andygoodliff

Baptist Ministry in Question: Reflections from 1971

As Baptists are thinking about ministry and its future and questioning of training and formation, I discover that back in 1971, a little book was published called Ministry in Question with essays by Caryl Micklem, Neville Clark (Baptist), Ernest Marvin and Alec Gilmore (Baptist). The book offers four responses to the 'crisis in Free Church ministry'. What is interesting is how similar the conversation today is to forty years ago!

Caryl Micklem questions whether there is a need for full-time professional ministry. He writes 'it is extremely doubtful whether we ought to be accepting any further candidates for "the ministry" conceived of as normally full-time'.

Neville Clark maintains that our present trouble is the obsession with making ministry relevant. He writes this:

The contemporary minister is deafened by conflicting voices, claims and expectations. There is the ecclesiastical claim ... to service the familiar structures, tune the motors and oil the wheels ... There is the secular claim ... to put [herself] at the service of human need and be foremost in charitable enterprises ... at all costs [she] is to be relevant ... There is the personal claim ... to be the hero of the faith ... [She] must count, be significant, make a difference.  

He argues that ministers reassert their understanding as one of being shaped by word and sacrament, and ends his essay with suggesting the minister is perhaps best seen as a 'clown' where 'in word and life and action they embody the crazy, incredible paradox of redemption, whispering the story to those who will listen, singing it to those who will rejoice, re-enacting it in the incongruity of worship.'

Ernest Marvin argues that the minister needs be more free to engage with the world (i.e. life beyond the congregation). He speaks of the church needing to be re-structured for mission. He says this:

The minister ... is expected to preach, to visit, to counsel, but [she] lives in a society which does not come to hear [her] preach, does not require [her] to visit, and, if it needs counselling, will go elsewhere for it.

Alec Gilmore argues that we need to 1) re-vitialise preaching and worship - taking note of new forms of communication and being more grounded in rea life; 2) simplify church structures, what we might call shift from maintenance to mission; and 3) adjust their time balance to be more involved in the community, helping people discover their vocation, offering pastoral care (without it being a cover for evangelism), and'initiating new programmes of caring or education' and be a networker between various voluntary and statutory bodies. He writes 'the minister is the one free person n the community able to adjust [her] time if [she] wills.'

Keith Jones receives Festschrift on Retirement

A generation of Baptist theologians and teachers have recently or soon to be retiring - Nigel Wright, Ian Randall, John Weaver, Roy Kearsley, Anne Phillips, Richard Kidd and Ernest Lucas. The latest is Keith Jones from his position of Rector of the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague (moving to Amsterdam soon). With retirements several have been honoured with collections of essays (or in John Weaver's case, a collection of prayers) in their honour.

Keith Jones has been honoured in this way in the last few days with a special edition of the Baptistic Theologies journal. A great collection of essays from colleagues and friends, including Ian Randall, Ruth Gouldbourne, Tony Peck, Parush Parushev and John Briggs. You can get a copy of the journal for £9 if you contact IBTS.

Baptists, Fresh Expressions and Mission

Following the announcement that the Salvation Army are becoming partners in Fresh Expressions, there was a discussion on facebook last week about why Baptists haven't also joined and should they do so. There is a lot of hope set in Fresh Expressions and it has certainly energised the Church of England and also blessed the wider church with things like Messy Church. However, I'm not overly concerned that the Baptists are not partners too. I still believe at least some of Fresh Expressions has been about the Church of England becoming more baptistic in their ecclesiology. I'm not, in saying this, suggesting that Baptists are more missional, better at mission, or doing more of it. I believe there is a lot we can learn from Fresh Expressions and the internal conversation taking place among Anglicans is one worth listening to. There are a growing number of publications, both postive and critical. (For example, on the positive side the Ancient Faith Future Mission series published by Canterbury Press, and on the more critical, the Martyn Percy and Louise Nelstrop (ed.) Evaluating Fresh Expressions and Andrew Davidson and Alison Milbank's For the Parish.)

Regardless of our involvement in Fresh Expressions, there are a number of Baptists doing imaginative and creative mission/church. For example, we could list stories of Church from Scratch (Southend), the Kahaila cafe (East End, London), the Ark-T centre (Cowley, Oxford), Revive (Leeds), the Stowe (Swindon), Hope (Newton Abbot, Devon), RE:NEW (Lode, Cambridgeshire), Jacob's Well (Yate, Bristol) and Chelmsley Wood (Birmingham). These are just a few I'm aware of.

