Why would anyone object?
I really do not understand why Southern Baptists can be so sectarian. All but perhaps maybe the stereotypical "backwoods" congregant acknowledge genuine Christian faith, devotion and practice among other evangelicals (of course) but also Methodists, Episcopalians, Lutherans - even Catholics (on a good day). But the recent International Mission Board resolutions that created great noise were based not only on doctrinal opposition to speaking in tongues but also disdain for SBC missionaries engaging in cross-denominational cooperative efforts out on the mission field. What exactly is the great concern here? Surely the SBC is not going to lurch toward some kind of Landmarkism that says only the proposed "true line of descent" of alleged Baptists through history counts as the real, true Church. Why this schizophrenia of acknowledging the same faith with other Christians in principle but then denying that in practice by banning shared work?
Then, in another recent Baptist Press article, Southern Baptist professors once again went on the assault against the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, accusing its leaders of practicing "naive ecumenism." Well, if the CBF is working with other denominations the wrong way, then I wait with baited breath to see Southern Baptists work with others at all so that they may show us how to do it without spot or blemish.
Ecumenism - the desire to see all the Christian churches visibly re-united - seems to be almost a swear word among Southern Baptists. I really wonder how anyone could believe John 17 and think that way. Surely no one should object to ecumenical work in principle, even if they have some questions about the directions taken by certain figures or organizations in the movement. After all, genuine ecumenism is based in deep love and commitment to the cause of Christ. As the Dutch theologian W.A. Visser't Hooft put it:
A church which takes the kingship of Christ seriously is one which seeks to restore the unity of the Church of Christ. If there is only one King, if salvation means to be a part of the one Body, no church can accept the fact that the people of God are scattered and that the Body is broken. It is not for the sake of greater efficiency in its practical tasks, nor for the sake of a common front against common enemies, it is for the sake of keeping faith with the King, whose kingdom cannot be divided against itself, that the churches must enter upon the difficult pilgrimage toward visible and tangible unity. But precisely because the only unity which is in line with the specific missio of the Church is unity in Christ, the search for unity can never be separated from the obedient following of his will...Christian unity is only found as churches turn together to their common Lord...And true unity can, therefore, never be bought at the expense of that truth which is manifested in Christ himself.
Quoted in Geoffrey Wainwright, For Our Salvation: Two Approaches to the Work of Christ. Wm. B. Eerdmans: 1997.
Then, in another recent Baptist Press article, Southern Baptist professors once again went on the assault against the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, accusing its leaders of practicing "naive ecumenism." Well, if the CBF is working with other denominations the wrong way, then I wait with baited breath to see Southern Baptists work with others at all so that they may show us how to do it without spot or blemish.
Ecumenism - the desire to see all the Christian churches visibly re-united - seems to be almost a swear word among Southern Baptists. I really wonder how anyone could believe John 17 and think that way. Surely no one should object to ecumenical work in principle, even if they have some questions about the directions taken by certain figures or organizations in the movement. After all, genuine ecumenism is based in deep love and commitment to the cause of Christ. As the Dutch theologian W.A. Visser't Hooft put it:
A church which takes the kingship of Christ seriously is one which seeks to restore the unity of the Church of Christ. If there is only one King, if salvation means to be a part of the one Body, no church can accept the fact that the people of God are scattered and that the Body is broken. It is not for the sake of greater efficiency in its practical tasks, nor for the sake of a common front against common enemies, it is for the sake of keeping faith with the King, whose kingdom cannot be divided against itself, that the churches must enter upon the difficult pilgrimage toward visible and tangible unity. But precisely because the only unity which is in line with the specific missio of the Church is unity in Christ, the search for unity can never be separated from the obedient following of his will...Christian unity is only found as churches turn together to their common Lord...And true unity can, therefore, never be bought at the expense of that truth which is manifested in Christ himself.
Quoted in Geoffrey Wainwright, For Our Salvation: Two Approaches to the Work of Christ. Wm. B. Eerdmans: 1997.
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Nick |
Sunday, October 08, 2006 3:13:00 PM
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