Letter in response to an article by Steve Bartlett in TIM Magazine

Dear Steve,

In John 6:37 Jesus said, “All that the Father has given me shall come to me and him that comes to me I will in no way cast out.” Further along in verse 44 He said, “No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” These statements declare that only those given by the Father to the Son will be saved, a truth verified in section 3:3 of the Baptist Confession of Faith (1689).

How do you reconcile these facts with your statements in the recent Together in Ministry magazine where you said, “No matter how you measure it, growth among NSW/ACT Baptists is not keeping pace with population growth. The size of our movement is declining in real terms, notwithstanding the health and growth that is present in a number of our churches”?

If the church waxes and wanes in number from generation to generation, which it apparently does, then I can only conclude that at any point in time more or less people are being saved, in accordance with the fact that only the elect will be saved. And yet the tenor of your article “Let’s Light the Fire” suggests that the solution to this statistical problem lies with us when it most certainly does not.

Let me also draw your attention to section 3:1 of our Confession of Faith which states that “God has decreed in Himself from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things which shall ever come to pass.” Why then are you concerned with the current numbers in Baptist Churches when God Himself is not? And why do you think it’s your responsibility to light a fire under the churches because you think we are not doing enough? Did not Jesus say, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it?”

In the 32 years that I’ve been saved, one lesson has become crystal clear, regardless of how many people I witness to, and I’ve spoken to hundreds, I can save no one because salvation is of the Lord. Furthermore the church does not exist to live and breathe the mission of Jesus, that’s a figment of your imagination; the church exists to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Like many in leadership you seem to think that God is relying on us to advance His kingdom. If you are correct then He’s made a serious error because I haven’t got the ability or the staying power, and neither has any other Christian, including you.

The more I consider the implications of your article and its impact on the churches the more concerned I become because I cannot see from the Bible where you are coming from, which suggests that you are not. All you succeed in doing is putting us on a guilt trip when we don’t meet your expectations. I frankly consider politicians to be our enemies and I also consider pastors, by and large, to be the cause of church splits and dissension within the denomination. Indeed, coming from a split church has proven beyond doubt that pastors who find the job description of Ephesians 4:11-13 too constraining then speak of visions, gifts, empowering congregations for effective mission, and community service, etc, etc, as if God will reward all this combined activity on His behalf by saving more people. And so the saying, “Like pastor, like people” is realised and now Baptist Churches range from conservative to charismatic, and even accept people as members without baptism by immersion.

If you can convince me from Scripture that you are correct then I’ll be the first to say I’m wrong, but I don’t think you can.

I’d like to sign off by saying “Yours in Christ” but I can’t because I didn’t learn from Jesus what you are espousing, indeed the conclusion I draw from all these changes and proposed changes within the denomination is that they are a work of man, not of God. And I sincerely hope I’m wrong.

Sincerely yours,

Bill Clayton