Baptist `distinctives'

by   Alan Day                                                                                                                                                    Vol. XV, No. 4, April 2002

In 1946, the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention published a "study course" book titled, Baptist Distinctives. The author was W. R. White, denominational statesman, leading pastor, and university president. The burden of the book is that there are distinctive Baptist doctrines which churches and pastors must teach their people.

"A doctrineless people will soon become a directionless people. They have no anchorage and no sense of direction. They are without guidance .... A doctrineless people is a spineless people. They have no great convictions to put strength into their characters. They have no principles for which to fight. They do not know what the controversy means. They have no criteria or canons for evaluation. They do not sense the dangers or the issues involved. Therefore, they are supine and soft and easily succumb" (pp. 67-8).

We have been told recently that we now live in a "postdenominational age," and that people are not interested in the brand on the marquee. They are attracted to churches which "meet their needs," not to denominational labels; so the name "Baptist" on the sign or letterhead is unimportant.

But what we must not forget in these discussions is the issue of truth. In fact, can we say with conviction that Baptist churches have stood historically for truths that were either neglected or opposed by those of other persuasions? Our fathers believed that. Our seminaries used to teach that (I believe they still do); and our Sunday School Board used to inculcate that truth consistently.

What is at stake is not the name, "Baptist." I will not now get into the debate over whether it is ethical and proper for a truly Baptist church to remove the name "Baptist" from its signs and printed materials. What needs to be said is more basic than that. Baptist churches need to teach Bible doctrine, and they need to emphasize in particular those doctrines that have distinguished us as a people.

Along with this doctrinal teaching, we need to remind 21st century Baptists that they are part of an incredible heritage of which they can be especially proud. But they will never have the benefit of that knowledge or the joy of that wholesome pride if churches do not teach these distinctives.

Baptists are part of what theologian Bernard Ramm called "the Evangelical heritage." We are evangelicals – but with a difference. Let us celebrate both the common doctrinal convictions which Baptists share with other evangelicals, and let us also "remember not to forget" those beliefs which distinguish us as a unique people.

[Alan Day is pastor of Edmond, OK, First. Reprinted from the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, 11 October 2001.]