Bill Wilson, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dalton, recently announced that his church in Georgia was aligning itself with the Baptist General Association of Virginia. It follows First Baptist Church of Rome, Georgia in making that decision.
Last year, NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma aligned with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Baptist churches are increasingly giving priority to philosophies of ministry and cooperative mission strategy over creedal and geographical boundaries when reviewing their denominational affiliations.
3 comments:
Perhaps this will evolve into something like the American Baptist "regions." Even those have become less geographical as a result of the ABC controversy over inclusion/exclusion of GLBT folk. Some geographical regions of the ABC have dismissed congregations belonging to the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (AWAB) whose member congregations invite GLBT folk in without demanding celibacy (or inquiring after their monogamy more than they would for "straight" folks), and other regions--sometimes geographically distant--have offered them a home.
I kind of like churches to be in fellowship within geographical areas, including churches that don't all think alike. But contemporary technology is making other arrangements far less difficult than previously.
You know me, Bruce, I get what they are doing, but at the same time, it's sorta like this rule that you can only cheer for the team that is in your back yard. I'd love to be a Red Sox fan, but I've never lived in MA. I've lived in TX/OK, so being a Texas Ranger fan seems more legitimate. I get more news about them, watch their minor league team play up here in OKC, that sort of thing. The ethos of the Red Sox is more compelling than that of the Rangers, I admit, but that's not where I live.
I wonder if there isn't a similar challenge to where we are church. We gotta be church where we are. I understand that aligning with distant conventions enables us to support world-wide ministry with folks we hold more in common with ideologically, but there always remains the challenge of being the church local and partnering with local folks, however that gets done. Admittedly it's a challenge around here.
Go Redhawks!
I can understand why people might want to partner with different agencies, other than the traditional/geographical ones they are used to. Current technology already makes it easy for me to make affinity relationships, across all sorts of boarders and boundaries.
Not only will people start to partner with like-minded people across state lines, but I believe that we'll do it for a whole host of other reasons as well!
It really does seem that the world is becoming more flat. Younger generations are becoming more wordly (and I don't meen that in the bad sense), knowing people from across national boundaries via technology. Churches can now do what only conventions could do in the past. Things have got to change, especially the larger institutions. Or else, they will be left swinging in the wind..with a lot less funds at their disposal.
Tim
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