Here are a few things that have been on my mind lately.
I have invested 40 years of my life in the work of my denomination, the South Carolina Baptist Convention. I worked at two schools — Furman, when she was in the fold, and Anderson — before arriving at the Courier 36 years ago.
Don KirklandNow, I’m hearing a lot about the demise of denominations. And I’ll confess, when it’s said of Southern Baptists, it’s unsettling to me. A lot of doomsday talk to try to decipher and put into perspective.
Not surprisingly, a recent speech by church historian Martin Marty at Baylor University caught my eye and captured my attention.
Marty is professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He’s been tracking Christian denominations for years. He ought to have the ears of Southern Baptists when he speaks.
Marty is less pessimistic about the future of denominations than some I’ve heard. Are they dead? Are they dying? If the religious denomination as we know it is really not long for this world, then Marty thinks that “structurally, functionally, something would likely fill its role.”
For any who oppose change, this isn’t good to hear. For the rest of us, it’s news to cheer the spirit. Different isn’t dead, is it?
The name of Marty’s speech was “The Future of a Denomination: Baptists in the Next 400 Years.”
Remember, the year 2009 was the 400th anniversary of the Baptist tradition.
Marty was not one to outline a detailed future for Baptists. Nobody, he said, can predict with complete accuracy where we’re headed. In fact, he cautioned against “confident predictions.”
The situation for Baptists reminded him of Abraham Lincoln, who knew a thing or two about an uncertain future. “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending,” Lincoln said, “we could better judge what to do and how to do it.”
In his Baylor address, Marty covered a broad range of topics related to Baptists. I was particularly drawn to his thoughts about the role of community and autonomy in Baptist life — which, he noted, ideally strikes a balance between Baptist convictions about the freedom of the soul in matters related to religion and what he termed “the integral tie to community in voluntary association.”
Ask any Baptist — to maintain such a balance is never easy and too many times has proven to be impossible.
The Chicago historian said that it’s in this sphere of denominational life — community and autonomy — that Baptists face a great challenge. He called attention to the “pick-and-choose” nature of spirituality that is so individualized that it doesn’t find its direction from a religious community such as the church.
What about church attendance for Christians? Is it required? Is it beneficial? The Bible says yes. The writer of Hebrews said that believers should “not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing.” We are instructed to “be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good” and “to encourage one another.”
Methodist patriarch and circuit-riding preacher John Wesley said it briefly and well: “Christianity is a social religion. To turn it into a solitary affair is to kill it.”
And the thoughts of another Methodist are fitting. Will Willimon is bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. He served congregations in Clinton, North Myrtle Beach and Greenville.
Picking up on Wesley’s words, Willimon said, “You just can’t follow Jesus alone. Discipleship is never do-it-yourself. Christianity is a group thing.”
Willimon went on to say in an article, “We have no record of a single faithful disciple who refused to gather with other fellow believers.”
I’ve learned that church attendance isn’t a prescription for smooth sailing in life. Never was meant to be. In fact, sometimes it’s just the opposite. But I’ve learned this: As the body of Christ, the church worships a living, loving God and provides the voice to speak for Jesus, the feet to run his errands and the hands to do his work.
In this Commentary, I’ve decided to reach no conclusions about the future of Southern Baptists, except that we’re in God’s hands to do with as he pleases. I can’t predict where we’ll be as a denomination a year, five years, 10 years from now.
I do know where this one Southern Baptist will be on Sunday — in church.