Editors Note: This blog post consists of the responses of Sam Waldron and Austin McCormick to an article written by Ryan Burge titled “My church is closing, and I don’t know what comes next — for me, or America.” Readers are encouraged to read Mr. Burge’s article to understand the content of these responses. You may read that article here: https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/07/25/ryan-burge-church-closing-the-nones/

Sam Waldron’s Response

When I read Ryan Burge’s article “My church is closing…” I was fascinated, riveted, and appalled by many things. The first thing that struck me was how different my own experience has been compared to his. I came to a church in 2013 with 15 members 11 years ago. I brought with me a struggling seminary with perhaps 30 students. That church now has over 100 members and an attendance of around 175. That seminary now has 420 plus students and is affiliated with eight different South American seminaries with almost that many students again. I know this sounds like I am bragging. May God help me not to do that! I do not think by His mercy that I am. I absolutely take no credit for this and give all the glory to God. I only note the striking difference between my experience and Mr. Burge’s.

But I am also asking if there is a reason beyond God’s sovereignty for this difference. I think there is, and I want to point to some of them here. As I do so, I am counting on you to have taken a few minutes to look at the article.

My first reaction is that there is something profoundly deficient in the writer’s appreciation of the sovereignty of God. A lot of things in the article are just so man-centered. Perhaps we should expect this from someone who researches organized religion and who is focused on human trends. Still, this article is all about how he did not know how to grow a church! Well, first of all, God must grow churches. Furthermore, if we are to expect Him to grow churches, we must actually and deeply believe that only God can give the increase! Listen to this illustration of what I am saying:

What I lacked in education and experience, I was sure I could make up with enthusiasm. There’s an apocryphal quote from John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, that I thought about often in those first couple of years: “Light yourself on fire with passion, and people will come from miles to watch you burn.”

My suggestion is that there is something profoundly Arminian and not God-glorifying about the whole article. Listen to this before I move on to my second issue.

What I was really trying to do was to convince myself that the rapid decline of my church wasn’t my fault.

I always had a nagging sense that I was never supposed to be a pastor. That I took the job at First Baptist for the wrong reasons. That I didn’t believe enough. That I didn’t try hard enough. That there was a way to revitalize that little congregation in Mount Vernon, but I just wasn’t willing to do the work to make it happen.

See what I mean? This sounds man-centered to the core.

My second complaint is that one should not expect God to bless a denomination whose theology is compromised. Perhaps the religious researcher may think that trying to match cultural trends is a sensible thing to do in order to maintain church growth. I think differently. But listen to the following statement from the article, and you will see my problem.

The church was a part of the American Baptist denomination, a mainline tradition that welcomed women into leadership and tended to take a more moderate stance on theological and social issues.

My response is, “My friend, this is exactly the problem. This moderate stance culturally on issues like this. Moderation is good sometimes, of course, but not moderation in our biblical convictions. The Word of God is clear about women not being in the eldership (leadership). Further, given the direction our culture is going, moderation on theological and social issues is the path to apostasy. Who can expect God to bless that? It is, thus, not surprising to hear this in the same article.

What I was seeing in the data was unmistakable and mapped perfectly onto what I was seeing every Sunday — mainline Protestant Christianity was in near free fall, and the numbers of nonreligious were rising every single year.

Of course, mainline Protestant Christianity is in near free fall. It is compromised and semi-apostate. It offers no alternative to our cultural decline! Why should anybody continue to attend such churches?

My third and last issue is that the article displays a deficiency in the zealous faith of the author. Now, I want to be kind here. I do not know the author. Perhaps he has overstated things in this article about himself. I do not know. I do not claim to be the judge of this man’s religion. Still, what should we make of statements like this?

I walked out those doors into the blinding heat of a summer day in southern Illinois and stepped into a future where I don’t know where I will go to church next Sunday, or even if I want to go. Frankly, I don’t know if my own faith will survive, and I’m not sure if the church in America will be there for the next generation like it was for me. And I’m terrified because for the first time in my spiritual life, I don’t know what’s next.

Really? You don’t know if you want to go to church? You don’t know if your faith will survive? You are terrified because you do not know what comes next for the church? The author also reveals a profound doubt about his call to the Christian ministry throughout the article. All this reveals a scary deficiency in this man’s faith and religion. It is no wonder that mainline Protestant denominations are in free fall if those with such questions oversee them.

I come back to the contrast between my experience and this fellow’s. And it is not just my experience that stands in contrast, but the experience of many others like myself that actually hold an uncompromised version of the Reformed faith. I am not a religious researcher. My evidence is anecdotal, but I must testify that again and again after the Covid years, churches of strong Reformed convictions and practices prospered and grew. My hope and prayer is that men like Ryan Burge will come to the encouragement of such religion and away from the compromise that is killing the mainline Protestant denominations.

Austin McCormick’s Response

As ministers of the gospel who “long to see Christ’s churches full, that all the chosen race, may with one voice and heart and soul sing God’s redeeming grace,” it is disheartening to hear of a congregation slowly dwindling in numbers until it must sell its building and disband. It is concerning to hear the former pastor of this now-disbanded congregation questioning if his faith with survive after enduring such an experience. May the Lord draw near to this broken-hearted one. Such a sad story, though, may teach us multiple lessons.

