Four hundred years of Baptists

Trevin Wax is attending and liveblogging a conference at Union University about "Southern Baptists, Evangelicals and the Future of Evangelicalism". All of the sessions are linked here. A few of the speakers and what Wax identifies as the "gist" of what each had to say:

• Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, "Denominationalism: Is There a Future?"

Ed Stetzer made a strong case for denominations. He believes denominations are valuable tools for churches on mission. Denominations will persist into the future because churches on fire for the Great Commission find they have to cooperate. The kind of denominations we hope to see in the future are theologically orthodox, methodologically diverse, and in service to local churches.

• Jim Patterson, Professor of Christian Studies at Union University, "Reflections on 400 Years of the Baptist Movement: Who We Are. What We Believe."

"Baptist history is messy, which means that you can’t reduce it to a single integrating theme (like “freedom” or even “distinctives”). Our history is interwoven with narratives of other groups and movements. We must avoid excessive pride and triumphalism when we commemorate our history. Our forebears were fallen, just like us.

• Timothy George, Dean of Beeson Divinity School, "Baptists and Their Relations with Other Christians."

Timothy George delivered a message from Jude. He made a case for rejecting creedalism, while emphasizing the value of creeds. He balanced the need for the faith (objective, divine revelation), my faith (subjective, personal trust) and the church’s faith (corporate, public witness to the gospel).

Trevin Wax provides notes expanding on each of his summaries. This is interesting material and Seventh Day Baptists can profit from it. I found Patterson's material on the historical experience of Southern Baptists often overlapping with or paralleling our own. There is also an audio link for the first lecture and may soon be for all. Once again, the page that links to all of the talks.

Ed Stetzer: Denominationalism – Is There a Future? : Kingdom People, Jim Patterson: Reflections on 400 Years of Baptist Movement : Kingdom People, Timothy George: Baptists in Relation to Other Christians : Kingdom People