What is a Baptist Church?

Baptists share so many traits in common with other churches but there are some unique differences. Then there is a broad spectrum of practices and flavours among Baptist churches around the world and in Australia. So how do we describe the Baptist DNA?

B

You’ll be right to think that Baptists practise baptism or more precisely believer’s baptism (usually by immersion). We conduct services of blessing for children, with gratitude for the child and the dedication of the parents to the role of parenting but we also believe that when we are mature enough we need to choose to follow Jesus and this step is usually celebrated in the act of baptism.

A

Baptist churches are autonomous or self-governing, meaning we don’t have Archbishops, Popes or Generals telling us as a local church what to do, how to worship and who can serve as our leaders. In practice, the affairs of each congregation is worked out in church members’ meetings that decide on the life and work of each church. More importantly we believe in the principle and practice of association-learning from and working with other churches and people of goodwill.

P

We don’t have priests who are certified by virtue of their ordination to do the real religious work but we practise the priesthood of all believers. This means we recognise that all people have gifts and we seek to encourage people to discover and exercise ministry. We do believe in the importance of training and being better equipped to serve. We have pastors who are trained in pastoral leadership. 

T

The Lord’s Supper, ‘communion’ or the ‘Eucharist’ is a meal we celebrate to remember, through ordinary yet vivid symbols (bread and wine) and drama the centrality of our faith in the life and death of Jesus Christ. We choose to have this meal on the first Sunday of the month and we do this in the context of a shared evening meal.

I

Individual freedom is something that we value as the freedom in following Jesus sets us free from a religion that is heavy on rules and regulations. The early Baptists fled to Holland because they suffered the persecution and oppression of the state church in England. They believed that as a local church they should be free to worship as they decided the Scriptures taught them, without the outside imposition of Prayer Books, Orders of Service prescribing how to worship and operate. Since their beginnings, Baptists have opposed tyranny and political oppression. They have called governments to stop interfering with people’s religious convictions and ensure that people are not persecuted or discriminated against on the grounds of their convictions. Baptists have called for complete religious freedom believing that faith is only genuine if it is a free choice of each individual.

S

Baptists believe that the Scriptures are the word of God and thus they seek to be ‘people of the Book’, reading and studying the Bible when they meet for worship and encouraging regular reading of the Scriptures for each person. A local congregation looks to the Scriptures for its authority and seeks the illumination of the Holy Spirit to give understanding and application.

T

Baptists have championed the practice of tolerance, believing that as each church studies and interprets the Scriptures they may well come to different convictions regarding theological issues, ethical matters and political viewpoints. This tenet of tolerance doesn’t mean that anything goes but as each believer and church studies the Scriptures and reflects on its application, they must be free and will thus exhibit a rich variety of expression.