By David Wilkinson
The same week that novelist Anne Rice announced that her faith in Christ has led her to disown the name “Christian,” a young woman from Bolivia quietly renewed my hope for people called Christians — and for that peculiar branch of the Christian family tree called Baptists.
During one of the plenary sessions at the recent Baptist World Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii, participants were asked to huddle in groups of three or four to pray. Sylvia, sitting alone in the row in front of us, turned to join the group of American friends with whom I was sitting.
Her English was flawless, but the second time around the small circle Sylvia timidly asked if she could pray in her first language. Moments earlier we had watched a brief video about the plight of more than a million children around the world who are hopelessly ensnared every year in the illegal-but-profitable business of human trafficking for purposes of cheap labor or sexual exploitation. We were asked to pray for these children, for their abusers, for persons of conscience who are confronting the issue and for ways we can help make a difference. Hearing Sylvia’s heartfelt prayer in Spanish was for me one of the most moving experiences of the Baptist World Alliance’s international conference.
In a brief conversation following the session, I learned that Sylvia had spent most of her life in Paraguay but now lives in Bolivia where she works as a teacher. While most Baptists in America drive four or five miles to worship on Sunday (passing two or three other Baptist churches along the way), Sylvia had traveled alone some 7,000 miles to attend the congress. She wasn’t a denominational leader or a pastor with a travel budget. She didn’t know a soul among the 4,000 persons in attendance.
Sylvia’s faith seemed as radiant and joyful as the warmth and beauty of her smile. She had committed her life to Christ at the age of 17, and she had come to treasure the Baptist expression of that faith. To gather with other Baptist Christians from around the world was a privilege she would never forget, and she was clearly soaking in every moment of the experience. In that sense, she encapsulated for me the spirit of fellowship — of koinonia — that permeated the international gathering.
Meanwhile, Anne Rice announced to the world via Facebook that she is no longer a Christian. Rice left the Catholic faith in which she was raised at age 18 to live as a self-described atheist before returning to Catholicism in her 50s. “My faith in Christ is central to my life,” she wrote. “But,” she said, “following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been or might become.”
As another popular author, Brian McLaren, summarized in a CNN religion blog, Rice “concluded that she will never truly belong to the ‘quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group’ known as Christians unless she becomes ‘anti-gay … anti-feminist … anti-artificial birth control … anti-Democrat … anti-secular humanism … anti-science … anti-life.’”
For Rice, he added, the “cost of membership simply isn’t worth it. So she’s opting out.”
As McLaren noted, Rice’s highly publicized decision raises some important questions for those of us who claim to follow Jesus. Goodness knows I’ve seen enough disputatiousness and ugliness among Baptists in America during my 50 years as a Baptist Christian to respect such questions.
But I’m also grateful for the Sylvias around the world who embody the spirit of the Baptist witness and its contributions to God’s larger kingdom. They are among the reasons I continue to embrace the adjective of “Baptist” – and to do so with deeper humility.