Reply to Dr. Mohler

I have read with interest and respect the words posted by Dr. Mohler. I am a fan of Dr. Mohler's and the work he has done at Southern. We share a love for the doctrines of grace. He says that what has happened to HHBC in the past two months was not a violation of the autonomy of this church. Dr. Mohler makes a strong argument. Of course, Dr. Mohler was on the other side of the experience; he was one of those contributing to our instruction. From our side, it felt like a violation. Even more than denominational press, the threats and name calling from some of the brethren also felt like a violation. But much of that was from the heat of emotion and must be overlooked.

As far as I'm concerned, that is good enough, Dr. Mohler. Far be it from me to judge you.

I do have one suggestion that really has nothing to do with Dr. Mohler's article. It is just a general observation about all such issues. The way one expresses concern may be nearly as important as the expression itself. In our case, it could have made a tremendous difference if the help had come in a different, private, and direct way.

I remain a great supporter of Dr. Mohler. Any help he can give us will be appreciated. That is true for other sincere Baptist leaders too.

Of course, that was our request in the very beginning. We asked pastors, theologians, and church members, privately, on our website, and in this blog to help us find biblical evidence for why baptism is an initiation rite into church membership. Their help through referencing the Baptist Faith and Message and Baptist history was instructive. We were exhorted on the person of baptism, administrator of baptism, the mode of baptism, and importance of baptism. As our documents show, we already understood and believed those points. What we were asking for help on was on the theology of why baptism should be an initiation into the church. In other words, does it violate biblical teaching to baptize people when they say, "Ok then, I'll be baptized to join the church"? Is that the purpose of baptism?

I'm currently writing a paper on this subject. Drs. J.L. Dagg, John Hammett, and Erwin Lutzer are certainly providing me with some very helpful information now. A friend has written on the subject and has also been immensely instructive.

There are those of us who want to know what the Bible teaches on this subject. I've heard from dozens of people who have been wondering about this. I'm sure that Dr. Mohler is much too involved with his work of leading Southern and being a great spokesman for Southern Baptists and the Kingdom to ever be expected to write on this subject. However, I think we would all benefit if he did.

My only plea is for everyone to understand the nature of the question with which we have been wrestling. Our question is not about the importance, the command of baptism, the person, or mode of baptism. We believe that baptism is commanded for every believer, by immersion, as a testimony of our identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We are 100% with you there! However, those are not the issues. Let me state our question still another way. Baptism is essential for membership in a Southern Baptist Church. Can you help us understand why?

As far as “intrusion” and “violation of autonomy” are concerned, I think that the way you look at this depends on which side of the experience you are sitting on. Dr. Mohler’s desire was to help. Perhaps others had the same motivation. All I can do is say I need all the help I can get.



Respectfully

Dennis Newkirk

No Retaliation

Frankly, I am so shocked to this week's events and the unprecedented assault against this local church that I do not have the wisdom or energy to respond in grace. Please give me a few days to seek the Lord’s face before I make any comment about the onslaught and infringement. Godliness, humility, understanding, and speaking the truth in love are much more important than retaliation or winning. I have no desire to strike back in anger or seek revenge. Please pray for grace and wisdom.

Dennis

A Picture is Worth...

 

I'm not sure I should add any words to this photograph. It sadly speaks for itself. 

Church Membership and Other Change

  

I took this photo in St. Louis last April. The park was filled with butterflies. Metamorphosis is the process that transforms a caterpillar into a butterfly. Most people would agree that the church must change its methods to reach people but that the message must not change. (I would agree totally with that.) Of course, there is the rub, what methods are changeable?

The whole subject of the meaning and methods of church membership seems to be in a state of change today. The churches I grew up in required a person to walk the isle to join. That is still true for many churches. Others will receive members in other ways. Some churches have done away will a formal “membership” and if you show up you are in, while others require a person to make application, sign a covenant, and attend a class.

When Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and other passages speak about membership,what were these passages talking about? What is membership? How important is it? Why should a person join a church? We, as you know, are asking if baptism is a requirement for membership. If we maintain the argument that both salvation and baptism are requirements, what else should be added to the prerequisites?

Dennis

Ever Feel Like This Duck?

  

This is my wife and granddaughter. We bought her a couple of ducks for Easter this year. Her parents were, well, surprised! Have you ever felt like this duck?

