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Dockery on integrity in church membershp

Dr. David Dockery, President of Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, was interviewed for a Baptist Press article regarding the topic of inflated membership rolls in Southern Baptist churches. He offers some helpful insights, such as this:

“We need to highlight the foundational matters of church membership,” Dockery added. “We need a fresh understanding of the Gospel; the relationship of saving faith to sanctification, maturation and spiritual faithfulness must be recaptured. Beyond this, we also must recover the New Testament’s teaching on church discipline.”

The article also made references to the resolutions before the Resolutions Committee for next week’s annual convention.

Dockery affirms the call for repentance expressed by one of the resolutions proposed for the annual meeting.

“We need to repent of our lack of concern for biblical faithfulness in our concern and care for church members,” he said. “We need to repent of the way the way we often allow people to join local churches without stressing the covenantal aspect of membership. We need to repent of the fact that we have largely neglected any aspect of church discipline that would have helped us begin to address some of these matters.”

Amen. This is why I will gladly support any resolution the committee brings out on this subject as long as it includes a clear call for repentance. If a proposed resolution does not include such a call, then, as I have previously indicated, I will do my best to get to a microphone and offer an amendment to include such a call.

Isn’t it refreshing to hear denominational statesmen like Dockery speaking so plainly and lovingly about these kinds of vitally important issues? We need more leaders like this. And we need to pray for and encourage the few that are currently blazing the trail.

Tom Ascol has served as a Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL since 1986. Prior to moving to Florida he served as pastor and associate pastor of churches in Texas. He has a BS degree in sociology from Texas A&M University (1979) and has also earned the MDiv and PhD degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. He has served as an adjunct professor of theology for various colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary, the Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary, African Christian University, Copperbelt Ministerial College, and Reformed Baptist Seminary. He has also served as Visiting Professor at the Nicole Institute for Baptist Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Tom serves as the President of Founders Ministries and The Institute of Public Theology. He has edited the Founders Journal, a quarterly theological publication of Founders Ministries, and has written hundreds of articles for various journals and magazines. He has been a regular contributor to TableTalk, the monthly magazine of Ligonier Ministries. He has also edited and contributed to several books, including Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry, The Truth and Grace Memory Books for children and  Recovering the Gospel and Reformation of Churches. He is also the author of From the Protestant Reformation to the Southern Baptist ConventionTraditional Theology and the SBC and Strong and Courageous. Tom regularly preaches and lectures at various conferences throughout the United States and other countries. In addition he regularly contributes articles to the Founders website and hosts a weekly podcast called The Sword & The Trowel. He and his wife Donna have six children along with four sons-in-law and a daughter-in-law. They have sixteen grandchildren.
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