Following the World War Two Generation of Biblical Fundamentalist Leaders

My generation of pastors and leaders has faced unusual challenges. Many of the leaders of my generation inherited plateaued or declining ministries from their predecessors. From the 1940s until the 1980s were boom years for fundamentalism and its related ministries in this country. “The Greatest Generation” made many outstanding contributions to Christian ministry. There seemed to be Douglas MacArthur characteristics in the entire group of them. That WW2 generation came home from war having faced death and won. They were ready to try anything and had absolute confidence in God and in themselves. Those were the years when independent fundamental Baptist Churches were the largest churches of any kind in the country. Ministerial classes exploded and the missionary movement blossomed. Expansion continued until the early 1980s.

But as the leaders aged, so did the ministries. Many plateaued and some began to decline even before the time of transition actually took place. My generation of preachers found themselves following larger-than-life figures in ministries that were starting to decline. Somehow the vision and expectation became maintaining what exists rather than building and growing. I am speaking in very general terms and not trying to make a specific application. Every local situation is different.

There are so many reasons for the decline in churches and educational institutions. It’s cultural, educational, demographic, economic, and technological, as well as spiritual. So instead of trying to evaluate the present situation, it might be helpful to examine, in general, some of the positive characteristics of the post-WW2 generation of biblical fundamentalist leaders and learn from them. Here are four characteristics that stand out.

They were committed completely to reaching souls for Christ.

Soul winning was the heartbeat of everything they did. They went after souls believing that it made an eternal difference. To them, soul winning was a matter of eternal life and death, not just ministerial obligation. There were some great theologians in that generation, but for the most part, they were men of action more than long “hallway theology” discussions. They would have had no tolerance for a preacher spending long hours in internet theological or political discussions.

They were risk-takers for the sake of the ministry.

Because of their risk-taking, they accomplished amazing things–and sometimes they failed spectacularly. They were not afraid of failing. They were more afraid of not trying. Jim Singleton came to Arizona after having left SBC and CBA churches to start an independent Baptist Church in Arizona. He was not only deeply theological and an excellent preacher, he also was a church builder. I can still remember topping 400 in attendance on the church’s 4^th anniversary. The risks they took were faith endeavors. They knew they depended upon the blessing of God for the things they attempted.

They believed in hard work.

They were incredibly hard workers and they unashamedly expected hard work from those around them—even volunteers. While this led to ministry burnout for many church members, the idea of a pastor working hard in his calling is not an evil concept. For those of us growing up in these ministries, we were quite aware of the hard work and effort required. In our early days at Tri-City Baptist Church (then Tempe AZ, now Chandler) we would meet for soul-winning on Tuesday nights. That was the midweek service and its purpose was outreach. As 4^th through 6^th graders, we would canvas neighborhoods putting church tracts on thousands of doors. That’s right, as ten and eleven-year-olds we did door to door canvassing, and never thought it a bit unusual. I am not pining for a return to such practices, I am just using this as an example of how hard those men worked and what they expected of their congregations.

They were willing to sacrifice the ministries they loved in order to be faithful to the cause.

They often talked about shutting ministries down rather than compromise, and they meant it. Many of those men came out of denominations where compromise with false teachers was taking place. They would never go back, no matter the cost. Compromise to maintain the status quo was not in their mindset.

Our tendency is to make those who went before us either heroes or villains. I am not sure if either is wise. They were men—fallible men—who accomplished amazing things for God. We can learn from their qualities as well as their failings. This particular lesson seems most pertinent at this moment.

Institutional survival must never be our final goal.

Every ministry, no matter how grand or great has a shelf life. Very, very few churches remain faithful and growing after 100 years. The same is true for various parachurch agencies and educational institutions. When our goal becomes keeping “the thing” alive, we have lost already. All our institutions, agencies, and even churches serve a greater cause. That cause is obediently and faithfully fulfilling the Great Commission while being faithful to and defending the gospel against all attacks. If we keep our institutions alive and fail in our Great Commission responsibilities, we have failed still.

This has to be our vision for the FBFI. If the goal of the FBFI is to keep the FBFI alive, we should close the doors and turn out the lights right now. We have bigger purposes to accomplish. The gospel is still under attack today, and we have an obligation to defend it, just like the early members of the Fundamentalist Fellowship did.  Men in ministry still need fellowship, encouragement, and fraternal accountability. Military and community chaplaincy is a wide open door for us to effectively take the gospel to our military and parts of our community we could never otherwise reach. We have an opportunity to communicate our message on platforms never available to previous generations. We have a great purpose, and we must continue to wholeheartedly commit ourselves to accomplish it, no matter what difficulties might stand in our way.