PINEVILLE – “God has a heartbeat to bring revival to our nation,” Ken Hemphill told participants at the Encouraging Kingdom Leaders Minister’s Conference last week. “But it will not occur until we have a revival in our giving.”
By Kelly Boggs
Editor
PINEVILLE – “God has a heartbeat to bring revival to
our nation,” Ken Hemphill told participants at the Encouraging Kingdom
Leaders Minister’s Conference last week. “But it will not occur until
we have a revival in our giving.”
Hemphill, former president of Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary and currently national strategist for the Southern
Baptist Convention’s Empowering Kingdom Growth (EKG) emphasis, was the
featured speaker at the conference which took place April 4 – 6 at
Louisiana College in Pineville.
The inaugural conference, a joint venture of the
Louisiana Baptist Convention and LC, offered a variety of workshops
ranging from “Understanding the DaVinci Code” and “Nine Critical
Questions for the 21st Century Church” to “Building a Kingdom Church”
and “Encouraging the Discouraged.”
Hemphill, who spoke five times during the three-day conference, debuted material from Making Change: A transformational guide to Christian Money Management, a new book that is scheduled for release at the SBC Annual Meeting to be held at Greensboro, N.C., June 13-14.
“Making Change is the component of EKG that enables a church to complete the Acts 1:8 task,” Hemphill said.
To re-establish a vision for kingdom growth in the local church is the goal of EKG, Hemphill said.
“EKG is not a program but a passion,” he told
conference participants during his opening session. “At its heart it is
a desire for revival that is based on prayer and dependence on God’s
power.” EKG represents God’s heartbeat and is designed to inform and
transform the hearts of people, Hemphill explained.
The Acts 1:8 Challenge is a strategic plan, Hemphill
said. It has practical implications for a church seeking to reach
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world.
The need for revival in the United States is acute,
Hemphill said. At least 10,000 SBC churches did not report a single
baptism last year and 51 percent baptized five or fewer. Hemphill also
noted that 80 percent of SBC churches are plateaued or declining and
that baptisms have been stagnant since the mid-1960s.
“By almost any statistic you examine,” Hemphill
said, “the church growth movement is not working.” He also indicated
that for the most part, mega-church growth has occurred as a result of
transfer growth rather than reaching the unchurched.
While the state of evangelism in our churches
indicates a need for spiritual transformation, the financial reality in
America is equally revealing, Hemphill said.
During the Depression, 3.2 percent of Protestant
income was given through a local church, Hemphill explained. In 2001
the figure had dropped to 2.7 percent, and currently it stands at 2.5
percent.
Statistics reveal that only 4 percent of church members tithe and just 25 percent give systematically.
To help provide a perspective, Hemphill explained
that $2.9 billion was given to all mission agencies in North America
last year, while at the same time $2.8 billion was spent on Easter
candy.
Additionally Hemphill related that in 1982, the
average gift to the Cooperative Program by SBC churches was 10 percent.
In 2000 it had dropped to 7 percent.
“One reason we are struggling with finances in our
churches is because we have cut back on mission giving and the people
have followed the example,” Hemphill said.
The material from Making Change, to be published in May by Broadman and Holman, is about finances from the standpoint of God’s kingdom, the author explained.
“The church growth movement emphasized marketing and
created three unmentionables,” Hemphill said. “Churches stopped talking
about the blood of Jesus, the sin of man and money.
Hemphill’s Making Change
material provides comprehensive money management for Christians, he
said. He also presented a vision to the church and individuals of how
financial resources can, and should, be used to advance God’s kingdom.
The blessing of contentment rather than the curse of greed was highlighted by Hemphill.
He shared practical information on debt reduction, earning, saving, and spending.
Hemphill also addressed the biblical laws of giving and emphasized the concept of “whole-life stewardship.”
“Is God pleased with the way we are allocating our
finances?” Hemphill said is a question that Christians and
churches must constantly ask.