I recently read an article essentially asking this same question, What’s Wrong With the Independent Fundamental Baptists?  It tried to explain and figure out why IFB churches seem to be drying up and closing their doors.  He gave answers from his own personal struggles and then painted all IFBers with that brush.  While his conclusion may have been accurate to describe his own battles, and while it gave a glimpse into how other’s view us, I believe it was a far cry from many Independent Baptist that I have personally met.  

What is funny is that even in this post, I won’t be entirely accurate for everyone.  Independent Baptists are a funny breed.  We are highly individual.  Each church has it’s own flavor.  Each church has it’s own battles.  We have our own pastors and our own strengths and our own weaknesses.

Futhermore, we are adapted into our own local culture.  For example, my brother’s Independent Baptist church: While we hold to the same “fundamental” doctrine and values, we are very different in culture and personality.  He is very adapted to meet the needs of their community.  

Ironically, there are 4 really good Independent Baptist Churches all within 30 minutes of my brothers church and they each have a different personality and culture.   They don’t compete with each other.  They are just an independent body of believers that found where they felt comfortable serving the Lord.  They found a church to serve in that felt like “home” to them.  

That is the beautiful thing about Independent Baptists.  Each church is individual and we are free to leave and move and our pastors are free to freely preach the whole gospel as God leads.  We are very “Independent.”

That being said, I want to clarify that this post is not all encompassing.  It may not describe you or your church, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you found yourself relating to it.

So the big question.  What’s Wrong with Independent Fundamental Baptists?

Why indeed are our churches struggling?  Why are Christian’s falling away from the flock?

1.  We are weary.

Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

When this verse became real to me a few years ago, I felt like quitting.  It doesn’t say that Satan tries to weary the saints.  It says he DOES.  He wins.  He beats us down and sucks us dry.

I. Am. Weary.

Every day I battle an onslaught of mental battles.  I’m just trying to love my husband, love my kids, keep a home and serve the Lord.  But I am exhausted.  Some days I consider it a victory that I got out of bed.  Other days I am on my face crying “I can’t even walk without you holding my hand.  The mountains are too high and the valleys too wide …”  Bible time with the kids brings a slew of darts and fears about my children and whether they will grow up to love the Lord.

I can not begin to count the number of times that every day I hear the thoughts, “Why are you even trying?” come to my mind.

That is why those good old faithful verses are so important.  I raise my shield of faith and say, “I am weary God, but YOU never weary.  Lift me up to a rock that is higher than I.  Plant my feet on a wide path.  Lead me and guide me for thy name’s sake.”

Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isa 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. 

2.  We are distracted.

While IFBers are effected by this, I don’t think it is specific to our denomination.  The Christian community as a whole deals with this.  It is true that paganism is growing and Christianity is shrinking.  These are signs of the end times.  Christians around the world are distracted by physical persecution.  Others are struggling for the basic necessities of life.  But in my community we are distracted by pleasure.

We are so weary from battle that at the end of the day, rather than calling up that new family in church and seeing how they are doing, we sit in front of a screen to unwind and recoup.  We have a hard time reading our Bible and praying, yet alone soul winning .

We are told on countless blogs and magazines that our children are jumping ship because we aren’t (or are) active in sports, music, and weekly social events.  So what do we do?  What get them involved in something.

We are told that we are behind the times in fashion and our youth find us unattractive.  So what do we do?  We spend more time in front of a screen seeing what the latest fashions are and spend more time at work to afford them.

Rather then redeeming the time, we find we have no time.  We don’t know what to cut out.  We are already involved in four or five ministries to help maintain the internal ministries of the church.  With all these activities, it is easy to fill out our Faith Promise Missions check and forget that we too are missionaries every day.

It is hard to bring souls to Christ.  It is hard to disciple people.  It is hard to raise your children.  And it is hard to focus.

Pro 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

What is the answer to distraction?  Prayer.

Pray for your pastor.  Pray for your home.  Pray for the lost.  Pray to fulfill the great commission and for laborers for the harvest.  Then follow God’s leading in your church and home.

3.  We are hurting.

Contrary to popular belief, by in large, the IFBers I know are the opposite of a hateful bunch.  When people visit our church, we wholeheartedly welcome them.  When a family in the church has a need, we rally in prayer and often physical support like love offerings, baby sitting, notes of encouragement and gift baskets.  

We go to work and people think we are nice.  Our neighbors tell us that we are wonderful and our kids are so well behaved.  We appreciate our brothers and sisters in Christ that belong to the local non-denominational church, because we understand there is a bigger picture.

Yet, we are attacked.  We hear from others a laundry list of what is wrong with us.   Our motives are judged and publicized and we feel slandered and lied about.  

We quietly find our own verses and our own shields to deal with this pain, because we have found to defend ourselves only brings more accusations and more misrepresentations of our true heart.  So we suffer these battles alone.

