The famous church historian, Kenneth Scott Latourette from Yale University, was once asked why he was a Baptist. “I am a Baptist,” he replied, “by inheritance, inertia, and conviction.” Some of you could join me in giving the same answer. We were born into the family of Baptist people and over the years the inertia of this beginning has kept us in a Baptist church. But what about our convictions? Emily has been teaching us about these Baptist convictions over the last few weeks as we have learned from Buddy Shurden’s Four Fragile Freedoms and from Bill Leonard’s sermon last week that called us to a renewed passion in our Baptist witness. Both of these men were my church history professors in seminary, and their teaching helped to shape my convictions.
The convergence of inheritance, inertia, and conviction came into clear focus for me the week that I turned 35. In August of 1990, 3000 Baptists gathered in Atlanta for a Convocation of Concerned Baptists. After more than a decade of denominational battles, the group who gathered wanted to do something different. Instead of political denominational fighting, we wanted to cooperate for the sake of missions, theological education, and congregational support. An Interim Steering Committee was selected at that meeting and was charged with forging some next steps for this group. By the following spring, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship was officially born.
I was chosen to be on this Interim Steering Committee. Suddenly my Baptist involvement had moved beyond just inheritance and inertia! My convictions were put to the test. What kind of Baptist was I going to be? The answer would shape the rest of my ministry.
On the inside of the wedding bands that Jane and I wear is the verse from 1 Corinthians 3:9, “for we are laborers together with God.” Those words are a part of our marriage covenant, but they are also what my convictions are about how churches and individuals can work together in a larger denominational family. We must cooperate to be able to do more than we ever could do as a single church. This cooperation does not mean that everyone in the denominational family of Cooperative Baptists agrees on all matters of theology and practice. In fact, if we truly embrace those Four Fragile Freedoms, we will come to different conclusions in our different churches!
We do not have a united voice of consensus, but we do have a freedom-based desire to work together in cooperation to send missionaries around the world, to train future leaders in theological education institutions, to provide resources that will strengthen congregations and cause them to thrive, and to be an advocate for people who are not experiencing the justice of God. Our church is an active participant and a valued leader in this movement of God known as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and for that I am most grateful.
“Inheritance, inertia, and conviction” are what started me on this road we call Baptist. But now I am no longer a young 35-year-old. I am more interested in the legacy I can leave behind than what I can inherit. I want to invest in a church and an extended Baptist family who will enrich the lives of my grandchildren – and their grandchildren! I am so thankful that First Baptist Church on Fifth in Winston-Salem is a beloved community where freedom is cherished and nurtured and where cooperation with other Christians and churches is seen as essential as we strive to live out our vision of “bold love and boundless compassion” for all.