MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Baptists must acknowledge their reputation is suffering in many quarters of American life, but society has regarded Baptists with suspicion since the movement was born in the 17th century.
That was the assessment of church historian Bill Leonard, who joined pastor Darryl Aaron to discuss was it means to be Baptist in the 21st century at the recent annual General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia.
Leonard, professor of church history at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, and Aaron, senior pastor of First Baptist Church-Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem, N.C., were featured speakers at the General Assembly, which drew several hundred people to Walnut Grove Baptist Church in Mechanicsville for two days of speakers, missional workshops and strategic discussions about CBFVA’s future.
“When I speak around, someone always asks me why they should keep the word ‘Baptist’ on their front church sign,” said Leonard. “The fact is, Baptists have an image problem and they need to own it. But Baptists have had an image problem since their beginnings in 1609.
Darryl Aaron (left) and Bill Leonard respond to questions following their comments on being Baptist in the 21st century.
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“Baptists were scandalous from the beginning primarily because the primary issue in Baptist identity is this — the church should be composed only of believers, those who have confessed their own personal faith in Christ,” he said. “And from that idea comes the conviction that faith is uncoerced and because of that, neither an established church nor a Christianized state can dictate the boundaries of faith to its citizens.”
While Baptists are characterized by several beliefs and practices, a believers’ church is their defining distinction and foundational identity, said Leonard.
Aaron — who is Leonard’s pastor — said Baptists in the 21st century must find a biblical pattern that is adapted to their cultural settings.
“Every church must break its own code and find its own way to be transformative,” said Aaron. “Specific Baptist churches have used specific formulas, but replicating models won’t suffice in a society that is rapidly changing.”
One way to “break the code” is to listen to the experiences of church members, Aaron maintained.
“The church is always moving from message to incarnation,” he said. “People are changed by how they describe their experiences. Something unplanned happens when we share our stories. Testimony is not about God fixing people — it is about God making wholeness.”
If Baptists are to have an impact in society, they must find a way to be transformative, Aaron said.
“Transformation will not allow a person just to be,” he said. “Change is the result. Too often the church believes that change is secular and anti-Christian. But the Bible says change is of the Holy Spirit. If the church is to be alive today in a world where everything is shifting, it must be open to the breath of God.”
In looking toward their own future, General Assembly participants explored four “innovations” for the CBFVA proposed by its coordinating council.
“These innovations are just outlines — nothing is engraved in stone,” said CBFVA treasurer Dennis Sacrey of Fredericksburg, Va. “We are dialoguing.”
The innovations include:
• Officially incorporate the organization. “A few years ago Virginia made it legal for churches to incorporate and some congregations have done that,” said Sacrey. “The primary reason a religious organization would incorporate is to have better liability protection. It’s a shame that we have to think about that but in this day and age that’s the way it is. Incorporation protects our leaders and our assets.” The assembly later authorized the coordinating council to pursue plans for incorporation.
• Change its fiscal year to match that of the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Currently the CBFVA’s fiscal year is April 1-March 31; the national CBF’s is Oct. 1-Sept. 30. “There’s an exchange of funds between the two organizations and sometimes things don’t mesh [because of the different fiscal years],” said Sacrey.
• Move from one annual General Assembly to four annual regional assemblies across Virginia. “We think this would increase the ability of folks to attend CBFVA meetings,” said Sacrey. Each assembly likely would be a one-night meeting, he said.
• Move the vote on the CBFVA budget and its leadership to the state meeting held during the annual General Assembly of the national CBF. Currently both are adopted during the annual state General Assembly held in Virginia. Sacrey said such a move would be necessary if the CBFVA moved to four regional meetings. But he added that attendance at the state meeting during the national General Assembly is typically larger than at the annual meeting in Virginia. “It would be good to give all our constituents a vote,” he said.
In a report to the assembly, CBFVA field coordinator Rob Fox said the description of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke — to proclaim good news to the poor, free the prisoners and the oppressed, and bring sight to the blind — has “become the core of what we are about.”
“What I find curious is that we are connecting in mission but missing the mark in connecting with laity,” said Fox. “As we look to the future, I think you’re going to see us making new connections, especially to those who sit in the pews.”
In other action, the CBFVA:
• Elected a slate of officers for the next year, including Sacrey, who will serve as moderator, succeeding Bert Browning of Richmond, Va. Jennifer Clatterbuck of Danville, Va., was elected moderator-elect.
• Recognized Harvey Skinner as he concludes 10 years as the CBFVA’s reference and referral administrator. “We appreciate your work in helping us keep on task and connect churches and ministers. Thank you for a job well done,” Browning told Skinner and his wife, Barbara.
• Adopted a budget of $128,807 for 2011-2012. The amount is less than the $138,000 budgeted for this year, but Sacrey said the reduction reflected in part the retirement of Skinner, whose position will not be filled.
In a closing sermon, Tiffany Hall told participants that if they claim the spirit of Christ, they can carry out the same mission he did.
“It’s not a question of whether we have the spirit, but whether we will give it freedom to move and whether we will recognize it, both individually and collectively, as white Baptists, black Baptists and even as postmodern Baptists,” said Hall, who is program director for the Micah Initiative at Richmond Hill, a retreat center near downtown Richmond.
The Micah Initiative is a partnership among churches, synagogues, mosques and other communities of faith in Richmond and the Richmond public schools to support education and nurture of the city’s children.
“If we are followers of Christ and Christ’s mission was to preach good news to the poor and release the captives and recover sight, to free the oppressed and proclaim the year of jubilee, are we willing to make that our mission?” she asked. “My prayer is that we Baptists, we sisters and brothers in Christ, whites and blacks together, would respond with a collective ‘yes.’ ”