Featured The Baptist Name

The biggest cause of confusion: many Baptists are not aware that True Baptists are not rooted in the so-called Protestant reformation of the Catholic church. True Baptists have never been a part of Rome. In fact Rome has persecuted them fiercely, to the death, for not bowing to the pope. The reformers have not been their friends either.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Bro. James

 

Concur. Good post.


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Even the Catholic Church has internal turmoil especially after Vatican II.

Baptists unity (fragile as it is) centers around the Baptist distinctives.

When I move or go on vacation "Baptist" is the focus of my search for worship and fellowship.

It does narrow the field.

HankD

 

The name Baptist covers wide and diverse traditions, doctrines, and practices.

Differences of perception about what a Baptist represents are quite prominent between different geographic areas and between rural areas and metropolitan areas.

#1 - Baptists are not particularly denominational.
#2 - Baptists are not particularly traditionalists.
#3 - Denominations and their names come and go, we're not devoted to the name but to a Person.
#4/5 - Doctrine is important to those that believe them - it is our convictions that draw us together.
Perception is important to those outsider who we want to draw in.

When the name Baptist become associated with contrary doctrine and practices the choice become to fight to preserve a traditional name or to create new associations.

The choice to use or not use the name Baptist is a local decision based on many different factors.

Rob

 

There are many ways to be upfront and honest. I know of many churches which do not put Baptist in the name but place on their sign something like "Member of Southern Baptist Convention".

Churches with names that only speak to the membership are inward focused churches. I like Paul's attitude to those outside the church I Corinthians 9:19-23

wow, there are two informal fallcies going on here first the black and white fallacy and then the begging the question fallacy.

We are witnesses of Jesus not Baptists

There is a time and a place to make sure people know what our doctrine is. The name Baptist on the sign out front does not tell anyone which doctrines we hold to. Most people do not know what Baptist doctrines are. The sign is not the answer but it can begin with a new members class. There are many other options.

I would say the op is the worst argument I have seen to date on this issue.

 

The thought is that the non-believing general public hold a negative view of Baptists. Some of this view, I suppose has been earned, but the godless left has presented plenty of negativity toward Baptists to bolster their anti-Christian agenda. Many churches, as part of their outreach strategy, have changed their name to "non-denominational names" such as Atlantic Coast Church.

The wisdom of the change should be in the pudding, what was the growth pattern in the four years before the change and in the four years following the change.

 

Unifying to the denomination, yes. Unifying to people of other denominations, people who grew up in other denominations but no longer attend, or the unchurched? No.

Disagree. And how would the writer know this anyway?

When will this start to happen? Denominational names were beginning to be abandoned in the late 70's. That's 40 years ago. I don't see other taking their place. What new denominational names have cropped up? For example, is Calvary Chapel a denominational name?

No, recognition of Jesus as the Son of God and belief in him as resurrected Savior is our testimony. Doctrine is dogma.

Agreed. I would prefer that churches use the term Baptist as an identifier. But really, all I can expect for sure is that they baptize believers by immersion and believe in a symbolic Lord's Supper.

 

World History and Church History have been seriously skewed by the so-called holy see.

Much of what is presented as Church History in the Catholic Encyclopedia is filled with Vatican bias, not necessarily based on a preponderance of evidence. Remember the Holy Catholic Church controlled the world for many centuries--still does in many areas.

Several people have tried and failed to reform Rome from within, several have tried to reform Rome from without. How does one reform apostasy from within or without? Rome is either who she claims to be or she is an apostate usurper. Her claims are either valid or invalid. It cannot be: all of the above. If Rome has the authority to ecclesia, then all others are without authority. All should bow to Rome. If Rome is the usurper, she is invalid and so are her daughters--for the same reason. See "Death by Three Horns."

Denomination is an overused Romish word--mostly to identify those who have tried to reform Rome. True Baptists never tried to reform Rome. They have never been a part of Rome.

This is not about a name, but rather a faith and practice. Check out the doctrines of baptism and Lord's supper in light of infant baptism and open communion. This separates the wheat from the tares in a sense.

What would one expect to find taught in a place with the sign: Grace Bible Baptist, Landmark, Missionary, Fundamental. The name can say a lot--especially for those who are not ecumenical.

Jesus asks: "Why do you call me Lord and do not what I say?" See Luke 6:46.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Bro. James

 

rlvaughn: I know of many churches which do not put Baptist in the name but place on their sign something like "Member of Southern Baptist Convention".

Or (more likely as I have seen) "SBC" in very small letters that easily could be overlooked.

 

Maybe it's just me and my Jersey personality, but I like to fly my colors high up on the mast. I believe in full disclosure.


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If someone is leaving out the word "baptist" to hide who they are then that is dishonest and not what a Christ centered church should engage in. However, there are a plethora of reasons not to include Baptist in the name not all of which include hiding who one is.

 

There were no denominational titles found in the New Testament because there was no need to distinguish them from any other denomination as there were no denominations to be distinguished from.

The genitive case was the normal case used to describe the churches "of Christ" and it was designed to convey personal possession by God.


However, "the Baptist" is a Biblical descriptive noun for a type of ministry, method and message from which the New Testament congregation at Jerusalem was composed. Mark states that the ministry of "John the Baptist" was the "beginning of the gospel of Christ" (Mk.1:1) rather than part of the Old Testament Law covenant or a transitional ministry. Instead it was the foundational ministry that supplied Christ with the proper materials to form the first New Covenant congregation (Acts 1:21-22).

The descriptive definite noun "the Baptist" was not the birth name of John, but was given to him by the Holy Spirit to describe his message, mission and method. His message was the gospel of Christ (Jn. 3:36) that announced the kingdom in the person of the king which was his mission. His method was to immerse believers in his message and then disciple them and thereby made them a people ready for Christ to form his congregation. This very same ministry, mission and method Jesus continued (Jn. 4:1-2) and then commissioned the very same ministry, mission and method in the Great Commission (Mt.28:19-20) that looks forward to the next coming of the King with a physical kingdom.

 

I believe the name of the church should be understandable and or relevant by everyone. If its not then maybe a name change is in order.

 

My church was founded 51 years ago, at a time when Dr Lloyd-Jones was calling churches to come out of liberal, compromised denominations (that included the Baptist Union) and form an alliance of independent evangelical churches. My church's founder was a retired Baptist pastor who was influenced by Lloyd-Jones, and although it has always held to believers' baptism by immersion, he did not want to include the name 'Baptist in the title, partly because there were already two Baptist Union churches in the town, and partly because he wanted to draw people of all denominations, especially Anglicans, to the church.

So the church started its life as 'Exmouth Independent Evangelical Church' but that's a bit of a mouthful and folk tended to call us 'Scott Drive Church' after its location. So about 10 years ago the decision was made to call it just that. We are the church in Scott Drive and we welcome everyone who loves the Lord Jesus to come and join us. When we have had Anglicans or lapsed Roman Catholics come and join us, after we have taught them the Bible for a while, we have had no problem in getting them to see that they need to be baptized according to Scripture