“We don’t have a name problem, we have a Jesus problem. The reason people are running from churches in general is because Christians are not acting like Christ,” he said. Davidson says 85 percent of Southern Baptist churches are stagnant in their membership, or declining. “That’s a heavy statistic.”

For the Rev. Jerry Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church of Fairhope, being Southern Baptist is a defining aspect of life.

He embraces the denomination’s conservative social values, extols its evangelism — “We reach out to people instead of waiting for them to come to us” — and identifies with its name.

“I grew up under the traditional name of Southern Baptist Convention,” said Henry, a
native of Selma, Ala.

But Henry, 67, acknowledges the realities of a changing America, and wonders if his denomination must change with it — at least its name.

“Being Southern Baptist isn’t a problem in Fairhope, Alabama,” he said. “It’s a proud thing.” But in other parts of the country, he says, it might turn people away.

“If we were to say the Yankee Baptist Church here,” he said, “that would be a real turnoff.”

On Monday (Feb. 20), Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright is expected to give his recommendation on a possible name change to the denomination’s top leaders. That recommendation is likely to be debated at the Southern Baptists’ annual convention in June in New Orleans.

For a denomination that has used the same name for nearly 170 years, a change is an involved process. First, there has to be the will to do so. And on that, the jury is still out.

“My first response is, I don’t want to change it, the Lord has blessed us in every way,” Henry said. “But I’m willing to look at it to see if we do need to change it.”

Adds the Rev. Jay Cook, pastor of First Baptist Church of Pascagoula: “Our prime objective is to do what Jesus Christ called us to do — to share the gospel. If a name is hindering that, we need to consider it strongly.”

Formed in 1845 when Baptists split into Northern and Southern branches over slavery and other issues, the Southern branch kept its name, while Northern Baptists eventually became the American Baptist Churches USA.

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