You’ve read on this website that the Religious Herald and Associated Baptist Press are merging on Jan. 1, 2014. The decision of the two respective boards is more an act of faith than a business arrangement, in my view. We share a theological foundation. And that foundation is much deeper than merely being fellow Baptists or than providing a wider array of services to our news readers. We’re part of a belief community that’s creating a highly focused ministry partnership.
Walking together with God
Remember the question raised by Amos: “Do two walk together unless they have made an appointment?” (Amos 3:3, RSV). The prophet was pointing out that travelers don’t stumble across each other in the middle of the desert and then travel together by accident. To Amos, those meetings and journeys were God’s plan. When chosen and called by God, agreeing to walk forward together becomes a divine adventure.
Bob Dale
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That’s exactly what the two boards discovered. Our joint conversations, over the last year, have placed us on a profound road. We’ve found an identity rooted in theology, providing a launch pad for combining our news services and consolidating our efforts. From Scripture, we’ve found three belief stances we hold in common.
• Connecting: We’re on converging faith pathways. The boards of the Herald and ABP found we are in step. We’re traveling converging pathways of faith. Already brothers and sisters in Christ, we’re connected to him and to each other in ministry. We’re on a shared journey of belief and truth.
After Pentecost, believers in Christ were connected by a distinctive lifestyle of piety and practice. Their style of faith and ministry was described simply as “the Way.” Traveling to Damascus, Paul was converted while trying to destroy followers of the Way of the Lord (Acts 9:2). Fighting that Way became a theme in Paul’s testimony (Acts 22:4). In Ephesus, Paul and Apollos presented the story of God’s Kingdom for two years in the face of entrenched resistance to the Way of the Lord (Acts 19:9, 23). Later, questioned by Felix the governor, Paul announced clearly that he was a public follower of the Way (Acts 24:14, 22).
In the New Testament, the Way was the path forward for early Christians. The Herald and ABP still share that calling, an affinity of faith. It’s also our Way, our path forward.
• Collaborating: We’re compatible and grafted together for ministry. Partners in faith still face challenges in working in unity. The two boards are committed to the careful process of grafting two ministries seamlessly into one. The challenges of grafting are known to Bible students. A familiar horticultural idea in Paul’s writings, grafting appears six times in Romans 11 alone. The olive growers around Rome knew how the grafting process worked: cut back a healthy wild olive tree to use as root stock, slit the exposed ends of that wild olive’s limbs, fit new grafts from cultivated olive sprigs into the slits, and seal the graft with mud and cloth wrappings. Then, the growers gave their hybrid trees time to heal and yield a harvest. The eventual result was distinctive fruit from a sturdy base.
Grafting is far from automatic. Twenty years ago, my brother needed a bone marrow transplant. I was his donor. Genetically, we were a perfect match, like twins. But when my marrow was dripped into his veins, his immune systems felt invaded and tried to reject my marrow. It took some expert medical intervention and some time to help his body accept new strength and defeat his cancer.
Grafting two news organizations, blending traditional print and newer digital formats, will likewise take time and require care. But compatible DNA and deliberate cultivation will make the grafted news platform both more productive and more diverse. The good news is the Herald and ABP are compatible, a requirement for healthy grafting. Only the cultivation remains.
• Co-Missioning: We’re partners in pursuit of God’s futures. Faith partners with grafted strengths have a full array of unique opportunities. What’s crucial to us is God’s calling, not just a merged organization. Partners join hearts to follow God’s futures forward.
Christ’s Great Commission to his followers remains crystal clear. All who believe in Christ are sent to “make disciples of all nations,” while “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded” (Matthew 28:19-20). Christian communities, including news organizations, are sent to disciple and teach. Making disciples and guiding them to maturity are the most basic actions in the co-mission between believers and God.
Telling the story
How can you take part in the future of telling and interpreting religious news to Baptists and others?
• Pray for and learn about the merged future of the Religious Herald and Associated Baptist Press. Folks just like us have read and supported the stories in these pages for nearly 200 years already. With God’s blessing and your help, we can amplify our message in a variety of media for another couple of centuries.
• Become members — individual and congregational — of this news team as we inform and witness to the world. You’ll hear more about how to join this outreach soon.
• Shared identities, grafted strengths and foundational calling — three theological elements for merger — are strategic parts of God’s kingdom. Let’s serve our Lord together. Let’s continue to tell the Story.
Bob Dale ([email protected]) is a leader coach in Richmond and a retired seminary professor and denominational worker. He also is a trustee of the Religious Herald.