'When God brings renewal, leadership is vital'

Citing a cautionary experience from his time in Peru, Steve Finamore emphasises the importance of identifying the next generation of ministers, pastors, pioneers, church planters, evangelists, teachers and prophets.

That leadership needs to be theologically competent and to have its character tested and formed, he writes

This is an extract from Steve's final presidential diary  

 
The President is invited to bring a theme and, being congenitally incapable of being decisive, I chose to have two. The first concerned the place of the Bible in our churches and in our shared life. This gave me an opportunity to remind us of the place the Scriptures had in the emergence of our movement and allowed me to suggest that they should be foregrounded in our decision-making processes.

I’m aware that we may disagree from time to time about how we should interpret the Scriptures, but they nevertheless remain the primary source of theological authority among us for they reveal Messiah Jesus.
 
I remain convinced that renewal often comes from a reconsideration of our beginnings. If we are committed to the renewal of our Baptist movement then the place of the Bible is something we ought to take seriously.
 
The second theme was younger leaders. I believe we all need to be doing more to identify, encourage, resource and equip the next generation of ministers and that we should be actively doing this. I know these days nearly everyone is younger than me, but without wanting to limit this, I suppose I’m especially thinking of those in their late teens up to those in their early 30s, say 18 – 35.
 
If God chooses to renew us, then we will need ministers. We will need pastors, pioneers, church planters, evangelists, teachers and prophets. It would be good to start looking for them now.
 
A long time ago, Becca and I worked in Peru. In those days the evangelical churches (pretty much all the Protestant churches there classify themselves as evangelical) in the country were mostly small – perhaps two or three extended families – and uninfluential. The churches were marginal to Peruvian society as a whole. However, all or nearly all of them belonged to a national coordinating body which enabled them to speak with one voice.
 
Soon after we left, this situation changed. Starting, I think, with a mission event in Lima, lots of the Peruvian middle classes started attending evangelical churches. Very quickly, there were a number of larger congregations, and they started to have a national impact.

In the years after I came home, I was returning to Peru fairly regularly with Tearfund or to give classes in the seminaries. I noticed the number of church buildings growing, an increased confidence among evangelicals, and some pastors becoming well-known and influential.
 
All this struck me as great, but a couple of developments gave me cause for concern. One was that the growth of the churches outpaced their ability to provide a solid theological education for their pastors. In some churches, some eccentric ideas started to take hold. The emphases seemed to be misplaced. Those responsible seemed to preach the latest things they had heard on satellite tv programmes rather than the truths of Scripture within an agreed theological framework.
 
Secondly, the unity of the evangelical churches didn’t endure. The leadership of the movement became a greater prize because of its greater wealth and influence. The character of some of the leaders was not up to the task and the result was that there was competition and division.
 
My conclusion from having observed this is that when God brings renewal, leadership is vital. That leadership needs to be theologically competent and needs to have its character tested and formed.
 
This brings me to the news of growth within our network of churches. I visited lots of churches while I was Vice-President and even more as President. I was pleased to find that we are mostly in good heart and feeling encouraged. In lots of places, I heard stories of growth, tales of baptisms, reports of younger people becoming part of the congregation, and suggestions that people were simply turning up at church asking to learn about the faith.

I was hesitant to say much about this because all my evidence was anecdotal. However, the annual returns from Baptist churches (which formed the basis of much of our General Secretary’s message to assembly) and the Bible Society report, The Quiet Revival, now provide some solid evidence that something is happening.
 
Where I live in Burnham-on-Sea in west Somerset, the main symbol of our town is the lower lighthouse that stands on the beach. It watches over the tides that can come up very high on the seawall and which can go so far into the distance that you wonder how the town got the on-Sea bit of its name. It’s one of the longest tidal ranges in the world.
 
Matthew Arnold’s poem Dover Beach spoke of a ‘Sea of Faith’ withdrawing like the tide, and this image has been used to speak of the decline in church attendance in the UK. A book was published called The Tide is Running Out.
 
Among Baptists the high tide of church membership came, I think, at the beginning of the 20th century when our numbers reached just over a million, without counting all the children, young people and non-members who were part of our churches. We are now about a tenth of that number. Most of us who have served our churches in this period, even when we have been blessed by growth, have known it only in the context of an overall numerical decline.
 
It is at least possible that the tide has turned at last and that our churches are starting to grow. The next generation of ministers may have the joy of serving in the context of increasing numbers.

While this is something that makes me rejoice, I am also conscious of at least some of the challenges it will bring. I’m aware of these from my experiences in Peru, of times of growth in churches I’ve been part of, and in the experience of students who have seen their churches grow under their ministry.
 
In these circumstances, it is even more important that we identify the next generation of ministers and that we ensure that their characters are shaped to enable them to minister with integrity, and that they are theologically competent to shape the world view of those who will be joining our churches without any prior understanding of the faith.
 
I believe the themes I have promoted this year have been timely and it remains my hope that they will be even more actively taken up within our shared life.
 
I’m grateful that I’m still receiving invitations to visit churches and groups. My diary is full for the rest of this year and into next. I’m looking forward to continue to meet people in our churches and to hearing what God is doing among them.


Image | yueshuya | Pixabay

Steve Finamore was Baptist Union President 2024-25. During his year he wrote a monthly diary 

Steve is Principal Emeritus of Bristol Baptist College, which he led for 17 years until his retirement in 2023

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