“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).
The leaders of a certain fishing society promoted global fishing. They built fishing lodges and held conferences to encourage society members to fish. They wrote books, published magazines and mailed newspapers proclaiming themselves to be fishermen. In bold headlines and in weekly speeches they proclaimed that each member of the society is a fisherman and the task of every fisherman is to fish.
They established elaborate fishing schools, built marinas and bought boats all for the express purpose of fishing. They took special offerings to fund their fishing enterprise. They trained society members in the art of fishing stressing that different fish are attracted by different lures.
Ironically, however, while the numbers of fish were growing rapidly, fewer of them each year were caught by the fishing society.
Various reasons for this were offered.
One group within the society said, “The reason we are catching fewer fish is because we are not following the Fishing Manual literally.” So they chose different leaders. But they didn't catch any more fish. In fact, they caught fewer.
Others said, “The problem is fish just aren't hungry anymore.” But this was obviously not true because the fish were observed searching for food. Some even swallowed hook, line and sinker bait offered by disreputable societies.
Still others suspected that the problem lay in the food being offered the fish. “While the fishes' tastes have changed, the food we offer them has not. We need to give the fish food they want to eat.” So some of the society's local chapters began to experiment. They began to watch the fish closely to see what they ate. They began to fish with that food and they began to catch more fish! But other local chapters spoke out against this practice saying they were compromising by giving the fish what they wanted. “We should offer the fish what they need whether or not any fish are actually caught,” they reasoned.
Others thought they noticed a different problem. It seemed to them that the leaders of the society were so busy teaching and challenging others to fish that few of them actually went fishing! The typical member of the society, not seeing the leaders bring home fish, concluded that fishing was not really all that important.
Finally, the society members themselves said, “It is not enough to talk about fishing. We must fish.” And they all went fishing and caught great numbers of fish.
With reluctance I have to admit that the goal of baptizing 1 million persons during the 2005-2006 church year will go unrealized unless we see an unprecedented outpouring of the Holy Spirit during August and September. Could it happen? Certainly! But if our own efforts are effective predictive indicators, we are not likely to succeed.
In April of this year, Baptist Press reported, “Recently compiled statistics for the Southern Baptist Convention show that baptisms — which rebounded in 2004 after a four-year decline — slumped again in 2005, according to LifeWay Christian Resources President and CEO Thom S. Rainer.
“According to the Annual Church Profile (ACP), information gathered by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, baptisms last year dropped from 387,947 to 371,850, or -4.15 percent.”
A closer look reveals that 1972 was Southern Baptists' baptismal high water mark, so to speak. That year, 445,725 individuals were baptized. More people were baptized in the 1970s than in any other decade in the history of the convention (3,905,502 baptisms) with the 1950s being second with 3,892,851 baptisms reported. The 1990s were third with 3,888,870 people baptized. Rounding out the last half century, 3,763,655 baptisms were reported in the 1980s and 3,743,817 in the decade of the 60s.
However impressive the challenges of Bobby Welch, immediate past president of the SBC, and however needed his renewed focus on evangelism, to actually reach people it will take more than a leader talking about evangelism while riding a bus across America.
It will take more than good sermons and highly publicized revivals.
We will begin to see baptisms rise when church leaders lead the way by making evangelism a high priority in their own lives; when they do more fishing than talking about fishing. Until this happens, their admonitions from the pulpit or the printed page will have little effect on the typical Baptist.
But when Baptists in local churches begin to see people led to Christ by their leaders, and when they hear the newly saved tell of the difference Jesus has made in their lives, they will begin to fish. And fish.