The American Council of Christian Churches Still Exists

I went to its recent annual meeting. It was mostly an older crowd, about 70-80 attended. Many still had first hand knowledge of Carl McIntire. The preaching and fellowship was good, but I can’t imagine it continuing on for too many more years.

[TylerR]

Why have some fundamentalist parachurch organizations continuing to flourish, while others are dying on the vine?

My guess in the heading. ACCC is lucky enough to have enough members/volunteers/workers who didn’t have a falling out with each other to survive.

Or, depending on one’s perspective, the members could be either lucky or unlucky that this is the case. I’m going with “unlucky” (sorry, Jonathan!) because almost all of the breakout sessions are basically eulogies for departed fundamentalists.That’s not a good sign for the organization, or the churches represented. There is nothing there to appeal to most people under the age of 60.

If I’m right, the end result is dying churches that don’t quite know why they’re dying, but they are maintaining facilities that will soon find new use as beauty salons and tae kwon do centers and the like. It’s a huge mis-use of God’s resources in a way.

It is a unique fundamentalist fellowship in that it is not exclusively Baptist, but includes bible Presbyterians, and Methodists. But it seems to be tied to closely to the memory of Carl McIntire, so I can’t imagine it lasting long once those with memories of him are gone.

I believe in separation, but I don’t think many younger pastors are drawn to organizations that still denounce neo-evangelicals. Some of the battles the older fundamentalists want to keep fighting were fought nearly 100 years ago. I don’t even know how useful the term “fundamentalist” is anymore. I have much more in common with some evangelicals than I have with some fundamentalists.

The ACCC ‘jumped the shark” when … they WARN[ed] ON THE “DANGER OF NEO-FUNDAMENTALISM,” KEVIN BAUDER, SHARPER IRON

I agree with most of the comments above. Still, because I know many of these people, I have to insert a word of appreciation for their determination to defend truth regardless of what others think. Some of the ACCC men are excellent Bible preachers. (As was McIntire when he wasn’t preaching politics. He was an outstanding and powerful expositor.) My point? There is still much to respect and admire even if you don’t fully agree with every position nor have time to attend the meetings. These are the kind of men who stood for Bible truth when others were caving. Yes, they tend to keep fighting old battles. They should learn to move on. But thank God they were there to fight those old battles when the battle was on!