Dear Friends
It is the start of a New Year and a good time to remind ourselves who we are and what we stand for as Baptists. I, therefore, reproduce this paragraph from the booklet “Baptist Churches: An Introduction”.
A Baptist DNA
Baptist churches believe in
- The Lordship of Christ that sets us free to be our true selves;
- The authority of the Bible, because in the Bible we learn about Christ;
- Believers’ baptism, because it expresses a truly personal faith;
- A free or believers’ church, because it is a genuine expression of Christian community and consists of people who have made a ‘covenant’ commitment to each other;
- The priesthood of all believers, because it affirms the place of all Christians in the worship and service of God;
- Church membership and Church Members’ Meetings, because in this way we can all take responsibility for the life of the church;
- Interdependence, because we need each other and each church needs other churches;
- Sharing the faith, because we are people of conviction and want others to become part of us;
- Religious freedom, because only free faith is true faith and all should have the freedom to come to their own convictions.
Together these beliefs create a distinctive identity for a Baptist Church.
Some of these things we often take for granted, others we may not even like to acknowledge, and yet we need to remind ourselves of all of them at times. As part of a Baptist Church we are especially blessed and those who know me well will have heard me say many a time “Thank God I am a Baptist”. Not that other denominations are not Christian – they are, but Baptists have kept things much more simple and straightforward than many of our fellow Christians in other Churches. And to me simpler is usually far better. Psalm 119:129ff in the Living Bible says “Your laws are wonderful; no wonder I obey them. As your plan unfolds, even the simple can understand it. No wonder I wait expectantly for each of your commands.”