A WORD FROM... DR. BERNARD BLACK Vice-President of Auxiliaries, National Missionary Baptist Convention of America General President, General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Arizona (Article printed in Union Review March 2007)
Can the Church Change Her Stand and Not Loose Her Standard?
With respect to Dr. T. B. Boyd III, President and C.E.O. of the R. H. Boyd Publishing Corporation, Dr. C. C. Roberson, President of the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, and the entire Cabinet.It is a privilege to be asked by Dr. Boyd to write an article for The National Baptist Union Review, and a pleasure for me to respond.I wish to commend Dr. Boyd for the great work he is doing as C.E.O. of the Publishing Board.I also wish to thank him for all the wonderful opportunities he has given me to host the National Sunday School and B.T.U. Congress.We are blessed to have a great Congress and a great Convention with strong influences that can, and do effect change.Our new illustrious President, Dr. C. C. Roberson is the man with a plan.New growth and productive change is on the horizon.God Bless these two men.For as our Convention and Congress go, so go our churches.
As I begin to pen this article, the thought occurs to me that it is obvious the church, as the world sees it, is non-contemporary and out of touch with the times.At first thought that is a sad indictment for the church, the only authorized agency to dispense the Word of God to a dying world.
Let us look at the purpose of the church in the world.The Greek word Ecclesia, from which we get the English word church, simply means “called out” and “assembly separated for a specific purpose”.I conclude that the church has a specific purpose, and that is to demonstrate the love and grace of God to a lost generation.
When Jesus makes His profound statement in Matt. 16:18 where He transfers certain powers to His disciples and gives them keys to lock in Believers and lock out non-Believers, He sets the stage for His final delegation of authority as found in Matt 28:19, 20, and Mark 16:15, 16.There, it is plainly stated that those who do not believe the message of the Master, who is the Son, is lost.Therefore, the church has no authority to change her message because it is not her message.She as a church is merely the dispenser, the Holy Spirit is the Convictor.The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation and cannot be substituted by any other application.
It is evident the church of today does not possess the power of influence and of change and of conversion as in former years when the church was at the zenith of her splendor.Her position in the community was respected, her voice was heard, her influence was felt, men’s lives were changed, and families had close church relationships to a strong formidable uncompromising local church preaching an uncompromising gospel.
History of the last two centuries will reveal that stalwarth church influence has held the world in check and balance in the moral application of the world.However, in these last days, the Twenty First Century, the church has yielded to the criticism that she is no longer relevant and is out of touch.She is now a victim of conformity.Paul in Rom. 12:1 warns us that we are compassed by a great cloud of witnesses.The Hebrew writer, Heb. 12, exhorts us to be transformed rather than conformed.Can the church change her stand and not loose her standard?That question can be answered by any casual observer of the church of today, and by bible and scriptural doctrine.
Today’s church society is more materially inclined.The main focus of today’s church is on corporate investments, and material acquisition.Accruing and saving money is now more important than seeking and saving men’s souls.Revivals are no longer a part of our church agenda.We have replaced Revivals with get-rich and debt free seminars, held for five nights with closeouts on Saturday.If we do have a Revival it starts on Wednesday and ends on Friday.Many churches no longer have Baptist Training Unions (B.T.U.).Traditionally, B.T.U was the strong teaching force in the Black Baptist church.Many great preachers and teachers owe their success in life to B.T.U.Can the church change her stand and not loose her standard?
Our code of conduct, influenced by the church, has always been to do things “decent and in order”.The world, even in reluctance, has looked to the church for moral direction; but when the church compromises her authority and becomes friends to worldly influence, she looses her moral authority and becomes a victim of the vices she preaches against.No longer is her voice awesome and feared.
Today, Christian morality and code of ethics are at an epidemic level of decadance, yet church attendance is higher than ever.Preachers are more educated in all fields of endeavor.Churches are larger, built to meet all the human physical and secular needs, including gymnasiums, football fields, socker fields, fitness centers, meals on wheels, and seminars on a myriad of things such as, how to prepare tax returns.Every effort is made to satisfy man’s creature comforts, but very little is done to prepare man spiritually.
The church’s mandate is to go into all the world and make disciples; teach them what Jesus taught.When the church exercises her teaching authority, homes are better, families are more loving, Fathers assume responsibility for a healthy family life, sinners are converted, church attendance is populated; the world becomes a better place to live.Can the church afford to change her stand and loose her standard, and still be the church that sets on a hill that cannot be hid, salt that has not lost her savor?The church must not change her stand at the risk of loosing her standard.Rather, she should change her method and not her message.Isiah 1:18 says, come let us reason together though your sins be as scarlet they shall become as white as snow, red like crimson, they be as wool.
The hottest thing on television is talk shows where people go on national TV and confess their private sins to people who cannot forgive them of their sins.I submit that we take a cue from Dr. Phil, the Talk Show Host, as he puts this text into play.I John 1:7, 8, 9 . . .if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.The church must take back its rightful place, proclaiming the words of Jesus as in Matt 11:22 … “Come unto me all you that labor, he that cometh unto me John 6:37.The church must stand firm, and continue proclaiming God’s Word.
As God's official radio station the church must keep herself beamed into the right channel, Channel 1.1.1,(1) one for the Father,(1) One for the Son, and (1) One for the Holy Spirit.Stand for God’s channel.When the church changes her stand, with certainty, she will loose her standards.
