What if Beyond 400 we ...

… began to see our churches as ‘communities of character’ which form us and school us in Christian living, that is, we reclaimed the early church and the early Baptist emphasis on teaching people the faith and how to live the faith.  I wonder what a Baptist catechesis might look like?

… encouraged church members to do a Baptist history and principles course (for example Bristol Baptist College do a distance learning one for £50!) and so suggest that being Baptist matters, its not just a nostalgic word in the name of our church, or only for the minister. I was encouraged at the beginning of this Beyond400 project that voices were saying that telling our story was important not just so we know where we come from and who we are, but as a source of wisdom and as a means of remembering our future.

… developed ministerial formation as more of a partnership between Colleges and Associations, so student ministers are initiated into (a hopefully renewed) association life from the start and not just at the end; and so colleges see themselves as a more integral part of our Baptist life. While recognising that colleges are already delivering theological education in a number of different forms, it would be great to see them become even more places for theological reflection for a wider range of persons, beyond just ministers. This will require they are properly funded, or perhaps more likely we reduce the number of colleges (not something I quickly want to advocate), but increase what we might call theologians in residence within associations and encourage every association to create theological centres – with libraries and places for study and education.

Road Closed ..... find another route!

Have you ever been driving down a familiar route only to have on coming vehicles flash you and their driver wave frantically at you and you, whilst wondering at their peculiar behaviour, have carried on regardless only to find that your favourite route is at a dramatic dead end?

At the moment I am working with a Circuit of Methodist churches trying to help them turn around and readdress what church is and how to engage in culturally relevant mission and discipleship. What I have discovered is quite sobering for me as a Baptist; I have realised that I have been looking at the Methodists who are on the way back from a dead end road whilst we Baptists are still, on the whole, heading on the same route where we will discover, like they have, that eventually, in the not too distant future, the road on which we are travelling is a sobering dead end.

The Methodists have as a denomination largely realised that they have been heading in the wrong direction and are in the process of turning their people around to find a different way of being church that is culturally relevant to the society in which they find themselves. However, some Methodist commentators believe that it is already too late, the tanker ship (to change metaphors) will not be able to turn around in time and will go aground and be dashed on the rocks! I am not so sure, for I believe in a Creator God who promised to ‘restore all that the locusts had eaten’ (Joel 2) to those who turn back to Him!

The problem is that within Methodism up to three generations are now missing from the church (...well most of them) as we know it, and many of the existing members whose average age is ever rising still insist that people should come to them, they like to do things the way they do, and they don’t want to change, pray or seek guidance on how to be culturally relevant. They have largely abandoned John Wesley’s requirement to be in ‘Class’ (accountable cell) and there has little attention spent to enable members in personal discipleship and the resultant mission heart of the Christ filled follower. But whilst we Baptists might look on and tut at those silly Methodists declaring ‘if only they were like us!’ we have to realise that we are only a few years behind them on the road to seismic decline.

So where is the ‘new route’ for church? Will that detour just delay the inevitable? Is any change of direction just a postponement of the inevitable? Is this new way so much better? Is it even Godly? Such questions should be asked, new fads come and go, our culture is so rapidly changing, can we, should we,even try to keep up? In fact there is no simple answer, and those of us engaged in new ways of being church or trying to be more relevant to our communities will be the first to say ‘we don’t know!’ But and it is a big BUT, we are engaging people where they are and trying to provide practical Christian guidance for everyday life, whilst trying to enabling disciples to be a worshipful as they enable others in their discipleship of our Lord Jesus the Christ.

Pre – evangelism or ploughing (changing the metaphors yet again) is something that needs to be invested in, together with a real understanding of equipping the saints to be saints at work/ rest and play too!

Understanding different ways that people engage in whole life discipleship (worship, service, learning, praying, fellowship and evangelism) is vital. Post –modern people generally struggle with listening to sermons and other people’s choice of hymns, songs and prayers. Interaction is vital, and being part of a community where they are equally regarded without having to jump through hoops is essential but extremely risky.  There are of course many unanswered questions but we are not asked by God to have all the answers but just to have answered ‘Yes’ to His calling of us out from our comfort zones.

Some of the books that have helped my thought on the matter are; ‘Out Here’ by John Houghton, ‘You see Bones I see an Army’ Floyd McClung and ‘Imagine Church’ Neil Hudson

I wonder why you became a Baptist?

Maybe you never did: perhaps you’re a cradle Baptist, or you just found yourself once in a church with a Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) logo on the front, or perhaps you’d first reach for words like “Bible believing”, “liberal evangelical” or “charismatic” to describe your church tradition?

You wouldn’t be alone. Our wider Baptist identity has become a bit of an optional extra, as Simon already put it: the “Baptist label was ok, but inconsequential”.  Recently all first year ministerial students were invited to attend Baptist House (the national BUGB resource centre) for a conference where there was a Q&A with the General Secretary. Neatly sidestepping a difficult question about the Baptist position on something, Jonathan Edwards replied “there isn’t the Baptist church in Britain, there is only a family of Baptist churches within Britain”.

Risking the wrath of Baptist House when this is published, I have to say, I disagree.

I have a confession. Even though I have been married for 19 years, I’m in love with another’s bride. She’s beautiful, powerful, inspiring, she makes my heart leap, the very idea of what she might become thrills me. I might want to shape her, guide her, want her to fall in love with me too, but alas she is betrothed to another. I may want to provide for her, comfort and protect her, but I know the one who has her heart is infinitely more wise, strong, capable and loving than I am, even on a good day (and I can have some really good days, honest).

I want to share my wisdom with her, but I know that when she pauses to think, when she listens hard, when she gives attention to her own thoughts, and those of her lover, she comes to a place of more wisdom that I could ever imagine.

Sometimes she confuses me though. Sometimes, she seems to want to stop listening, or appears to have forgotten that she is so good at it, and sometimes she wants others to do this thinking and listening for her.

The first baptist church in Britain met in Spitalfields, London, still known as a tolerant place which harbours dissenters, artists, anarchists and free-thinkers who want to challenge injustice and unfairness.

Words such as these were used frequently to describe early baptists, a group of Jesus-followers beginning to be joined together by a shared commitment to the priesthood of all believers, God’s Word, sharing God’s story with others, freedom of religion and absence of coercion, the pursuit of justice, social action and mutuality.  Whether regarded as heralding from the controversial Anabaptists or Puritans these early baptists faced persecution for their stance and even 50 years after their foundation were still being sentenced to death.

We who choose to draw our nutrients from the rich soil of this tradition have much to be thankful for and a great deal to inspire us as we work out what it means to be faithful Jesus-followers in a society where tolerance is still sometimes as hard to find as fairness and justice.  As someone who grew up in a family with few church roots I will forever be grateful for the baptist people who nurtured my faith, taught, envisioned, equipped and affirmed me.