A New ACP

If you are a Southern Baptist minister, you recognize the letters A C P. Every year we must go through the ritual of reporting to our denomination the numerical statistics that capture a snapshot of our churches. The report includes membership, attendance, baptisms, contributions received, money spent on missions and ministers, and a few other things. It's the way we determine that there are 16 million Southern Baptists. In fact, it's the only place you'll find 16 million Southern Baptists.

We call it the Annual Church Profile - the ACP. I said that we "must" do it but that's not really true. Southern Baptists can't be told they must do anything. Sometimes I think that even applies to directives in the Bible. In Arkansas, a little more that 10% of the Southern Baptist churches will not complete the ACP. Not sure if they have something to hide or just don't think it really matters.

At Cross Road we are studying the book of Daniel on Wednesday nights. Tonight's study was in chapter 9 where Daniel prayed a prayer of adoration, confession, and petition in response to what he read in God's word. He was part of the group of Israelites that had been exiled to Babylon (under Persian rule at the time of his prayer). Other Israelites had been scattered to other places. Some had been left back home with nothing to call home.

Daniel was reading pieces of a prophecy from Jeremiah that said the exile was to last 70 years. When Daniel read this he had been in exile about 67 years. The realization that the exile would soon be over led Daniel to consider why they were in exile in the first place. They had turned from God, did not repent, and disobeyed the Lord's commands. So Daniel prayed. He confessed. He pleaded with God to restore the people to their home and make them a nation again.

Here's the pattern of his prayer: adoration, confession, petition - ACP. The prayer is one of the most significant in the Bible and a great pattern for modern Christians to implement. I wonder what might happen if Southern Baptists emphasized more ACP praying than ACP reporting.

I told my church tonight that when next year's ACP is due I will send in a paper about ACP praying. I was just joking. Or was I? Check back in October 2012.

Disclaimers:

-I think the Annual Church Profile has merit.

-A member of CRBC works for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. Her responsibilities include ACP.

-Adoration, Confession, Petition pattern taken from New American Commentary.

-Counting baptisms, budgets, and buildings is not just a Southern Baptist phenomenon. Maybe your church could use a little ACP praying, too.