Democratic Congregationalism, A Seventh Baptist Distinctive in Peril

Today, we are pleased to present part one of this essay which will be presented in two parts. After part two is published, the entire essay will be available on the resource page in .pdf format, and a post dedicated to discussion of the issues raised by Dr. Yarnell will take its place on this page.

by Malcolm Yarnell, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Theological Studies, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Baptist Faith and Message has become a flashpoint since its careful revision and overwhelming affirmation by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000. Especially difficult for some sectors in our convention have been the articles on the church, the ordinances, and the Lord’s Day. This chorus of discontent with Southern Baptist distinctives has been gaining more proponents making ever bold pronouncements. Our forefathers would find it incredible that the biblical doctrine of the church they defended so ably and against great odds is now under assault by their own descendants! This turn of events is partially explained by the fact that the doctrine of the church has been largely neglected by Southern Baptists for at least the last fifty years. The resultant ecclesial amnesia has encouraged a growing body of evangelical ecumenists in our ranks. “Unity” and “bridge building” are now the preferred mottos of some prominent Baptist leaders, in both the churches and denominational entities (at state and national levels).

Six examples indicate the widespread and growing challenge to Baptist church distinctives, including those explicitly defined in our confession. First, even before the confessional revision, the restriction of the pastoral office to men has been contested by evangelical egalitarians. Second, in more recent years, an increasing number of churches, especially those desiring closer ties with other Calvinists or less-inhibited “church growth,” have either contemplated dismissing or have outright dispensed the requirement of Christian baptism for church membership. Third, the ecclesial nature of baptism has been fiercely denounced, even by elements within the International Mission Board. Fourth, the restriction of the Lord’s Supper to those having received Christian baptism is also denied, including by a prominent missionary. Fifth, the International Mission Board’s decision to limit the hiring of new employees to those who truly believe that baptism means the old life has been permanently buried (i.e. that salvation is permanent) is continually challenged as “a narrowing of parameters,” a gross misstatement of the historical record. Sixth, the confession’s statement regarding the universal church has been widely misinterpreted, typically by confusing the fictional invisible church of Reformed dogma with the eschatological visible universal church of Scripture.

These problems have received a great deal of attention at the popular level, although only a few scholars have weighed in on the matter. Much of the discussion has generated more heat than light. This is unfortunate because a thorough, thoughtful, and respectful discussion regarding these important matters might help Baptists rediscover and retain biblical ecclesiology. Hopefully, such a discussion will occur sooner rather than later, for we are succumbing to the attraction of worldly ways of “doing church.” To put it metaphorically, the barbarians are no longer at the fortress gates, they are already occupying the city walls and are busy about the task of systematically stripping the Southern Baptist Zion of its protective biblical polity. Indeed, as has been eloquently pointed out elsewhere, those pastors and theologians who believe in maintaining biblical ecclesiology are often caricatured as “Landmarkists” while their ecumenical opponents are glibly described as “irenic.”

Leaving aside this lesser but important problem of politically motivated and misrepresentative word games, one particular challenge to biblical ecclesiology that has yet to receive much popular attention has been the peril to the Baptist tradition of democratic congregationalism. The Southern Baptist confession is quite clear that we are democratic congregationalists in our polity, but that belief is now under consistent if not widespread assault. It is this seventh Baptist distinctive in peril today that I have been asked by the Biblicists at SBC Today to address. Perhaps the best place to begin the discussion is with the convention’s interpretation of scriptural church polity. Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message states clearly:

Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord.

[To Be Continued...]