This weekend, in our Saturday night and Sunday morning services, I'm speaking to our people about the question our Elder Council has brought to them to answer. I'm also trying to pick through the growing issues of local church autonomy, the autonomy of the association, and autonomy of conventions. It is confusing and important. I would never question of autonomy of Baptist associations and conventions because I believe strongly that that principle is correct. However, there is a point the autonomies seem to collide. The conviction that is sharpening in my mind about this is that that point of collision is when one more powerful or larger group (usually) uses extraordinary means to intrude upon the individual rights of the autonomous body. For example, a local church is a member of the association and convention. However, the association and convention is not a member of the church. (Perhaps some of you disagree with me on that.) When do intrusion, interference, and bullying happen? Has there ever been a time when the autonomy of a local church has actually been violated, in your opinion? If so, when was it and what happened?

I'm feeling like the duck, stretched! This week's newspaper is planned to create some more stretching. Timing is an important thing. To me, it is one of the criteria for judging the difference between education and bullying.

Dennis

In Stone?

  


Are We Allowed to Disagree with
the Baptist Faith and Message

Dennis Newkirk

I was taught in my Baptist college and seminary that Southern Baptists are not creedal and are absolutely against becoming such. Recently, I’ve heard a question of whether or not HHBC would really be Baptist if we removed baptism from the prerequisites of our church membership. And it is true that the Baptist Faith and Message does refer to the church as a body of “baptized believers.” That then begs the issue of how much adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message is required. Are our doctrines and traditions written in stone? In turn, that issue then brings us to the point I’m trying to make, “Is the Baptist Faith and Message a Confession or a Creed?”

When I searched the internet by simply typing in the words, “What is the difference between a confession and a creed,” an interesting article came up for the Texas Baptist Standard, June 26, 2000 edition. Here is an excerpt from that publication.

"A confession and a creed can be worded exactly the same way. The thing that determines whether it's a confession or a creed is how it's used," said Charles Deweese, director of the Southern Baptist Historical Society.

A confession is a document to which there is a voluntary response," he added. "A creed is a statement of belief which is in a sense forced on a body--there is an attempt to achieve a level of uniformity or conformity."

Alan Lefever, director of the Texas Baptist Historical Collection, agreed there is a definite difference between a confession of faith and a creed and that the difference is in the application.

The article goes on to say…

A confession is something you use to find common ground," he said. A creed is something you use to force agreement or uniformity. That's the difference in a nutshell."

"Deweese, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on church covenants, said he has made an extensive study of various Baptist confessions of faith from the 16th century to the present.

One of the lessons I have learned is that these confessions vary widely in their content from generation to generation," he explained. "That raises a flag of caution about taking any specific set of doctrine and hammering it down as though it has some canonical status. They are literally man-made words that reflect the views of the person or persons who wrote it.

Jerry Rankin, President of the International Mission Board made the following statement in an article published in 2002.

"Since the New Hampshire Baptist Confession of 1833, Baptists have drafted documents of belief that distinguish them from other Christians. The Baptist Faith and Message, like other confessions of faith, imposes no theological creed on individuals and churches. No creed is being imposed on Southern Baptist missionaries."

Perhaps the most definitive statement on the subject comes the preamble of the Baptist Faith and Message, written in 1925, and used in every revision since then.
With the 1963 committee, we have been guided in our work by the 1925 "statement of the historic Baptist conception of the nature and function of confessions of faith in our religious and denominational life . . . ." It is, therefore, quoted in full as a part of this report to the Convention:

"(1) That they constitute a consensus of opinion of some Baptist body, large or small, for the general instruction and guidance of our own people and others concerning those articles of the Christian faith which are most surely held among us. They are not intended to add anything to the simple conditions of salvation revealed in the New Testament, viz., repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
(2) That we do not regard them as complete statements of our faith, having any quality of finality or infallibility. As in the past so in the future, Baptists should hold themselves free to revise their statements of faith as may seem to them wise and expedient at any time.
(3) That any group of Baptists, large or small, have the inherent right to draw up for themselves and publish to the world a confession of their faith whenever they may think it advisable to do so.
(4) That the sole authority for faith and practice among Baptists is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Confessions are only guides in interpretation, having no authority over the conscience.
(5) That they are statements of religious convictions, drawn from the Scriptures, and are not to be used to hamper freedom of thought or investigation in other realms of life."

That has been the historic expectation of our church through the years. Let me quote from our Bylaws.

"The Bible teaches that local churches should seek voluntary fellowship with other doctrinally sound churches. This association is to provide help and encouragement while working together as the Lord directs. This is a voluntary association that in no way involves the surrender of the individual church’s freedom or dependence upon God. (emphasis added)"

Let me come back to the question, "Is it written in stone?" I pray that it is not because nothing but Scripture itself should be our authority for our faith. I believe covenants are good and very instructive. I am helped by the BF&M. It is a useful guide. Unfortunately, there are those who seem to be using it in a way it was not intended according to its own testimony. It must not be written in stone. In fact, the problem is that when man-made rules and doctrine become set in stone, in time, they will face what stone always faces, erosion. No pain is involved when rocks erode. However, lots of pain is involved when man-made rules, lists, dogma, and doctrine erodes. People get hurt. Some get worse that hurt. Let's hold to this tradition, "The Bible is our only creed."

