Calvinist Flyswatter

Flounders and the future

DO THE FLOUNDERS
HAVE A FUTURE?

It has been asked by a Flounders-Friendly writer of recent date, "Does the SBC Have a Future?" and he offers comments along the lines of pessimism toward the SBC which was highly pleasing to the Flounders' Flounder-in-Chief, Tom Ascol. Ascol exubriantly proclaimed that Nathan Finn's "insights are prophetic."

We will leave the prophetic speculation about the future of the SBC to the likes of Finn and Ascol. A more realistic question might be, "Do the Flounders Have a Future?" Can they survive solely on their proselytization of naive Southern Baptists to "Reformed" Hybrid Calvinism?

The Flounders up to this point have not grown thru evangelization. To my knowledge, not a single one of their Flounders-Friendly churches were "planted" by the newly converted, but were already existing or were formed by those who split from existing churches over "Reformed" issues.

And although they proclaim themselves to be a "Reformed" group, they do not practice the procedure which sustains "Reformed" pedobaptist sects, which is infant baptism. Will proselytization of Southern Baptists alone sustain the Flounders in the days ahead?

The recent report of the SBC's statistics for the past year are not really as earth-shaking as Finn and Ascol propose. The Flounders would be happy to have such numbers! Read the numbers for yourself here.

There were 345,941 baptisms in 2007,
473 new churches,
6,148,868 average Primary Worship Attendance,
7,876,611 average Sunday School Attendance.

The most conservative of the pedobaptist "Reformed" sects, the Presbyterian Church of America -- which is often extolled by some of the Flounders-Friendlies on account of "Reformed" theology -- is not exactly known for evangelism of the lost, but is largely dependent upon baptizing and adding infants to the church membership.

Note the latest numbers which the PCA has posted for the year 2006:

Adult baptisms, 2,689
Infant baptisms, 5,368
Number of churches, 1,345

Those figures reveal that over 66% of the members added to the "Reformed" PCA churches in 2006 were unbelieving and, by Baptist standards, unregenerate infants.

As we have noted before, adding infants to the church is obviously the primary life-line for the PCA's survival. On the whole, their churches are not known to make much effort to evangelize, but they do pick up some members by proselytization from other denominations. Reportedly, the PCA has received some members from the SBC who have become infatuated with the PCA's Hybrid Calvinist theology. In fact, even some of those influenced by the Flounders reportedly have opted for leaving Baptists for the PCA.

Since the Flounders are committed to what they call "reform" rather than to evangelism and soul winning, what kind of future can the Flounders expect from theological proselytization alone?

Furthermore, if the SBC leadership, pastors, and churches become widely incensed with Floundersism and its divisiveness, and call for the "disfellowshipping" of the Flounders-Friendlies, the Flounders would most likely suffer a very serious decline even in proselytization. What then?

posted by Bob L. Ross @ 4:40 PM