The decision to bring the Southern Baptist Convention to Salt Lake City was made nearly a decade ago. But the timing - at least for Latter-day Saints - couldn't have been better.

Riding the wave of popular public opinion, the American-born LDS Church, whose missionaries have labored largely in obscurity since its inception, has come into its own of late, having reached the 10-million member mark earlier this year.While the convention itself focused national attention not only on Southern Baptists, but on Utah and the LDS Church, that spotlight is being followed up this week in a veritable "one-two punch" that will no doubt delight Mormons interested in spreading the gospel as they know it. "Mormons On The Rise" is the subject of this week's cover story in Christianity Today.

Using the Southern Baptist Convention as the news peg, the evangelical publication that heretofore has scarcely mentioned The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - other than to relate tales of protest regarding construction of the faith's temples, or to discuss its "non-Christian" beliefs - has made the church's proselyting success, and the Southern Baptists' concern about it, the focus of a six-page spread.

The magazine, which listed circulation of 180,000 in 1997, is geared toward orthodox, evangelical Christians - those most prone to believing that Mormons are "non-Christian."

Headlined "Southern Baptists Take Up The Mormon Challenge," the story not only focuses on the projected "clash" between Mormons and Southern Baptists during last week's convention (it didn't happen as expected - Southern Baptists passed a resolution thanking Salt Lake City for its hospitality), but on the LDS Church's basic beliefs.

Central to the story is discussion of whether the LDS Church's focus on missionary work will result in the rise of "the next world religion, with membership of 267 million by 2080."

That projection, made several months ago by University of Washington sociologist Rodney Stark, has grabbed the attention of Southern Baptists, who elected a president last week that vowed to put his sole focus on "spreading the gospel" of Jesus Christ - as Southern Baptists believe it - to the world.

With a missionary force of nearly 60,000, the LDS Church has seen membership grow so quickly in recent years that leaders in Salt Lake City have acknowledged they are scrambling to keep pace in providing church buildings and other necessities for more than 300,000 converts in at least 150 nations last year alone.

According to the cover story, it's an enviable position - one the Southern Baptists look to duplicate.

"In Utah, the SBC will be using pages out of the LDS playbook for mass evangelism," the cover story explains, citing the intense door-to-door evangelizing campaign and media blitz orchestrated by the SBC during its week in Salt Lake City.

The subject of "sheep-stealing," or Mormons converting other Christians, is discussed in the article - and also came up during the recent convention. One Southern Baptist pastor even used the occasion to cite Salt Lake City as "the mainstay of cultural conservatism, for which I am grateful; but also the headquarters of a counterfeit Christianity, of which I am fearful."

The cordial nature of the exchange between Utahns and Southern Baptists kept the potential rhetoric to a minimum - yet the message was clear: Both denominations believe they have the truth, they're using every tool at their disposal to share it with the world, and they're not giving an inch on their own doctrinal positions.

The story details the culture of Mormonism in Utah, with members "immersed in their own books, magazines, hymns, organizations and conferences," and discusses the church's move "toward the cultural mainstream of American Christianity" despite its claim to be the restoration of Christ's only true church.

The six-page article includes explanations about LDS doctrine by Elder M. Russell Ballard of the church's Council of the Twelve, and quotes from a copyrighted Deseret News story last November about former President Jimmy Carter and his opinion of Southern Baptist leaders.

The LDS belief in ongoing revelation from God to his prophet is discussed, along with the origins of the church, its priesthood, church hierarchy and temple ordinances.

Also chronicled is a point-counterpoint discussion of Brigham Young University religion professor Stephen E. Robinson's recent book, "How Wide the Divide: A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation." The book was named as one of Christianity Today's 25 "Best Books" for 1997 in a cover story earlier this year, despite the magazine's stinging review published last fall.

Craig Blomberg, co-author with Robinson of "How Wide The Divide," holds out hope that the book "can be an initial step in Mormons moving to orthodoxy," the article states. "I still believe in respectful, courteous dialogue," Blomberg says, offering advice to evangelical Christians, which include Southern Baptists.

"As LDS Church membership continues to increase, and friends and relatives convert to Mormonism, it will behoove evangelicals to befriend rather than attack."

The commonality between the two faiths on moral issues and on their love of theologian C.S. Lewis is mentioned in the article as well. Yet for all the cordiality exhibited in among both leaders and members of both churches in recent days, evangelicals in general and many Southern Baptists in particular, believe Mormons are in "eternal peril," the article concludes.

"`Mormonism is either totally true or totally false," says Utah Missions leader John L. Smith. "If it's true, every other religion in America is false."

*****

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Other events that focused attention on church

The Southern Baptist Convention and the subsequent Christianity Today cover story are only the most recent in a series of media spotlights on the church in the past few years.

Other recent events that have garnered nationwide, and in some cases, worldwide, media attention include:

- A series of stories by the Wall Street Journal, Business Week magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Arizona Republic and the Associated Press in the early 1990s about the church's growth, finances and missionary force.

- President Gordon B. Hinckley's sustaining by church members as their prophet, seer and revelator in April 1995.

- The "Proclamation on the Family" issued by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve in September 1995.

- President Hinckley's meeting with President Clinton in the White House in November 1995.

- An April 1996 segment about the church by Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes," which featured an interview with President Hinckley - the first of its kind for any president of the church.

- The church's sesquicentennial celebration in 1997, which included a re-enactment of the Mormon pioneers' trek across mid-America from Nauvoo, Ill., to the Salt Lake Valley. The story was covered by media outlets worldwide including the British Broadcasting Corp., Japanese television and PBS.

View Comments

- A Time Magazine cover story in July 1997 about the church.

- President Hinckley's unprecedented travel schedule, including a trip earlier this year to Africa - also a first for any church president. While there, he announced plans for a temple to be built there - the first LDS temple on that continent.

- Another first when President Hinckley spoke in April to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

- Speeches by President Hinckley within the past two months in New York City's Madison Square Garden and in Atlanta.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.