The church we’ve been attending has changed its name from Baptist Church to Bible Church. It has also changed its denomination: it now takes out an ad under “Nondenom-inational” in the local paper.
But we’re kind of hesitant to jump on board and toss aside the Baptist distinction without a good reason. Read “Trail of Blood” or any other Baptist history book to find out why. They’re called Baptists for a reason and they’re distinguished from every other denomination for a reason.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t good New Testament churches with nondescript designations: community church, chapel, bible church, etc. It’s one thing if you’ve always been a Bible Church and are still baptistic in principle. But I’m a little leery of a Baptist church that wants to stop being Baptist in order to intentionally become something more vague and innocuous.
We were told, “Baptist doesn’t mean anything anymore.” But does “Nondenominational Bible Church” clarify anything? Wouldn’t every denomination say they believe the Bible?
The problem with “nondenominational” is that it doesn’t mean a single thing…or it can mean everything. It’s a Rorschach ink blot. It’s like saying your college major is “Undeclared.” But I guess that’s appealing to a lot of people.
Are we wrong to think this whole change is somewhat odd?
But we’re kind of hesitant to jump on board and toss aside the Baptist distinction without a good reason. Read “Trail of Blood” or any other Baptist history book to find out why. They’re called Baptists for a reason and they’re distinguished from every other denomination for a reason.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t good New Testament churches with nondescript designations: community church, chapel, bible church, etc. It’s one thing if you’ve always been a Bible Church and are still baptistic in principle. But I’m a little leery of a Baptist church that wants to stop being Baptist in order to intentionally become something more vague and innocuous.
We were told, “Baptist doesn’t mean anything anymore.” But does “Nondenominational Bible Church” clarify anything? Wouldn’t every denomination say they believe the Bible?
The problem with “nondenominational” is that it doesn’t mean a single thing…or it can mean everything. It’s a Rorschach ink blot. It’s like saying your college major is “Undeclared.” But I guess that’s appealing to a lot of people.
Are we wrong to think this whole change is somewhat odd?
No comments:
Post a Comment