june 6, 2007
Survey: Half of Southern Baptist Pastors Believe in Tongues
A new study from LifeWay Research shows that two-thirds of Protestant pastors -- and half of Southern Baptist pastors -- believe the Holy Spirit gives some people a special prayer language from the Lord. This reflects the phenomenal impact of the Holy Spirit on the Body of Christ in the past century.
The phone study surveyed 1,004 Protestant laity, 405 pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), and 600 non-SBC senior pastors. Pastors were asked if they believed the Holy Spirit gave some people the gift of a special language to pray privately to God. Fifty percent of SBC pastors said the Holy Spirit still gave some people the gift of tongues, 43 percent said no, and seven percent didn't know.
Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, called the results surprising. "It's fascinating to me that it's such a volatile issue. But when you report facts like this, we're just reporting facts."
"Fifty percent of the people we asked in a well-done, well-crafted survey have answered the question 'yes,' they believe that," Stetzer said. "That's important, but there are a lot of implications that are birthed out of that. But when we look at the study, there's some significant information here that we need to consider."
Among the information revealed is that many evangelicals are more open to the practice of tongues.
"The idea here is there are more evangelicals who hold that you're baptized in the Holy Spirit at conversion -- but there's a subsequent, ongoing filling, and gifts can flow out of that. The influence here, I think, is just that [at least half of] Southern Baptists have become more open to a practice that was not mainstream a hundred years ago, and have become open to it now."
The survey also found that 41 percent of SBC pastors identify themselves as "cessationists," or those who believe the spiritual gifts, including tongues, have ceased. It did not ask pastors how many actually practiced a private prayer language. The study found that only six percent of SBC seminary graduates had a special language to pray to God.
In addition, SBC seminary graduates were called upon to answer related questions. All 1998-2004 masters level graduates from several Baptist seminaries were invited to participate.
Private prayer language
The survey asked Protestant pastors, SBC pastors, and laity their beliefs about private prayer language using this question wording: “Do you believe that the Holy Spirit gives some people the gift of a special language to pray to God privately? Some people refer to this as a Private Prayer Language or the ‘private use of tongues.’”
Fifty percent of Southern Baptist pastors answered “Yes,” 43 percent said “No,” and 7 percent responded “Don’t know.”
Non-SBC pastors are more likely to believe that the Holy Spirit gives some people a private prayer language than Southern Baptist pastors. Sixty-six percent of non-SBC pastors responded “Yes,” 32 percent responded “No,” and 3 percent responded “Don’t know.”
Protestant pastors (Southern Baptists and non-SBC) are more likely to believe the Holy Spirit gives some people a private prayer language (63 percent) than Protestant laity (51 percent).
Of the Protestant laity surveyed, 15 percent responded “Don’t know” when asked if they believe in the gift of private prayer language. Of the Protestant pastors, only 3 percent are unsure.
The meaning of tongues
Southern Baptist senior pastors are more likely than non-SBC Protestant pastors to understand “tongues” in the New Testament to mean the “God-given ability to speak another language” (62 percent vs. 54 percent).
The majority of Protestant pastors understand “tongues” in the New Testament as “the God-given ability to speak another language you had not previously been able to speak” (55 percent). Thirty percent of Protestant pastors understand “tongues” to mean “special utterances given by the Holy Spirit meant as messages to the congregation with the help of an interpreter.” The remaining pastors selected the “Don’t know” category (15 percent).
Laity are divided among the meanings “God-given ability to speak another language” (32 percent), “special utterances given by the Holy Spirit” (37 percent), while 31 percent responded “Don’t know.”
The gift of tongues today
Southern Baptist pastors are more likely than non-SBC pastors to believe the gift of tongues has ceased. Forty-one percent responded “this gift was only given in the days of the Apostles,” vs. 29 percent of non-SBC pastors.
The majority of Protestant pastors believe the spiritual gift of tongues is “still given today to some believers” (53 percent). Thirty percent believe this gift was “only given in the days of the Apostles,” 13 percent believe “the gift is still given today to all true believers,” and 3 percent “don’t know.”
When asked about speaking tongues publicly, the majority of Protestant laity also believe the gift of tongues is still given today. Only 20 percent indicate the gift was only given in the days of the Apostles. Twenty-seven percent said the gift is given today to all true believers, and 26 percent responded the gift is given today to some believers. A quarter of laity responded “Don’t know.”
Recent Southern Baptist seminary graduates are more likely to believe the gift of tongues has ceased than current SBC pastors. Fifty-five percent of recent Southern Baptist seminary graduates believe “the gift of tongues (as described in 1 Corinthians) ceased to be a valid gift in times past.” A minority of Southern Baptist pastors (41 percent) believe the spiritual gift of tongues was only given in the days of the Apostles.
“More recent graduates tend to be more ‘cessationist’ than their pastoral counterparts in SBC churches,” explained Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research. “A majority of recent SBC seminary graduates are cessationists – the only group in our study that identified with this position at over 50 percent.”
Ed Stetzer, LifeWay’s new director of research, noted there are two sizeable yet contradictory positions among SBC pastors. Half believe the Holy Spirit gives today the private use of tongues, and at the same time, 41 percent identify themselves as cessationists.
The pastors and laity were not asked if they personally practice the gift of tongues. However, recent Southern Baptist seminary graduates were asked if they “pray in tongues, practice glossolalia, or have a private prayer language.” Less than 6 percent of the graduates practice the gift and less than 4 percent of those graduates who currently work in Southern Baptist ministries practice the gift.
When asked why LifeWay Research conducted this study, Brad Waggoner, vice president of research and ministry development at LifeWay stated, “LifeWay Research is committed to studying issues and trends that impact churches. This is an issue that is being discussed throughout the Convention, and we wanted to determine the perceptions and opinions of SBC leaders."
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