fear of the word "Baptist"

If I were to plant a church, I would not include the name "Baptist" in the name. Here is my rationale

1. It means nothing! There are Reformed Baptists, IFBers, Liberal Baptists, Free-will Baptists. Having the word "Baptist" means very little.

2. There is no advantage to having the name Baptist in the name. There are too many stereotypes you have to battle. I would rather set my own views.

3. A true Baptist is known by doctrine, not by merely a broad label.

Thus, I would not include the name Baptist in my church name.

 

The last church I Pastored, we used the Trinity Hymnal.

In my Southern Baptist Church I pastored, I wanted to jettison Lifeway from our church. I used a variety of literature from a variety of sources. Some in our church wished to keep the literature, but I encouraged people to find other literature. This church still had "Baptist" in the name. I am not a fan of Lifeway Literature.

No, but I also was never a fan of exclusively using the Cooperative Program. I supported other mission endeavors from other sources.

No, but I do not exclusively have ties with them. I had ties with other organizations too. Granted, my associations with the Associations, State Convention, and National were all much more limited than other associations I had with other people. I had associations with non-Baptists and Baptists.

I clarify according to my doctrinal statement saying that I hold to the 1689 LBC or that I am a Reformed Baptist. I rarely say that I am just a "Baptist." I met Baptists who deny the trinity, I would not want to be associated with them. Instead of muddy the waters with a vague word like "Baptist", I would rather be specific in what I do believe.

I would not let someone join until they went through a new members class in which we explained what we believed and who we are. If someone would join my church without knowing, it was not because we "hid" our associations. We also stated that while we support Southern Baptist projects, we were supported many other organizations. Yet, just having "Baptist" on a sign does not tell them you are Southern Baptist, it tells them you are "Baptist". It does not tell them if you believe the Bible, or if you are charismatic. For some reason Southern Baptists in the South seem to point that since people have "Baptist" in their name then they must be SBC. I find that narrow-minded. Rather, just calling yourself a Baptist does not clarify anything.

No, if you have the word "Baptist" or not, you have to tell people what you really believe and why you believe it. You also have to tell people what your church is about. All Baptist seems to tell people, as Spurgeon noted, is that you believe in immersion. I would rather tell people what I believe and let them know it first hand, rather than assume they know it by what the sign says.

If you think your sign tells people what you stand for, then you are making a grave error in your assumptions.

 

Bob,

I agree. In my area there are three types of churches: Liberal, Charismatic, legalistic. There are some exceptions but when I mention "Baptist" in our town, it could be everything from an American Baptist who believes homosexuality is okay, to a Southern Baptist who thinks Rick Warren is king, to an IFBer who thinks my alma mater (Liberty University) is a liberal University (I disagree with Liberty on many issues, but they are not liberal).

I think it is legalistic by some in their litmus test of using "Baptist" in the name. Rather, we should examine their doctrine, we should not examine their sign.

 

I'd rather have Baptist in my doctrine and off the door than on the door and not in the doctrine (most Baptist churches today).

 

Don't always be so sure. The issue is not the name on the shingle or how many programs they have, but who is living for Jesus Christ because of their life.

 

way to go, yo !!

 

who said that if you change your name you are seeker sensitive? I see a growing number of churches who are anti-seeker sensitive who also reject the Baptist name. Would Charles Spurgeon or John MacArthur be considered seeker sensitive? I know a church plant in our area where the name "Baptist" is not used. They, too, are not seeker sensitive. They just don't like the baggage of the label "Baptist."

 

We have not dropped the name Baptist from our sign. We have talked about it. Why? Because in our area many see the word Baptist and think bigots, narrow mindedness, intolerance and the taking of ridiculous stances on issues that are not considered as religious issues by most of the general population. Why? Primarily because of the news that has come out of SBC conventions and pronouncements by those perceived at SBC leaders.

Will we drop the name? I doubt we will.

 

I did not have a clue what a Baptist was except that I had a friend whose dad was a Baptist pastor and I seldom ever heard anything good from him. When we were in our senior year and talking about what we wanted to do and where we we decided to go to college I asked him if he planned to be a pastor. His immediate response was one of disdain for being a pastor. That was my only introduction to Baptist and would not go to a Baptist church anywhere until I took a job in Texas. Until I had a positive expereince with Baptists it had always been a negative one in my mind.

I grew up in a nominal religious home and many times heard about the rants from Baptists when my parents were growing up. I see that it has not done any good to bring them closer to God and knowing Christ personally.

 

Yes well that is true of any church, and you can only find out those things by attending for awhile. But at least with SBC the preacher has probably been to Southern Seminary, you know what type of missions they support (no Heifer International, no pro-choice rallies), that kind of thing. And you might even get to hear traditional hymns now and then if you're lucky.

 

It isn't just a baptist thing.

At least not in the American southwest.

Nazarene churches "refocus" and take the name Nazarene off the sign.

Methodist churches "refresh" and take the name Methodist off the sign.

Assembly of God churches are doing it. So are the Presbyterians.

 

If I remember right in the past year the SBC said that less than 1/2 of the pastors have been to seminary. The number is going down too. The push now is for pastors to be bivocational.

 

I don't know where you are getting that information. By means of seminary education going online, the push is to get training into the hands of more and more non-seminary trained pastors.

 

Many churches in our rural area do a great job of getting people through the doors, they have cute advertising campaigns, a rock concert every Sunday, they entertain the kids and play lots of games. In fact the previous pastor for one of these churches went out west and at his new church wanted to do Beer & Bibles, for a study group at a bar. The War of Truth is what we are fighting in these days.

I could care less what the name on the building is if the church teaches and preaches the Bible, and only the Bible. For me this is a specific Bible but that is another post for another day. Secondly, the church has to be focused on salvation. This two tiered approach is what each and every church should be, in my opinion.

I have attended many churches and in our area only the Independent Baptist Church provides this approach. Many can claim they do but their preaching does not when compared with Gods word, meet the test.

I am not suprised that many churches don't preach the Bible any longer, the Bible tells us: But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Just my two cents. Good to be on the board.

 

Cross Pointe Church Norman OK

http://www.crosspointe.tv/

Services Sunday Morning:
8:30 - Vintage (Traditional)
9:45-11:00 - Modern
11:00 - Overdrive!

Moved out to the edge of town with lots of parking spaces from the "first courthouse" district of a city of 100,000. The pastor is the same (he still preaches all three services). Downtown the church was called Free Will Baptist Church of Norman Okahoma.

A search of 'Baptist' on an Adobe news-letter indicates no word 'Baptist" used. The old plant is now occupied by "Southern Oklahoma Chinese Baptist Church" (which used to meet in the building of the church to which I belong). The change was good: from about 250 members to 5,500!

The headquarters and college of the Free Will Baptist Denomination is located in the same town -- well, in the no-man's land between our town and the town north of us.