JACKSON, Tenn. — Oct. 13, 2009 — The younger generation of Southern Baptists will shape the future of the denomination, a stewardship it must not take lightly, R. Albert Mohler Jr., told students Oct. 9 at 51社区 in the closing address of the 鈥淪outhern Baptists, Evangelicals, and the Future of Denominationalism鈥� conference.
The rise of secularism and the fall of cultural Christianity in the deep South over the past two decades have conspired to make the 20-something generation crucial for defining the mission of the Southern Baptist Convention over the next 10-20 years, said Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The conference was held Oct. 6-9 at Union.
鈥淲hen we look at the numbers (in the SBC), all of a sudden, they aren鈥檛 going up any more,鈥� Mohler said. 鈥淲e find ourselves in a situation in which we have to ask ourselves some very basic questions. 鈥� And they are questions of a denomination headed toward a crisis.
鈥淚鈥檓 thankful it鈥檚 not the inerrancy crisis that we lived through in the 1970s and 1980s, your generation is a generation of beneficiaries of that controversy. But you must be a part of forging a new identity for the Southern Baptist Convention.鈥�
Young Southern Baptists must not be fixated on numbers or statistics, Mohler said. Rather, this generation must fix its gaze on faithfulness to God鈥檚 word, the task of taking the gospel to the nations and the glory of God.
鈥淭hose (numbers) are not unimportant, but it is the heart of the denomination that is the bigger issue 鈥� the clarity of our vision, the essential importance of our mission,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is going to be yours and you are going to decide what to do with it.鈥�
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.
鈥淎ny denomination that bases its future on the confidence of cultural Christianity deserves to die with that culture when it dies,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t (a new identity) is not something we can create with a new slogan, for new slogan will not save us. There is a need for a resurgence of Great Commission passion, vision, commitment and energy in our denomination.
鈥淭he Great Commission was the singular reason why the Southern Baptist Convention came together in 1845. 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.鈥�
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.
鈥淲e were not called simply to receive what has been handed to us in terms of structures and continue it because of brand loyalty,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been called to be a church on mission.
鈥淭he vision before us is not the perpetuation of the Southern Baptist Convention, but the call of the nations to exult in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The great dynamic of the SBC cannot be to make certain that our statistics are healthy and that our charts point ever upward; it has to be that the glory of God would be evident in persons hearing the gospel and responding to the gospel and the establishment of godly churches that are ruled by Christ through his word and to show all that the church is called to show in terms of the fruit of righteousness and the power of the gospel.鈥�
Cultural 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.
鈥淒o not give your life to the SBC because your grandmother was a Southern Baptist,鈥� Mohler said. 鈥淧lease 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.
鈥淕ive 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. I am not imploring you to leave the Southern Baptist Convention, I am imploring you to save it.鈥�
Audio from Mohler鈥檚 address and other conference speakers is available at .