On a wider scale Baptists have been involved in founding various more national-scale missional bodies - Urban Expression, Oasis Trust, the Light project, Northumbria Community, the Cafe Church Network, CVM, and the Incarnate Network.

There are many of us, who find themselves in churches with longer histories, with church buildings, but with a commitment to connect church and community, mission and discipleship, social action and Christian faith. 

(Side note :- Roger Standing (new Principal of Spurgeon's College post-summer) has written a new book As A Fire By Burning: Mission as the Life of the Local Congregation (SCM, 2013). I say written, half the book is a collection of stories from different authors describing mission in different contexts. What is great to see is that out of the sixteen, that eight are written by Baptists (including Juliet Kilpin, Simon Jones, Cid Latty, David Kerrigan). Perhaps this is not surprising as Roger is a Baptist, but in the plethora of books by Anglicans and Methodists on mission, it is good to see a Baptist contribution into the mix. The book is best described as a textbook or introduction to issues of mission in the local church. It doesn't do anything novel, but does draw together and summarize the conversation with regard to mission and worship, culture, disciple-making, evangelism, leadership, etc.)

Towards a Baptist Sanctoral?

The latest edition of the Journal of European Baptist Studies 13.3 (May 2013) has a short article by me that explores the possibility of creating a Baptist list of saints (a sanctoral). The article arose out of a blog conversations (also here, here and here) back in August 2011. Here's the opening paragraph:

Baptists generally do not have much time for saints. Baptists have never produced a sanctoral cycle (a listing of feast days for the commemoration of saints), although some ecclesial traditions do acknowledge some Baptists within their sanctoral. We are not likely to find Baptist churches observing many feasts outside of Christmas and Easter and possibly Pentecost. Many Baptists would look on the practice of naming and remembering saints with suspicion - it's not part of our tradition. This is partly for the good and right reason that, following the New Testament, all Christians are 'saints'. Therefore, it may be considered strange that a number of recent Baptist theologians have begun to argue in positive ways for Baptists to give some attention to those in our story we might term saints, although with certain qualifications. This partly emerges from a wider interest in rooting Baptist life and thought in a more catholic direction. This short essay is a study of recent Baptist engagements with the communion of saints and an initial attempt to develop the basis of a Baptist approach to remembering and celebrating their saints.

It may be of interest to know that Paul Fiddes, Brian Haymes and Richard Kidd have written a book on Baptists and the communion of saints that should be available within the next twelve months from Baylor University Press. (I've not read it or seen it, just know of it from Paul Fiddes).

Baptist Ministry & Conduct Unbecoming

I was wondering if we need some new guidelines for conduct unbecoming amongst Baptist ministers. Here's a few suggestions:

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to not continue to read and study theologically (Wayne Grudem does not count!)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to not make time regularly to connect with other ministers (the lone-ranger mentality)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister who does not seek to attend at least every two years Association and/or national Assemblies (these are ecclesial bodies, and by no means perfect, but as those who have a representative function as ministers and who are in covenant relationship with the Union, we should not act towards them dismissively)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister who pays lip service to being a Baptist minister (the word Baptist is not an optional extra, but fundamental to the way we should practice ministry)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to hinder/discourage any woman testing a call to ministry on the grounds of gender

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to take the title 'senior minister' (get over yourself!)

Baptists and Same Sex Relationships

A more sustained conversation has been initiated with regards same sex relationships following the session at Baptist Assembly. For some this will be long overdue. The discussion at Baptist Assembly set the tone for a generous and open conversation and the prayer must be that we will continue in that spirit.

Churches are being encouraged to take up the offer of the Union's human sexuality training - a one day workshop run by a trained facilitator which engages with scripture, theology, science and pastoral care. 

It is excellent to see that the Baptist Minister's Fellowship is organising a conversation day in July for Baptist ministers to take part in.

The best starting point, I have found, in this conversation is a sermon by Sam Wells preached back in 2004 and subsequently published in Speaking The Truth (Abingdon, 2008). Sam Wells has given me permission to make it available here as a .pdf download.

In this sermon, Wells helpfully outlines (the) four approaches taken to same sex relationships, what he terms holiness, kingdom, pastoral and liberation. He attempts to describe each approach and highlight its strengths and weaknesses. He argues that all four have a biblical basis. 

