Unity seems hard to come by, even when we agree. We as Southern Baptists agree on the basics of the gospel and the basics of ministry partnership, yet even with these shared understandings, unity often eludes our grasp. During the Conservative Resurgence, Southern Baptists fought to unite around essential truths. Today, we need to fight to unite around an essential culture.
Culture is what gives us a shared identity with other people. Cultures set the boundary markers for what is acceptable and what is unacceptable, form the context for what is encouraged and what is discouraged, and shape the scope of what is discussed and what is ignored. But if we’re not careful, our churches can begin to build competing cultures rather than helpful distinctions. If we want to maintain both our unity and our distinctives, we need to unify around a culture of simple Christianity.
Simple Christianity keeps both the mission and manner of the gospel first. Our mission is to make disciples, preach the word and persist in prayer, and our manner in this mission must be humility in every context. A liturgical church culture, a traditional church culture, and a contemporary church culture can each provide helpful elements to address the needs of its local context. Yet when these features become the core identity of a church instead of the gospel’s mission and manner, this community is in grave danger of tribalism: presenting a model that competes with rather than complements simple Christianity.
To avoid tribalism, we must commit to a culture united by the same gospel substance despite different forms. Oftentimes we look for unity through the forms of a church rather than the substance of their worship. Is this church traditional like us? Is this church liturgical like us? Is this church contemporary like us? We’re all asking the same question — are these people like me? — and the question isn’t wrong! We just often use the wrong measuring stick to get the answer. We need to build a culture measured by shared substance rather than shared forms, and we find this substance in the mission and manner of simple Christianity.
Simple Christian culture holds two substantial values. First, it views the mission of the gospel as an essential bond for unity. Second, it regards the manner of humility as a required part of Christian fellowship. If we want unity despite our differences, we need this substance as our unifying culture.
The Mission
We need church cultures that value making disciples. These fellowships look to practice hospitality both inside and outside their walls, and they see new people not as an obstacle but an opportunity. They encourage personal evangelism, foster mentoring relationships, and look to be disciples of other faithful Christians. Churches like this believe that we need others because we grow closer to God when we grow together.
Along with believers that make disciples, we need church cultures who unite around Scripture as our guide. We need to partner with all those who, in every place, truly believe that the Bible is sufficient for our day. This kind of church culture assumes that we can, and will, find the answers to modern problems in the timeless truths of God’s Word. This type of culture meditates on Scripture’s call to robust personal holiness, dwells on how the Bible informs contemporary ethical issues, and adopts the biblical example of a suffering servant as our leadership model. These kinds of congregations believe that if we want to mature together, God’s Word must be what leads us.
Finally, we need to unify around a culture with a high view of prayer. Congregations with this value know that they are not impressive to God, that they have no strength in themselves, and that God must work for their labor to be truly meaningful. This type of church culture emphasizes prayer on Sunday, holds prayer meetings, and prays intentionally about their concerns and the concerns of the community around them. These churches are convinced that we need God’s power more than we need our own efforts.
The Manner
If we want to build a simple Christian culture, we need to unite through a manner of humility. Humility is a posture that reminds us what matters. Humility stresses that all people, even Christians, are desperately wicked and that we are loved in spite of our sinfulness. This truth leads us to love other churches in spite of our formal differences. Along with love, a culture with humility has more joy. Humility helps us to be joyful because it teaches us thankfulness for what we have in all circumstances. Even more, a community with humility has more of God’s power, because when we know how truly weak we are, we know how much we desperately need prayer. We need this attitude because this manner keeps the truths of the gospel in mind.
We must unite around both the truth and gospel culture. We could partner with others based on shared perspectives of liturgy, tradition, and contemporary forms, but these will not be lasting partnerships. All of these dynamics will continue to shift, and people’s views will not stay static. Simple Christianity is the only culture that presents both the mission and the manner of true Christianity to every time and every context. So as we look toward the future of the church, let’s stick to the basics. Let’s partner together through simple Christianity.
—Joseph Bryant is a residential ThM student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
