MECHANICSVILLE, Va. (ABP) — 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.
Darryl Aaron (left) and Bill Leonard respond to questions following their comments on being Baptist in the 21st century.
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That was the assessment of church historian Bill Leonard, who joined pastor Darryl Aaron to discuss what 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 CBFV’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.
“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.”
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Robert Dilday is managing editor of the Religious Herald.