If there is anything Independent Baptists can hang their hats on, surely it is their soulwinning efforts. It has seemingly always been an emphasis. Even if we must point out areas worthy of reform, we must give credit where credit is truly due. Independent Baptists have carried the Gospel all over the world. Even the problem areas worthy of concern are not an issue in most Independent Baptist churches as only in a few is it a serious issue.

The Good

Can you imagine the number of doors knocked, the tracts given, the Scriptures printed, collated, and given over the years? It is absolutely incalculable. I have seen some of the boldest people among us walk right up to some brawny, agitated guy and tell them that Jesus came to save.  I have seen so many times what I believe to be deep sincerity in one telling of the Blood of Christ that falls down as droplets of eternal life. I have seen the going and going, even when results were meager, all because Jesus is worthy.  This is praiseworthy, and in addition to saying to God be the glory, I must say it is a heritage I am happy to be part of.

The Bad

Sometimes, and I pray it grows rarer still, there is a pressure that spiritual people can always succeed in soulwinning efforts as long as proper (sales ?) methods are used. The teaching goes that the more spiritual you are, the more souls you will win. The Scriptural proof is quite dubious, but it is heralded as the Bible’s teaching no matter what. It is that old Gamaliel line of reasoning. Remember Gamaliel reasoned likewise before the Sanhedrin to deliver the Apostles in Acts 5:34-50. Though the Lord used it to get the Apostles out of jail, the logic of his argument was flawed to the core. If it were true, how would you explain the far greater growth of Islam over Christianity today?

Along those lines, how would you explain more souls being saved in the Book of Acts than during Jesus’ ministry? Most Bible students would answer “the Holy Spirit”, but if your belief is that it is the spirituality of the soulwinner that is key, then what have you just said about Jesus? Or what about that Christian we disagree with on many points, and therefore assume is less spiritual than we are, who wins more souls than we do? That is a tricky explanation to come up with, wouldn’t you agree? I guess when our thinking goes here we conveniently forget that we only plant and water, but there is Another Who gives the increase. I mean He exclusively gives the increase despite whatever illusions of grandeur we may become infected with.

The Ugly

The ugliest side of this involves the abuse of hungry souls in an effort to prove we possess the spirituality that only numbers can prove. I have heard church members and college students confess an intense pressure to deliver. A few crossed the ethical line in the sand to work in the barren fields of manipulative tactics. I have heard with my own ears the regret of some who more or less tricked someone into saying “the prayer” and ran back to the church to show the notches in the gun while Heaven shows nothing in its record book.

Then some people who do these things get elevated, they become the gurus. Some boast mind boggling numbers. Strangely, the attendance in their churches never really increase while baptisms run in the hundreds. Weird things happen like one child being baptized ten times, and of course counted in the statistics every time.

Since I believe this is a small majority of our churches, let’s not be intimidated when they dole out the spirituality awards. Let’s not allow ourselves to be ridiculed as long as we know we are faithful in giving out the Gospel. Giving the Gospel is, and always will be, a worthy activity. Let us be humble before the God Who gives the increase. That still is our mandate.

Find all articles in the series here.

Have you felt it? Have you had someone, or even a whole church, never let you live past your lowest point? Have you had the load of condemnation strapped to you back and cinched too tight to ever be loosened? Have you, a child of God, a recipient of grace, had grace stripped out of your hands every time you would dare drink in its soul-quenching properties? Then you have faced them–Grace Killers!

Grace Killers lurk everywhere the children of God exist. Perhaps they repackage themselves for whichever group or denomination they are in, but they are the same. Being an Independent Baptist, I, of course, have seen them most in action there. So I encourage each of us to learn to spot grace killers and not let them do their dastardly work.

To some we are where we _____. Always. Our brothers and sisters in Christ now define us by what we once did rather than by what Christ has done. We all have low points in our Christian life. Maybe someone for a short time fell off the wagon into drunkedness. Perhaps someone had marriage difficulties or even a divorce. Maybe they got in trouble with the law. There are so many possibilities, sadly, in this corrupt world. The problem is that when we arrive on the positive side of repentance, when we experience the warmth of the grace of His forgiveness, and when we feel the joys of restored fellowship, we have some who act as if grace never came. Well, it did come, so we must label these accusers as Grace Killers!

The question is whether grace is as spectacular and far reaching as the Bible presents it to be. For the record, it is. To some, however, we will always be that person who messed up, or that divorced person, or that guy who got in trouble. They will recommend we have no opportunities. They will whisper as if we are still in the backslidden state. They would condemn us to stay in the dark place, encourage others to keep us there as well, but what is forgotten? Grace.

But grace is part of the fabric of the Christian life. No grace, no Christianity. To weigh others down and be a Grace Killer is to deny the very system whereby we were delivered.

Grace Killers do a gruesome work. Have you ever noticed the abysmal record we have of retaining people after a church discipline process? Particularly, those who respond with repentence? They almost never stay around. Why? They can never escape the dark shadow. The oppressive weight of condemnation never lifts. It was all fine with Christ. He gave us Galatians 6:1, remember? No, the problem is Grace Killers! They never let it go.

I do not deny that sin has consequences–that is the nature of sin. But we do not ever have to always live under the guilt–that is the nature of grace!

We can’t help what others say and do, but we can champion grace. Demand the rights and privileges of all God’s children as those rights and privileges were purchased by the Blood of Christ. No Grace Killers can actually even give a little wound. They can’t take it away–it is our eternal possession. Ignore them then. But remember too those around you in the clutches of these Grace Killers. Lift up those who are constantly weighted down by those who deal in condemnation.

Grace Killers live in a house of cards. When you realize they have no power, not even a spiritual BB gun or spitball, the cards come tumbling down. Treasure grace and never let anyone obscure it for you or someone around you.

Find all articles in the series here.