We hurt because we don’t enjoy watching our prodigal children walk away into the world as we turn them over into God’s hands alone.  We cry and wonder what happened.  We sit at home, watching and praying waiting for that child to humbly come home, but we are fully aware of the scars they bring with them. They are our babies and we are crushed.

And yet while we are holding to the Bible, we face a myriad of fiery darts that shake us and challenge our faith.

How can we “win the lost at any cost” when the cost to each of us often seems greater than we can bear.

4.  We are confused.

I honestly don’t know if this is specific to IFBers.  I think in our American culture it is true in relation to Christians, but then amongst Christians it is narrowed down and pinpointed to IFBers.

We have our motives judged so much that we spend an inordinate amount of time in spiritual warfare.

I remember a day where I spent literally an entire day in bed crying and reading the Bible and begging God to show me if I truly was hateful, proud, and self righteous.  My face was blood shot and my head pounded and I had no strength to make any food or take care of my children.  Yet, I pleaded with God to show me if I was judgmental and a pharisee. 

I had been told these things SO OFTEN that I was reeling.  

I was confused.

1Co 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

I questioned, “Is it unloving to speak the truth?  Is it wrong to warn others?  Am I arrogant to say that there is truth, and I believe I have found it?  Am I ungracious to sinners?  Am I setting my children up to fall into sin by sheltering them from the world?  Would this world be better off if I just faded into the background?”

This always leads to that fiery darts … “Why am I even trying?  It’s hopeless.  You are alone.  People mock you. They don’t love you.  No one else out there cares.  You are alone.  Give up.  Give up.  Give up what?  Really, what ARE you fighting for?  You are just going to alienate yourself.  There really is no fight worth all this.  You think you are alone NOW, just wait.  Your kids aren’t going to love God.  Your church is going to die.  It’s inevitable.  Satan is going to win anyway.  Give up.  No one understands you.  Give up.”

We end up with so many mental battles.  I just described mine.  You have yours.  We don’t know what to fight, who to fight, where to fight … and yet we are soldiers.  We MUST fight.

Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 6:19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

5.  We forget who the enemy is.

I’m going to be very transparent.  I don’t know if every IFBers struggles with this, but I do.

My pastor tells of a father whose daughter came to him and said, “You always loved my sister best.”  He turned to her and said, “Well, some kids are easier to love.”

I don’t think it means we are bad people that God had to remind us that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood.” and commanded us to “love our enemies.”  He remembers our frame and that we are but dust.

To be honest with you, when you are being attacked and slandered it is hard to remember that those people are not the enemy.

When false doctrines and philosophies are being propagated it is hard to remember that the messenger is not the enemy.

When the militant lesbian professor in your child’s college fails them because they don’t write a paper supporting the “homosexual community” it is hard to remember that the gay guy at the coffee shop is not the enemy.

When you work 70 hours a week to support your family because socialists are taxing and inflating you to death, it is hard to remember that the raving liberal you work with is not the enemy.

Let’s face it.  Some people are easier to love.  But we must.  People are not the enemy.

6.  We need hope.

I am going to end with this.

Last year was a horrible year.  It was a year of fear and hopelessness.  I can not describe to you the loss: loss of sleep, loss of friends, loss of brothers in arms, loss … loss … loss.  In all this loss, the loss of hope was included.

But there is hope, and it is not JUST the hope of Jesus’ return.  It is a hope, right here and right now.

A preacher’s wife told me recently.  There are people out there who are looking for God, who are looking for truth and who are looking for a bible believing church.  Our job is to find them.

You can pull someone out of hell.  You can help a teenage girl in a home with no love, to find love in Christ.  You can be an encouragement to that single mom.  You can lead a floundering Christian to a church that still teaches the whole gospel.  You can open your home in hospitality and find that you aren’t as alone as you think.  If you keep praying, you will find that person in your life that God wants you to witness to.  Your life does make a difference.

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
1Co 3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

I am not an exclusivist.  These battles hit IFBers hard, but they are not exclusive to us.  I think of my husbands employers one is a baptist and one is an evangelical.  Yet, we are labourers together with God.  We hold them both as friends.  We battle against Satan for souls together.  We encourage each other.  We love each other ….

still …

I am an independent, fundamental baptist and I am not ashamed of that.  In fact, I am thankful.  I am grateful to go to a church that believes what I believe.  It is a haven of rest to this weary soul.  I am glad to worship God in a place that strives to be a place where MY sin is preached against, where my soul is lifted and where the whole Bible is taught with conviction, out of the King James Bible nonetheless.

It is a blessing.  It is what I need, and I believe it is the best.  Yup.  I believe it is where you will find the truth, better even than any other denomination.

Does that mean I look down on you?  No.  Does that mean you are my enemy?  No.  In this liberal day and age, it just means I am “being true to myself.”  I guess that is true, to a point, but ultimately I am just trying to serve God, the best way I know how … just like you.