadership (or lack thereof) is the same thing as blaming Jesus for the failure of his followers down through the ages.

Each Christian stands before God alone- and responsible for their own spirituality. As long as Page and others attempt to lay blame for the decline of Christianity at the feet of those striving and living and dying for the Gospel, one and all will ignore their own part in the play.

A world with as many centers as there are human beings — that is the cause of all the chaos and disintegration in the world of men.  The message of the Bible, therefore, is this: God, not man, is the center…  The Gospel … is an attack on [the] man who is his own center.  — Emil Brunner