Books

Our Baptist Tradition
Revised Edition

Chapter 1: Personal Religious Experience

If I stood before an average Baptist congregation and asked, “What do we believe as Baptists?” I expect I would be disappointed in some of the answers. People can usually state why they are members of a particular church, but their reason for being a Baptist often ends in generalizations. Many do not have much awareness of our basic Baptist beliefs. I know some will say, “I was a Baptist born; I was a Baptist bred; and when I die, I will be a Baptist dead.” Well, you may be, but it would be nice if you could be informed and know our Baptist distinctives.

I want us to begin a pilgrimage together through these pages to discover, rediscover, reaffirm, or remind ourselves again what have been our Baptist distinctives and heritage through the past centuries. Our distinctives are the beliefs that distinguish Baptists from other Christians. Honestly, I am reluctant to write about Baptist distinctives. Why? I do not want to contribute further to the narrowness that is already so prevalent within our denomination today. I see myself as part and product of the wider Christian community. I serve not only as a Baptist on our local association, state, and national levels, but I also labor alongside other Christians in ecumenical efforts. We Baptists share much in common with other Christians, and we should labor for the unity of the church for which our Lord prayed.

Our Wider Identity

One of our great Baptist theologians was Walter Rauschenbusch. He concluded his article, “Why I Am a Baptist,” with an insight I would like to use as a preface to my comments about our Baptist belief:

"I should do harm if I gave Baptists the impression that 'we are the people and that there are no others.' We are not a perfect denomination. We are capable of being just as narrow and small as anybody. There are fine qualities in which other denominations surpass us. I do not want to foster Baptist self-conceit, because thereby I should grieve the Spirit of Christ. I do not want to make Baptists shut themselves up in their little clam shells and be indifferent to the ocean outside of them. I am a Baptist, but I am more than a Baptist. All things are mine; whether Francis of Assisi, or Luther, or Knox, or Wesley; all are mine because I am Christ’s. The old Adam is a strict denominationalist; the new Adam is just a Christian."1

I share that quote with you at the beginning of this study with hopes that you will remember our wider identity as I write about what I think are our Baptist distinctives. I always want us to remember that we are part of a larger Christian community. But we do need to know our distinguishing Baptist beliefs. First Peter 3:15 reminds us, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” Unfortunately, many of us could not begin to tell others why we are Christians and, in particular, why we are Baptists.

Kenneth Scott Latourette, who taught at Yale for many years, was an internationally famous church historian. Someone asked him one time why he was a Baptist. “I am a Baptist,” he replied, “by inheritance, inertia, and conviction.” Well, a lot of us are Baptists because we inherited our church. Our parents took us to a Baptist church when we were children, and we have simply continued on that path. Some of us are Baptists because of inertia. We simply have not moved out of the Baptist church where we started. We are still within the familiar Baptist doors. But I would like to think that we could remain Baptists because we have convictions that enable us to understand our distinguishing beliefs.

My Baptist Roots

I am not a stranger or a newcomer to the Baptist denomination. When I was a small child, my parents started taking me to a Baptist church in Virginia that was not far from where we lived. When I was sixteen years old, I made a profession of faith and became a Christian in that Baptist church. The next year I was youth week pastor in our church.

The following year I was asked to serve again as youth week pastor. I preached a youth revival Sunday through Saturday night in my home church during my senior year in high school. Can you imagine what brilliance I shared with my listeners in those sermons? Though I was young and inexperienced, this congregation was composed of patient, loving, and affirming Christians. They later licensed me to preach before I left for college.

I attended Bluefield Junior College to begin studying for the ministry. While I was at Bluefield, I preached several youth revivals and supplied whenever I had an opportunity. I was elected youth week pastor twice in my college church during my first and second years of study. Following my first year in college, I served as a summer missionary to California. After my second year, I went as a summer missionary to Hawaii. I was the Baptist Student Union president at Bluefield College, and in my senior year I was BSU president at the University of Richmond, where I completed my college education. While at the University of Richmond, I worked during the week at a Baptist Goodwill Mission Center in downtown Richmond.

I was called as pastor of my first church when I was a junior at the University of Richmond. The members of Good Hope Baptist Church were gracious, loving people and helped nurture and care for me in my growth as a minister. I graduated from a Baptist junior college, a Baptist senior college, and the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina, and then received my Doctor of Theology degree from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Later, I taught for five years at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I have served as a trustee and as a member of a number of committees and boards on the associational and state levels in Baptist life. I have also served in the Baptist World Alliance.

For more than forty years, I have been affiliated with Baptists. I am no stranger to the Baptist way of life nor some newcomer on the Baptist block. I grew up going to a Baptist Sunday school and Training Union. I attended Baptist camps, retreats, revivals, and other meetings in which I was exposed to what Baptists believe. I know what Baptists believe because I have been taught those beliefs at every place I have ever been. I make no apology for declaring that I know something about what Baptists believe. I have had those beliefs crammed down my throat and ears and into my mind all of my life.

Join me on this pilgrimage as I share with you some of our basic Baptist beliefs.

1 Walter Rauschenbusch, “Why I Am a Baptist,” A Baptist Treasury, comp. Sydnor L. Stealey (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1958), 183-84.