Baptist Roots

Good Morning,

Many years ago, there were godly, fundamental folks in any number of churches: Baptists, Methodists, and many others.  From early American history, the Protestants were the ones with colleges, money, and church philosophy resembling their formal roots – Catholic and Church of England.  Although many were fundamental and preached the Gospel– they were far from Baptist.  Groups split off, and the Bible church movement began fostering Community Churches, the Bible Institute movement, and other non-denominational groups.

Baptists also had some divisions: the Northern Baptist and Southern Baptist split, then the Northern split into GARB and CBC (General Association of Regular Baptist and Conservative Baptist). The more conservative, relaxed Baptists in the South also had their divisions. In time, the World Baptist Fellowship, the Bible Baptist Fellowship, and other similar groups were also formed.

Each group had its own personality and appearance, as we do in our families.  Our family has a high percentage of Norwegian blood- and it shows.  Most of us have intermingled, but the point I am trying to make is that our roots appear in how we look and even how we act.  

In North Carolina, Shubal Sterns and the crowd of colonial-era Baptists were relaxed and loud. They had a variety of names put on them because of their shouting, audience response, and lively singing.  Far from their Northern counterparts who had more formal services - the Southern Baptists also differed in church planting and soul winning.  It is said that within a hundred years of the founding of Sandy Creek Baptist Church (1755), one thousand other Baptist churches were started.  

The North had more industry and colleges, and thus had a more educated populace – even the Baptists. The Southerners were more of a “live off the land” type of people; schools were rare, and the preaching was loud and exciting.

Among Baptists today, seeing our roots is not difficult, although we are half a century away from our identity’s origin. Northern Baptist offshoots have a more formal church service, a more teaching-style of preaching, and perhaps sing choruses more often than a church whose roots are in the South.  

If I may make some casual observations:

The more educated – the more sedate the service

The more formal the service – the less soul-winning

The more relaxed the service – more vibrant preaching, more common to see the poor among the audience, and more common to see converts baptized.

Some churches with southern roots have sought the more sedate and, perhaps, more educated circles of those in the North.  It makes a difference! 

I am concerned that our Independent Baptist colleges are seeking seminary-style teachers, who love to exhibit their scholarship. Topics are being taught in our Independent Baptist classrooms that never would have been tolerated in the Southern-style Baptist churches in years gone by. Colleges and seminaries have always been the root of compromise and complacency.  I am not against education, but the style of education found in the traditional North is far different from that in the traditional South.

Some of our young people in churches whose roots are in the South refer to the preaching being “mean-spirited.” The strong, forceful, preaching of those whose roots are southern is ridiculed by the more sedate who want an acceptable kind of church service - one that fits in with the social elite. Those with Southern roots will tell you, that the social elites never fit with Southern-style Baptist preaching and church services.

The worship service of today is not new, it has simply been borrowed from those who came from Protestant roots.  The “Pastor/Teacher”  is not new; it is rooted in the Northern style of Baptist Church in history. I happen to be Norwegian, and I look that way, at least a little. My spiritual roots are from those relaxed, loud, exuberant Baptists in the South. I am not embarrassed about who I am. I assume, that when you spend any time at our church, you will notice that we definitely resemble those folks from the past.  

If it matters, those with Protestant roots were the first to stop preaching the Gospel and to embrace theological liberalism. The Northern Baptists were next to fall in the area of soul separation and theologically conservative values. Those with Southern roots are certainly not exempt from compromise; but the southern roots are less formal service, and a smaller emphasis on education has preserved those southern churches a little longer than those in the North.

We may be a little rough in the pulpit - it is our heritage. On occasion, we may stomp our feet, raise our voices, and be a little offensive in our relaxed preaching style - it is who we are. Through the years, God has blessed these roots. It is they who have stayed the straightest when it comes to Bible-believing Christianity. Nice people tend to give, to bend, and to compromise.

One more element shows from our spiritual DNA: we are not very concerned about what people think of us. This new generation of safe space, “me first,” and “be kind” mentality does not impress the solid Bible-believer. The crowd of Southern preachers who hung their gerunds and dangled their participles also preached holiness and got folks saved.  

I am concerned that our Bible colleges are trying to turn our young men into nice, educated, smooth-talking reverends.  The process resembles an effort to turn my children into Italians or Puerto Ricans - that is not what we are!  We are Norwegian. I am concerned that the “be nice” spirit that enables a neighbor to go to hell without one warning is creeping into the minds of our young Baptists.

Our Bible says we are to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort” with all long suffering and doctrine.  This exhorting will not always be nice. The relaxed, loud, old-fashioned services with the in-your-face kind of preaching, are often the churches who are seeing people saved, baptized, and serving God in the ministry. The great commission is not to have nice, warm, and fuzzy church services. The great commission is to go, preach, baptize, and teach people to obey God.  I, for one, will cling to my Baptist Heritage - the loose, loud style of casual preaching, singing, and praying in church.

Pastor