There is research to indicate that we are now living in a post-denominational time in the history of the church. I have read that research and I believe much of it to be true. But lovingly I want to say to you that denominations are here to stay. I did not say that this denomination — the Southern Baptist Convention — is here to stay. I did not say that the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is here to stay. I can look to scripture and see that believers denominate together — that is they cooperate based on certain key theological principles and ideas which help them in their ministry.

This has always been the case. The churches in Corinth helped other churches. The church in Jerusalem helped other churches and other churches, in turn, helped them. They were bound together not by geography, but theology. This was commonplace in the early church.

As you probably know the Southern Baptist Convention has now reached a growth plateau which has many concerned that the denomination is dying a slow death. If demographic trends hold they are right as we are losing young leaders at a faster rate than we can re-produce them to assume positions of leadership in our current structure.

It would be easy for me to say (in fact many of you probably expect me to say) that we are changing things to reach a new generation (and we are) or that we are streamlining our ministries to better reflect the needs of the churches (and we are) or that we are working to better serve churches and actually see ourselves as their servant not the other way around (and we are). But there must be more.

Something must happen to us as North Carolina Baptists, which is beyond the boundaries of what human beings can produce. The latest corporate strategy or tactic can never duplicate or even resemble a genuine work of the Holy Spirit. We have much for which to repent. We can no longer ignore the obvious, and it is difficult to hear your sins plastered in the press. I am thankful that we are again getting serious about regenerate membership in our churches.

I am thankful we are once again concerned about our methods of evangelism to such a degree that we are prayerfully looking at the way we communicate the gospel to a lost world. We must repent of denominational pride and call to God in the assurance that He will never turn away hearts that are truly broken by sin.

But all the plans we could produce stand for nothing if we are not aligning our work with scripture. If the Bible is not in the driver’s seat for our mission then we risk being off course from the very start. By God’s grace we will become the strongest force in the history of this convention for reaching people with the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is an excerpt from Milton A. Hollifield’s address to the 178th annual session of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. For the text of the full address: www.annualsession.org.