Most often the debate is between the holiness and liberation approaches, but increasingly it is the pastoral approaches that is shaping the conversation, that certainly seemed to be what emerged in the language from the feedback given at the Assembly's discussion.

Wells wants to make space for all four approaches, each with something important to offer and the important challenge is we keep talking, with an openess to listen to others.

I suggest that Well's sermon is an excellent starting point for both ministers and churches.

I've highlighted other reading material here. See also the website of Affirming Baptists.

Baptist Assembly 2013: the state of our union

So the three things I suggested everyone would be talking about at the Baptist Assembly were found to be true. 

The new General Secretary of the Baptist Union is Lynn Green (Baptist Times report here). This has been rightly described as 'historic'. The first woman to be in this position (the best comment following the news was from Glen Marshall who tweeted 'thought we'd got past the stage when the best a woman could hope for was to be a secretary'). That the vote of Assembly was nearly unanimous (only a few abstentions) surely reflects that the majority position of the Baptist Union is now fully affirming of women in ministry. Now we know that there are some within the Union who hold a different view, so was surprised that there were no 'no's' expressed. While this is a historic step forward - although for me not an unsurprising one - the full affirmation of women in ministry in all areas of local, associational and Union life has a long way to go. Equally the expectation on Lynn will now be immense, being the first woman and taking position in a crucial moment (perhaps some Obama comparisons could be made?). None of that should take away from the sense that having listened to God, we feel confident that in Lynn, we have someone with the ability to do the role. The role of course is not a straightforward one - while the General Secretary shares similarities with the Archbishop of Canterbury, it is also very different - although it is has at this point, an opportunity to develop in a new way.

The expectation around the intergenerational (all-age) communion on Sunday morning was perhaps too high. There was a sense from many that it did not do as much as it perhaps promised. It is important to note here that some of the problems were out of the hands of those planning the worship. It was unfortunate that the preacher (a decision taken by Assembly Planning Team) spoke for 18 minutes and made no attempt to engage with children or young people. While there were stations that enabled people to confess, intercede and do something arty - all good, this was the only option for the children. When it came to communion itself, it became again very wordy - and while the question and answer of why we share bread and wine was good - the invitation and thanksgiving prayer were too long and failed to connect with all who were present. Sometimes it feels that people take the opportunity to be on 'stage' with an agenda, that jars with what others in planning and leading are attempting to do. Intergenerational worship needs to be simple, imaginative and active. Greenbelt tends to get this balance well. I and many others were disappointed. While there were some good bits, it is back to the drawing board and the need for those planning a service like that to have more freedom on the whole and not just bits. 

The third area of conversation was of course around Monday's discussion around same-sex relationships. I think most people, including myself, felt this was handled very well. There was some good scripted conversation opening up the issues and then space for a range of voices to be heard view feedback from small group discussion. The session didn't try to over-reach itself by doing too much, it was in many ways an initial conversation starter, and permission to have wider conversation, now. The Union last debated issues of sexuality in a plenary session in 2002. What emerged again perhaps reflect that many Baptists Christians are less dogmatic and fixed in their views regarding same-sex relationships, than say ten years ago. Most find themselves wanting to be 'accepting', but struggling with how we read Scripture and the teachings of the Christian tradition. Stephen Keyworth's comment about what we believe about marriage was a very important one. I would suggest that both church and society perhaps have a high-view of marriage, but a thin understanding (at least theologically) of what marriage is and means. As Baptists we need more Christian theological ethicists (good to see Michael Peat's Whitley Lecture as an example) to help us.

I have written about twitter and worship before and its use during Assembly confirmed my issues with it. At times the twitter feed became a running critical commentary on the plenary sessions. Reminds me of Dom Joly's guy with a big mobile phone in an art gallery or lecture standing up and shouting that it's 'crap'. None of it very edifying. (I course think there needs to be critical response, but there is a time and a place, a tweet during worship seems to be neither). The other kind of tweet is the kind that says this is the most wonderful, amazing, brilliant moment ever. Neither seems to be an aid to enabling people to worship God. I fail to understand why it is encouraged during sessions.   

On this blog and others, the Baptist Union comes in for a lot of comment, BMS rarely gets a mention, so it was good to talk with Neil Brighton about some of our experiences with BMS, both the positives and negatives. The relationship between churches and BMS is shifting, as much as it is between churches, associations and Union, and it will be interesting to see how this develops. BMS continue though to get all the good headlines and they do impress in their creativity (See Catalyst Live) and video presentations.