Distinctively Baptist?

I took this photograph going into Monument Valley. This place is a one of a kind, completely distinctive. There is no place in the country like this one. It has been made famous by John Ford in his westerns and a host of other directors and producers. If you ever travel to northeastern Arizona, stop by the distictive place. When you do, drive all the way to the end of the valley, it will be well worth your time.

I've been thinking of another distinctive lately, that it means to be a distinctively Baptist church. A few people have questioned whether we could be distinctively Baptist and consider unlinking baptism form the requirements of church membership.


Most Baptists believe that there are certain distinctives that make a church distinctively Baptist. The problem is we don’t seem to know exactly what those distinctives are. A well-known Baptist leader, whom I respect immensely, recently made the following statement in an email:

"I don't know of any definitive list of Baptist distinctives. I distinguish between Christian essentials (that which must be believed/practiced in order to be Christian) and Baptist distinctives (those peculiarities that we hold in distinction to many if not all other Christian denominations). Our distinctives are in the realm of ecclesiology. Certainly at the head of the Baptist distinctive list would be believers' baptism, a gathered, professing church (or the ideal of a regenerate church membership), separation of church and state (or a free church in a free state ideal) and religious liberty. We would share these distinctives with some other groups, but these have been championed by Baptists throughout our history."

That being said, I think most Baptist theologians would agree that there are approximately eight Baptist distinctives. I’ve found a number of documents supporting the following list.
1. Biblical Authority
2. Autonomy of the Local Church
3. Priesthood of the Believer
4. Two Ordinances: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
5. Individual Soul Liberty
6. A Regenerate Membership (many times referred to as a “baptized regenerate” membership)
7. Two Offices of the Church: Pastors (elder) and Deacon
8. Separation of Church and State

What do we teach and support at HHBC? Are we a distinctively Baptist church? Our Elder Council believes, and through the years, I’ve preached the following biblical truths.
1. The Bible is our authority in all matters of faith and practice. We even go on to use the term “inerrancy” to describe our understanding of the inspiration of Scripture.
2. Autonomy of the Local Church
3. Priesthood of the Believer
4. Two Ordinances: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
5. Individual Soul Liberty
6. A Regenerate Membership that is called by God to be baptised.
7. Two Offices of the Church: Pastors (elder) and Deacon
8. Separation of Church and State

The one issue we are concerned with is related to baptism. However, we are not questioning the doctrine or practice of believer’s baptism in its entirety. We are inquiring about only one of the five major aspects of this doctrine. What are the major facets of the doctrine of baptism?
1. Baptists believe that baptism doesn’t save a person and we agree completely with that.
2. Baptists believe that baptism is by immersion and we agree completely with that.
3. Baptists believe that baptism should be done in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and we agree completely with that.
4. Baptists believe that baptism is the public identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and we agree completely with that.
5. The majority of Baptists believe that baptism is a prerequisite for church membership. Our Elder Council is siding with the minority position by offering a reservation on that one issue.

Therefore, of the eight Baptist distinctives we are solidly in agreement with other Baptists in seven points. Then, when it comes to the one issue with which we have a question, we are in agreement with four out of five of the sub points. I know that everyone has the right to assess this on their own but it seems to me that we are a Baptist church.

Answer

Occasionally, someone remarks about the number of people we have at HHBC. Acutally, a person recently questioned the number. Frankly, I wasn’t sure, so I asked our church administrator, Kevin Nicolin, for the exact figures. I’m not sure why anyone would care, but since I’ve been asked, here are the stats.

Henderson Hills has 6,967 members. The Lord has blessed us with growth through the years and we have increased in attendance and membership. In fact, there was only one year, in the 14 years, in which our membership declined. In 1992 the Lord had given us 3024 souls to care for, so He has doubled our size through these years.

Every year, people do leave our church. I miss each one and wish I could do something to change their minds. I would think that after all this time in the ministry I’d get over it. Chuck Swindoll said something like, “A pastor needs the heart of a child and hide of an alligator. No matter how hard I try, I continue to fail in the hide-growth assignment. However, the percentage of departures is amazingly low, averaging about 115 a year. When that number is compared to the size of our membership, and you take into consideration the transient nature of our community, I think most people would say that the “back door” is cracked but, thankfully, isn’t wide open.

I will take responsibility for the failures and mistakes. The Lord is given the glory for all He has done. And I continue to be amazed and humbled by His work, praying constantly for Him to reveal Himself among us.