For the pastor:

First, God has not guaranteed that each local church will continue until the end of the age. John Gill, commenting upon the words from Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” writes: “by the church [here] is meant … not a particular congregated church, but the elect of God, the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven.” Local churches may disband, but Christ, the master builder, will invincibly advance his kingdom of grace until it is consummated into the kingdom of glory in the age to come. I make this distinction to point out that God has not failed to keep any of his promises. The closing of your local church ought not to cause you to question God’s faithfulness; the disbanding of your church doesn’t give you rational grounds to question your faith. So, instead of questioning your faith, inform your faith.

Secondly, although God has allowed your local church to disband, God has not lost one of his children. Believers are no longer numbered among your visible church, but their names remain written in the lamb’s book of life. (Rev. 21:27). You are no longer their under-shepherd, but God himself is the Shepherd of his sheep. (Ezek. 34:15). He will make his sheep lie down; he will seek the lost; he will bring back the strayed; he will build up the injured; he will strengthen the weak. (Ezek. 34:16). His unfrustable grace will sovereignly preserve his elect until they’re at home with him in the eternal rest. Although these believers whom you’ve had the privilege to pastor are now out of the hands of your ministry, no man can pluck them out of the hands of Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep. (Jn. 10:28-30, Heb. 13:20).

Thirdly, your identity ought not be in the success of your church. The grounds of your acceptance before God is NOT how effective you have been as a minister. So, your faith shouldn’t rest in how many souls you’ve seen converted under your preaching ministry. (You remember that righteous Noah and the holy prophet Jeremiah were rejected by many). Neither should it rest in a membership number, the size of a building, or the respect of your peers. Your faith needs to rest in Jesus Christ. He died for sinners who trust in Him; His perfect life is credited to all who believe upon him. Find your identity “in Christ.” That is where true hope can be found amidst this season of grief.

And do commit yourself to a true church of Christ where you can be ministered to as you grieve through some of the sadness of this difficult providence. Don’t backslide from God and his worship because you are sad! Let your sadness drive you to the living God, who is near to the broken-hearted. (Ps. 34:18).

For churches:

First, America is now in a “post-Christian-influenced” period of her nation’s history. As our culture continues to degenerate into further degradations of heinous sin, it is becoming more and more difficult to have random unbelievers visit our churches. Nominal professors in this busy “on to the next thing culture” won’t use their free time to socialize in Christian churches. Local churches should then be persistent in strategic local evangelism to reach people who do not want to attend church. Although we can fill up our time ministering to the several needs inside the church, we ought not neglect to take the gospel to those outside the church. Reformed Churches can’t presume that people will keep “finding out about them” just because they’re Reformed. As mainline Protestantism continues to crumble, we Reformed believers should be increasingly motivated to evangelize our neighbors. We should be encouraged to take our law-gospel theology to the people who are not getting such clear articulations of sin, Christ, and salvation. We believe that God makes use of means to save sinners, so we should give ourselves to those means in prayerful dependence upon God to add to our church’s numberings through his sovereign power.

Secondly, churches should associate with healthy like-minded churches. If you recognize your congregation is dwindling numerically, seek the counsel and support of other seasoned pastors. Don’t isolate yourself against sound judgment. (Prov. 18:1). Listen to the advice of other wise men of God. Actively seek their help in forming strategic outreach plans. Ask them to send members from their churches to come and encourage the discouraged among your dwindling congregation. If they pastor a healthy church with several gifted preachers, ask them to send pulpit supply to you. If you recognize that you no longer need your large building, ask other like-minded pastors how you might bless other like-minded believers who need a spacious meeting place. “In an abundance of counselors, there is safety.” (Prov. 11:14).

Thirdly, if possible, fully support your pastor(s) so they don’t have to be entangled in secular affairs. Shepherding the flock of God shouldn’t be viewed as a side gig for people who want to earn extra cash on the weekends. A prolonged neglect of counseling, hospitality, outreach, administration, and pastoral visitations will contribute to a dwindling congregation. Although laboring in prayer and the word are two of the chief responsibilities of a pastor, if preaching on Sunday is all he does, the congregation will suffer. Fully financially supporting a pastor enables the Man of God to give his best energy to laboring in the Word and prayer; it enables him to give himself to the full range of responsibilities that this office requires.

Finally, each member of local churches should diligently evangelize their children in family worship, set an example of faithful church attendance  their children, and prayerfully depend upon God to save the next generation. Similar to how Paul entrusted the ministerial teaching deposit to Timothy, parents ought to deliver the faith to their children and pray that God would use them to carry the gospel baton to the next generation.

Conclusion:

Reading such a sad story should create in us a greater longing for the age to come “Where congregations ne’er break up, and Sabbaths have no end.” Until that day, though, we should learn from the shortcomings and failures of disbanded congregations and prayerfully ask God to bless our local churches as we seek to be faithful in our generation.

About the Authors

Dr. Sam Waldron is the President of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.

Austin McCormick is Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church (Clarksville, TN). He holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies from Spurgeon College, an M.A. in Pastoral Studies, and an M.Div from Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. By God’s free and sovereign grace, Austin was saved early in his adulthood. He is married to Rachel, and together, they have three children: Geneva, Benjamin, and Bristol.