Reflections

BJC a living witness to cooperative model New Baptist Covenant espouses

By J. Brent Walker

January 2008

For nearly four centuries, we Baptists have been a clamorous and contentious bunch. We have squabbled as much with each other as we have with outsiders. Maybe more. A heart-felt commitment to soul freedom and local church autonomy and a healthy suspicion of ecclesiastical hierarchies have facilitated this rambunctious spirit. It was our birthright and is our guiding light.

But, there has always been a cooperative, more irenic side to Baptist life. Indeed, what holds us together as Baptist Christians is stronger than what divides us. And, over the past century, this has been exhibited most prominently in the life and ministry of the Baptist World Alliance and for more than seven decades through the work and witness of the Baptist Joint Committee. The upcoming New Baptist Covenant meeting in Atlanta (see page 7) will provide a wonderful opportunity to build on these examples of cooperation in Baptist life and take it to a higher level.

Four Baptist Joint Committee staffers will participate in the meeting, leading workshops on religious liberty, meeting friends and supporters and hearing from a diverse group of public figures that share the Baptist label. We are enthusiastic supporters of what the New Baptist Covenant meeting signals for future joint opportunities and challenges. In fact, I believe this meeting represents an unprecedented chance for a pan-Baptist effort at cooperation in ministry. We hope to see you there!

No one really knows for sure where the New Baptist Covenant movement is going to lead after Atlanta. Several, including Dr. David Goatley, president of the North American Baptist Fellowship of the Baptist World Alliance, have outlined various ministry opportunities for Baptist communities, congregations and individuals. He envisions a seven-week “summer of jubilee” built around the ministry mandates that Jesus outlined in his inaugural sermon in Luke 4:18-19 —preaching good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, setting free those who are oppressed and announcing the acceptable year of the Lord.

This is a very good start. We should be looking ahead. But it’s important for us to allow the Holy Spirit to move during the meeting in ways we might not see or are unable presently to predict. It’s also important not to hasten to develop new organizations and denominational structures. We have plenty of them and, it seems to me, the North American Baptist Fellowship is sufficient to provide the necessary structure, at least for now.

Yes, to the extent this gathering represents an effort to bring Baptists together to work on the essentials of our faith, to affirm common commitments to our traditions, to present a hopeful face to the culture at large, and to work together toward shared goals, we are anticipating a truly new and exciting opportunity. The Baptist Joint Committee — serving many of the same Baptist bodies that comprise the North American Baptist Fellowship — is a living witness to the cooperative model that is possible with respect to a more narrow set of issues dealing with religious liberty and separation of church and state.

For our part, we commit to working with our Baptist brothers and sisters and kinfolk organizations holding up the importance of these Baptist distinctives along with many other ministry objectives that surely will be pursued in the aftermath of the Atlanta meeting. We have learned that by working together, we have a much stronger voice than any single Baptist church or organization can alone.

The New Baptist Covenant can also be a model for the rest of society for how we can come together on fundamentals, agree to disagree on nonessentials and, throughout it all, work together in a spirit of charity and respect.

Not a bad way to celebrate in the run up to our commemoration in 2009 of 400 years of being Baptists.