The spiritual development of successful students

Abstract

Standards of success are one means of identifying the influence of a denomination upon an individual. A Roman Catholic religious may es teem contemplation and withdrawal from the world. A Lutheran or Episcopal clergyman may count the mediation of the Word and sacra ments as his essential ministry. To a Methodist or Southern Baptist preacher, service is the sign of success. Successful service is presented in Southern Baptist periodicals as the erection of buildings, increase in church membership, enlargement of financial contributions.1 Although there are warnings against these stand ards in the same literature, the young men who enter the ministry still expect to participate in the financial and numerical gains that the denomi nation has experienced in the past twenty years. It is especially easy to an ticipate more of these gains in the Southwest, where religion continues to flourish with the growing population. The secular aspects of this success are mixed with a frontier empha sis upon action and a revivalistic focus upon immediate religious ex perience. With this combination, Southern Baptists are accustomed to seeing results. Theological emphases upon individual responsibility are interpreted in terms of private enterprise and corporation competitive ness.