What do these five individuals have in common? See the related article for a demographic breakdown that offers a sobering view into the future of Georgia Baptists in particular and Christianity at large.

 

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Could the sun be setting on Christianity in the U.S.? And, more to the point, for Georgia Baptists?

At the risk of appearing to be an alarmist, the short answer is “yes.”

If the old axiom that Christianity – and the SBC – is just one generation from extinction holds true, the unthinkable could happen in the lifetime of many of the readers of The Index.

Any solace that may be taken in church membership growth is a false sense of security, similar to placing a light quilt on a bed before a heavy winter storm. The nation will not be won to Christ through more church members but through greater numbers of baptisms, researchers stress.

For example, between 2000 and 2006 Georgia Baptist churches added 28,008 members to a record 1,392,479 – an increase of 2 percent. But a look at the census shows the state added 1,177,488 more residents, a jump of 14.4 percent to 9,363,941.

However, the real future lays in the number of baptisms, the unofficial record of people who come to faith in Christ. During the same time frame Georgia Baptists baptized 16 percent fewer individuals. State records show totals dropped from 37,016 to 31,095, a decrease of 5,921.

To be sure, Georgia Baptists are not the only evangelical group that is seeking to redeem the culture for Christ. But as the largest of those groups, it can be considered to be a fairly accurate barometer of the future.

Georgia Baptists are generous in their sacrificial giving to a variety of offerings throughout the year. With the coming of the cooler fall days comes the State Missions Offering and its emphasis on reaching the Peach State with the gospel.

There are four major offerings that Georgia Baptists support throughout the year, and each has a special place in the denomination’s ongoing support of evangelism, church planting, and missionary recruitment and retention.

 

Variety of offerings

A portion of their tithes and offerings are regularly channeled through their church to the state convention and then to Nashville. There, in the denomination’s national headquarters, they join other tithes from across the nation to form the Cooperative Program budget. That budget is then divided among state conventions, seminaries, and other agencies.

Then there are the two national seasonal offerings which support the SBC’s missionary efforts at home and abroad.

The Lottie Moon offering is given each Christmas for international missions efforts through the Richmond, Va.-based International Mission Board. The Annie Armstrong offering is collected each Easter for the spreading of the gospel throughout North America and administered by the Alpharetta-based North American Mission Board.

But the state missions offering is unique in that it is given for missions work within Georgia and focuses on efforts specifically designed to win the state to Christ. While the GBC budget is provided by a portion of the weekly tithes and offerings, the state missions offering carries considerably more weight because it goes 100 percent to work in Georgia.

With that in mind, none of it is passed along to other entities. In some ways the offering is the difference between skim milk and pure cream when it comes to getting the most for the missions dollar. It is a specific revenue stream dedicated solely to help fund the state missions budget. Those funds supercharge the ministries that are on the receiving end.

That’s why individuals like SuperWow missions coordinator Marsha Price in Brunswick and Director of Missions JoJo Thomas in Gainesville can be the hands and feet of Christ in a variety of missions settings.

 

Offering distributed among four areas

The offering is distributed among four areas of the state convention budget: evangelism and missions, education, ministries, and special ministries. And when those funds trickle down to the street level, Georgia Baptists like Price and Thomas are equipped and empowered to be on mission with the necessary resources to accomplish the task.

This year’s offering goal of $1,500,000 will continue to empower the work statewide, from the largest cities to the smallest rural communities, to reach the unchurched for Christ.

In 2000 it was estimated that 54 percent of Georgia’s population had no religious affiliation, and 70 percent were not members of any Christian church or other religion. To put it another way, says Tom Crites of the GBC Research Services office, 182 people die every day, with only 73 claiming to be born again.

The State Missions Offering is dedicated to impacting those numbers and bringing more individuals into the Kingdom.

 

Associations play vital role

This year’s Season of Prayer and Offering focuses on the work of Georgia Baptists’ 92 associations and how they unite churches around a common goal. Associational Missions Ministries coordinates the work between the state convention and churches to prioritize and fund the most important ministry needs.

Among those priorities are church planting. Directors of missions cite statistics that new churches grow faster and reach more people than existing congregations. With that in mind, associations are partnering with cooperating churches to identify the most effective location for new churches, based on demographic trends and population shifts.

One such example is Rod Zwemke, who praises the assistance he received from Director of Missions JoJo Thomas in Chattahoochee Baptist Association in Gainesville.

Zwemke, who was being mentored in a church planting program at Crossroads Baptist Church of Newnan, felt led to start a church in the north Forsyth, south Hall, or Jackson County area. He contacted Thomas who drove him through the communities to familiarize him with the needs.

Before long, as they shared their vision for church planting and agreed on an area for a new start, the association voted to provide a salary supplement, additional training and mentoring, and networking opportunities for Zwemke with other church planters.

“I can’t say enough about the support we’ve received from the association,” Zwemke says from the living room where a small group meeting was about to begin.

“JoJo always went the extra mile; he even found our first two members because he knew a couple who had just moved to the area who were seeking to be involved in a ministry like ours. Chattahoochee Association is just awesome.”

Today the fledgling congregation, known as Crossroads Church of Jackson County, meets in the Jefferson Recreation Center and has an aggressive plan to reach the community with a contemporary worship style.

It’s that casual, trusting approach that attracted Wayne and Carrie Pressley to the church.

“I was cutting Rod’s hair one day and he began asking about my spiritual walk. I was really impressed by his non-judgmental, genuine approach. I didn’t have any problem with talking to him,” Carrie Pressley says.

“Every church I had visited for any length of time had been so negative that I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. They were always telling me I couldn’t do this or that or I might not be forgiven.

“I’m all for reasonable rules and structure but I don’t need to be told what I’m doing is wrong all the time; I need to be shown what is right. The first week we visited we knew Crossroads was for us.”

Her husband agrees.

“Once we visited Crossroads we were hooked. People were so non-judgmental, it was a perfect fit. We began meeting with Rod and one day over lunch at Beef O’Brady’s we accepted Christ, right there in the restaurant,” Wayne Pressley adds.

“It was refreshing to know that church can be a positive, uplifting experience. That’s the environment we are looking for to raise our children in.”

Tyrone Barnett, pastor of Peace Baptist Church in Decatur, shares Zwemke’s appreciation for the association.

“We just planted two churches this year and Stone Mountain Association walked alongside us each step of the way. There are so many benefits of working with the Association. They are the first stop whenever we have a question; they never tell me what to do but give me options and let me decide.”

But there’s an even more important role that the association plays, he adds.

“Our church has learned who Southern Baptists are because of the way the association has treated us. They are the face of Southern Baptists and Georgia Baptists to our laypeople, a face we enjoy seeing.”

 

The suggested time frame to observe the State Missions Offering is September 12-16 but churches can participate at any time of the year. For more information, clip art, promotional items, and resources ranging from sermon suggestions to age-graded lessons to prayer guides, visit www.gastatemissions.org. For information on associational missions and its varied ministries visit www.gabaptist.org, click on “Ministries” and click on “Associational Missions” in the drop-down menu.