Are you a Baptist? Do you care?

I grew up in a nondenominational church, went for several years to a Baptist church, and now am back to a nondenominational one. So, I’ve seen life from both sides. A recent poll in The Wall Street Journal covering the rise of nondenominational churches was interesting.

Studies conducted by secular and Christian organizations indicate that fewer and fewer American Christians, especially Protestants, strongly identify with a particular religious communion—Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc. According to the Journal, a study conducted by Baylor University found that nondenominational churches now represent the second largest group of Protestant churches in America, and they are also the fastest growing.

It looks like churches are being selected for practical matters. Is the nursery easy to find? Do I like the music? Are there support groups for those grappling with addiction? I see this as both good and bad.

Many were tired of denominations full of tired clichés and boring sectarian formulas. The life had disappeared out of the church. People wanted to get back to basics, to recover the centrality of a personal relationship with Jesus. This could be done without regard to specific theological issues.

But the bad is contained there too. Christians today know so little about the theological basis for their faith. In our apologetics group we studied Islam. One of the big issues there is the Trinity—Muslims don’t believe in it. But how many people can even defend the belief from the Bible? Probably very few. This is not good. That’s why a long time ago I blogged on Charles Colson’s new book, The Faith, in which the author talked about the basics of the faith that we should already have known.

So how has this emphasis on nondenominational churches worked? The movement exploded. The Journal reports that before 1955, there were virtually no megachurches (defined as 2,000 people per worship service) in the country. Now there are between 850 and 1,200 such churches and many are nondenominational, according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.

Where does the church go from here? The Journal says there are some signs of a growing church-focused evangelicalism. Many young evangelicals may be poised to reconsider denominational doctrine, if for no other reason than they are showing signs of fatigue with typical evangelical consumerism. As an example, consider Alabama preacher David Platt, who is igniting thousands of young people with his book Radical, which calls Christians to rescue their faith by lowering their standard of living and giving their time and money to Church-based charities. The author of the Journal piece also reported that the Southern Baptist Convention—the nation's largest Protestant group—has over 10,000 students studying for ministry in six seminaries right now.

The author believes denominations can focus on the issues Jesus cared about—personal conversion, discipleship, mission and community. We may be seeing a return to denominations. OK, looks like we can start up the jokes again. “These two Pentecostalists go to heaven . . .”