Revivalism Vs. Discipleship

The 1950's were a unique decade in Baptist life. Many Baptist think of this decade as the good 'ol days. I think of them as the start of something bad. In the 50s, the Seminaries began drifting away from the local church. The Seminaries began creating theology that the church was not interested in using. Thus, the church began to look to other avenues for direction. This led the local church to turn to evangelists and mega-church pastors for direction. This movement gave us the "Million more and '54" program. It also moved the church to a form of revivalism. The church decided that every service needed to be revivalistic. The disciple making model went by the wayside. It was replaced by emotional invitations and alter calls. The church decided that getting people down the isle was the most important thing they could do. I believe they were wrong.

It is my goal and desire to bring the church that I pastor back to discipleship. I hope to convince a lot of other pastors to do the same. I believe revivalism has done grave damage to the church. It has killed many congregations, and it has left our people with a terrible lack of Biblical knowledge. For the church to survive and challenge our culture we must be educated. If we do not educate our church members, we will never be able to defend our faith and the world will pass us by.

There was a time when the Church was the leader in everything. If you needed a hospital, you went to the church. We have Baptist hospitals all over the South. When you wanted the best music, you went to the church. All most every private college in America was started by a church. We went from being the cutting edge of everything to 30 years behind everything. If we do not begin to change, things will only get worse.

Jesus commanded us to make disciples. Over the last 50 years, the church has been busy making converts. Discipleship making must become a priority once again. We must challenge our churches to better themselves. We must stretch our minds and break our traditions.

There is nothing wrong with a revival, and I have an invitation every time I preach. However, making disciples is now my main priority. Discipleship is hard. You have to study. You have to be prepared. You may have to challenge yourself to learn more so that you may teach your people better.

I hope that all pastors that read this blog commit themselves to discipleship. I hope that all layperson that read this blog demand their pastors to disciple the church. If we do not, then we will continue down a road of revivalistic zeal without a real commitment to Jesus.