One Baptist's Year End Reflections

Stories of this year's Baptist battles are circulating widely in print, on the internet, and in blogs like the Refugee Baptist. Interestingly enough, Baptists have a long history of battling among themselves over everything from carpet color in the sanctuary to padded pews to singing in church. We live in an era of Baptist life where change(s) in the denomination may be coming at us at a faster pace than in previous decades. My intuition tells me that the pace and level of interactive exchange of ideas is a major source of discomfort across the generations seated in our pews.

I describe myself as a conservative, perhaps even a fundamental Christian, in part because I love the very foundation of the Baptist church and the history of the denomination. First century Christians might look at us today and ask, "What happened?" Those single digit century believers met/worshipped in homes, treated one another as family, collectively helped widows, the poor, the imprisoned. They broke bread together as part of their rememberance of Him. There is a simplicity and fundamental core to that first century church that I never want us to lose sight of. Even today, I think it is a good idea to ask ourselves, "What happened?" I hope that the answers to that question will always make us uncomfortable. God sent His Son into the world knowing that man (you and me) could really mess things up...and God sent Him anyway. So, as we battle our way into 2007, my prayer is that we will remember the simplicity, the fundamentals, of those first century Christians. We all share a piece of that early church as witnessed by an act of faith that brought Christ into our lives. I hope that we can shift our focus away from the distractions of denominational disagreements and get back to a focus on the world who has not yet experienced what it is like to have Christ in their lives. I am pretty sure that translations of the Great Commission include something about "Go ye" rather than "Fight ye".

Speaking of breaking bread...there was a bread making machine under the Christmas tree at our home this year. I could sure use a good Baptist recipe to give this thing a spin (and I'm sure there is a sour dough reference that I am missing as a punch line).