SBC Pastor Pushes Resolution Addressing Church Membership Integrity
by Allie Martin
January 11, 2007
(AgapePress) - - A Southern Baptist pastor from Florida plans to introduce a resolution at his denomination's annual meeting that would encourage churches to do more to ensure that those who want to become members have actually been born again. Thomas Ascol is pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Coral Gables, Florida. He says although the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) claims 16 million members, statistics from LifeWay Christian Resources of the SBC showed that in 2005, only 37.2 percent of Southern Baptists attended church in a given week.
Ascol plans to introduce a resolution that would address this issue at the Southern Baptist Convention's upcoming annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, in June. "The church ought to be made up of regenerate church membership -- those who really have been born of God's Spirit," he contends.
"Of course, no one can examine another man's heart infallibly," the pastor admits. "But where the Spirit of God lives," he insists, "there will be evidence of it."
The Florida pastor introduced a similar resolution at the SBC's most recent annual meeting; however, the Southern Baptist delegates, or messengers, refused to consider the proposal. Nevertheless, he is adamant that church discipline is needed throughout the denomination.
The Book of James warns Christians not to be deceived as those who only hear the Word of God but do not put its precepts into practice, Ascol points out. He says the words of Jesus "could not be simpler or clearer in Matthew, Chapter 18, verses 15-18, where He tells us the steps of church discipline; yet you probably couldn't find one in a thousand of Southern Baptist churches right now that are intentionally and conscientiously, regularly practicing church discipline."
At his own church, Ascol notes, elders interview prospective members and also require their attendance in a new members class. He suggests that measures like these are necessary for church discipline and need to be taken in order to ensure integrity in Christian church membership.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
