David Gushee on Baptist experience and the New Baptist Covenant
This blog is about perspectives on being Baptist. Sometimes the best way to do this is for individuals to describe their personal Baptist history… David Gushee has a wonderful column over at Associated Baptist Press entitled, “My Baptist journey to the New Baptist Covenant”. He describes his conversion to Christianity in a Baptist church, and how that journey has led to the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, January 30-February 1, 2008. I think that many of us can identify with his story from our own experiences in Baptist churches:
This little church proved very good at discipling that undisciplined young man and initiating him into the folkways and mores of Southern culture and Southern Baptist life. They gave me The Living Bible and the KJV and taught me to read them every day. They drilled me in how to share my faith. They had me read Hal Lindsey and W.A. Criswell. They taught me “Pass It On” and “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” The pastor, Warren Boling, preached Jesus in a King James cadence. They taught me how to drink iced tea. And they so emphasized ministry and missions that it was not surprising that I experienced a call to ministry within a year of my conversion. I have been pursuing that call ever since.In some ways mine was the prototypical Southern Baptist experience. I learned the Bible in detail, strict codes of personal morality, a disciplined devotional life, how and why to “witness,” and the centrality of missions and ministry.
More than that, I learned love and grace, mainly from their example. When I messed up, that community loved me. When I stood up at the Royal Ambassadors’ banquet my senior year and proposed the merger of the RAs with the Acteens, they gritted their teeth and kept on loving me. When I proposed that we hold a dance at church to bring in new youth, they graciously referred it to a committee, where it is apparently still being studied. When I brought my playing cards for some gin rummy during youth-choir supper, the church ladies firmly but kindly asked me to put them away. This church knew who they were and what they believed, but they weren’t angry about it. They initiated me into their way of life, which took some doing, and managed to do so without judging or condemning me for my many mistakes. I will be grateful for that love, always.
He continues:
I am firmly convinced that throughout the Baptist world — black, white, Asian, Hispanic, African and so on, in all of our dozens of denominations — one can still find thousands upon thousands of individuals and churches that feel something like Providence Baptist Church did in those days when I needed it so badly. Such churches are centered on Jesus Christ. They preach the authoritative and inspired Bible as refracted through the tender lens of Jesus Christ. They are morally serious. They focus on obeying the Great Commission through evangelism, discipleship and missions. They build meaningful experiences of Christian community, they know what they believe but are not overly focused on doctrinal purity. They respect the freedom of fellow believers to express their faith in differing ways. And above all they love people. They are open, trusting, welcoming, kind and warm-hearted. They look you in the eye. They hate fighting. They are known for what they are for, not what they are against.
Gushee writes about these characteristics that he expects to see at the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. I have to agree with him on this point about the Celebration:
I believe I will find people who are looking to include as many different kinds of Baptists as possible, rather than to exclude some who do not quite qualify for one reason or another. I believe I will find a quite Baptist spirit, as believers and congregations freely choose to fellowship together and work together on matters of common concern, without feeling the need to control each other or to set the terms of everyone else’s engagement.
I felt like this column touched in so many ways on really important issues, many of which this blog has brought up before. David Gushee is a Baptist ethicist whose writing always makes me think. I for one will be attending his special interest session on Peacemaking at the Celebration.
Over the next few days, as we gear up to attend the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, I’m going to be posting thoughts on why different individuals are excited about the Celebration, what we are looking forward to, and what we hope will come from it. This is going to be a great adventure, I think, which my Baptist upbringing has led me to attend, as well…
