Am I Baptist enough?

I think I am. But there is evidence against that conclusion. Part of that evidence is that there is a strong side of me drawn to the Great Tradition. By this I mean that the church itself is a source of wisdom – not inspired, not infallible, not always or maybe even usually trustworthy. But, nevertheless, there is wisdom there. And it shouldn’t go to waste.

I have remained a Baptist for several reasons:

1. I believe that the Holy Spirit among the people of God using the Bible in hearts is the better way to determine what sticks as true. Pope, Council, Synod, or General Assembly are not the primary carriers of the tradition. It is the people. What the people will believe, do believe, is what gets passed on from generation to generation. If the people remained unconvinced, the Magisterium can kick and scream all it wants.

2. Holy Scripture alone – argued, debated, studied, and then argued and debated some more – is what will settle the conscience. Baptists have not tried to settle the issue of the final and once for all interpretation of Holy Scripture by throwing creeds at each other. That something is in this creed or that creed makes not a nickels worth of weight to a Baptist when it comes to final interpretation. They are worth something, but only something – not everything. I find that Baptists over and over again hold high The Book. Gotta love it.

3. The Baptist distrust of authority in all of its guises, whether it be the melding together of church and state or denominational hierarchy. Leadership in a Baptist church is done down in the trenches. If a leader can persuade the laypeople, then he or she is the leader. Charles Spurgeon once called the practice of ordination that made “reverends” out of otherwise normal people is an exercise in “laying idle hands on empty heads.” Of course, all leadership comes down to whether or not the laypeople are persuaded. It’s just that in some denominational structures the leadership gets its way a bit longer than it would in a democratic Baptist church. But no one ultimately gets away with blindfolded loyalty from the people. My formula for Baptist government is that we would rather argue over something now than argue over it later, as more hierarchical forms of government do. Baptists are “first generation” debaters. Presbyterians and kind will put it off for a while as their leadership structures grind away and finally get to the issue by which time most people have already voted with their feet and left. In this way, Baptists are more self-renewing.

4. Because Baptist do not baptize infants, church members are not gained by having people born into the church. They have to be converted. A regenerate church membership bound together by conscious covenant is at the root of Baptist life. And I buy it. Evangelism is a way of life in most Baptist circles. I think they do the best job of keeping that alive.

5. Because no chain of checks and balances lock down the expansion of the church. It is well known that the reason the Baptists are such a large part of Protestant life is that while the Episcopalians and Presbyterians settled for life on the east coast of American in its early days and could not produce either enough pastors for the frontier demands of the USA or the kind of pastors who could take the Gospel to the frontier. If it was up to most denominations, all resources would be spent on that which is rather than what could be. Baptists have demonstrated over time that they spend less time padding pews and more time pounding pulpits.

I could go on. But even in the midst of all this that I affirm, I am one of those Baptists who longs for a deeper rhythm of church life than what could pass most churches of my kind.

The Church Year with its seasons that balance the different compass points of church life and keeps the focus on Trinitarian worship and redemptive acts of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Lectionary which forces the church to do plenty of reading of Holy Scripture in its corporate worship. more than a Baptist church will generally do, interestingly enough, being people of the Book as we are.
The deeper possibilities of renewal that flow out of the Lord’s Supper.
The wisely shaped prayers that guard us from hasty and foolish prayers that worm their way into our congregational life and worship which make us say things we do not mean and pray as we ought not.
The ordered worship that keeps focus off platform performers and more on the seamless connectedness of Word, prayer and sacrament.
The mysticism of those who know that God can’t be put in a box and submit to all of our shibboleths and three easy step formulas for spiritual success.
The importance of place, aesthetically shaped to allure the body to give way to the spirit.

Some take my desire for these things as perhaps indicating a “less than Baptist” mindset. See Roger Olson’s new posting on just this thing. As a sophisticated historical theologian and a Baptist, he expresses some ambivalence about Ash Wednesday and the practice of Lent. I think he sees in these a challenge to the “inwardness” and affectionate nature of heart worship that has historically characterized Baptist life. And they are challenges, left unmanaged and unwisely utilized, as if the having “done” our religion will soon replace the necessary spirit of the thing. He is right to be concerned. I cannot think he is right to be alarmed. But he has me in the cross hairs on this one. I do have to consider whether or not my trajectory seriously compromises the Baptist way that over time will lead to formalism and then to unbelief.