A final note is about the President and desire to see the out-going President being given more opportunity to feed back into Union life on what they have seen, heard, been encouraged by, concerned about. The tendency is to give a quick 5-min slot, to say how wonderful everything is, and I would be interested to hear a broader report on the state of our Union from someone who has been able to a take a snapshot of both associational and local church life. This would give the Presidency more importance as a means of speaking to and listening to our Union life. So Chris Duffett if you read this, what have seen, heard, been encouraged by and concerned about - the latter being the one, often not given space for.

What Will Everyone Be Talking About at Baptist Assembly?

It is the annual Baptist Assembly for BUGB and BMS:World Mission this weekend. I would imagine there will be three talking points over the weekend on twitter.

1. A new General Secretary (following Jonathan Edwards stepping down) - while we are not expecting smoke to appear from the chimmeys of the Norbreck Hotel, Blackpool (who needs St. Peter's Basilica!), a name is coming to a special meeting of Baptist Union Council on the Friday afternoon, with the possibility of being affirmed by Assembly on the Saturday. No idea who the person is, but I imagine there will be lots of conversation about it.

2. A second attempt to do an all-age communion on the Sunday morning. This was tried two years ago with mostly positive feedback. I imagine people will be talking about it over Sunday lunch.

3. A public discussion on the Monday morning about the guidance to ministers with regard to civil partnerships. This is not looking to make any decisions, but a space for Assembly delegates to contribute to a consultation, with the issue being revisited in more detail at Baptist Union Council in November. This is being faciltated by new President, Ernie Whalley, who has experience in peacemaking and conflict resolution - will probably need it!

In addition to these three points, there are a number of proposed changes being made to the BU Constitution, which may provoke some debate - the changes are the result of the Baptist Futures process, and so about a small Council, the new National Steering Group, the creation of three Specialist Teams (Ministry, Faith and Society and Shared Services), and a job description for General Secretary. 

At to top it all, there will be plenary addresses from Ernie Whalley, Malcolm Duncan, Dianne Tidball and Joe Kapolyo, and various afternoon seminars.

Baptism

It's been a while since I blogged. Preaching on baptism today, inspired by Paul Fiddes' paper 'Baptism and Creation' (found in Reflections on the Water or Tracks and Traces). Below is something of a sermon summary.

Creator God you
Gave life at our water birth.
For some the labour was short, for others it was long;
Your Spirit throughout, the midwife of our new beginning

Holy God you
Washed us clean in that sacred bath,
Cleansed us of our sin and shame,
Scrubbed us with your grace detergent
Blessed us with love and righteousness

Saving God you
Rescued us from these deathly waters,
In which we came to die
That in Christ we might live again
Free
To walk your way and sing your song

Beckoning God you
Called us;
The water that we walked through
a wardrobe to a new country;
now citizens of heaven,
Pilgrims on the road,
Living in two ages,
With a new language
For head and heart and hand

Reviving God you
Filled us with living water;
That restores our soul,
That gives life to our living
And faith for our future.
We have drunk of your Spirit
The gift and seal of your promise
And presence.

Baptists, Ministerial Rules and Interpreting Scripture

The conversation around Steve Chalke's article shows no sign of abating. Various comments can be found in the comments section of the relevant Baptist Times articles (here and here) and Malcolm Duncan has suggested in a new post that this might be the beginnings of a new Downgrade controversy. 

Most of the conversation on the BT website is around the issue of the clause in ministerial rules for accredited Baptist ministers that says

Ministers are expected not to advocate homosexual or lesbian gential relationships as acceptable alternatives to male/female partnership in marriage.

The claim by some (many?) Baptist ministers (and others) is that is un-Baptist because it is only ministers who are bound by this rule. Local churches through the church meeting can discern differently to this position, but ministers themselves cannot.

A few comments in relation to this:

1. This clause is not as recent an addition as it seems to be inferred by some. It has been present in the ministerial rules since the late 1980s/early 1990s according to Ian Randall's The English Baptists of the 20th Century (p.515). The current rules were adopted in 2001.

2. The inclusion of this rule, rightly or wrongly, is much harder to remove. This must be acknowledged and recognised.

3. Ministerial rules in general are a positive feature of our life. Ministry in the Baptist Union is something that has validity beyond just the local church and therefore it is to be in a different kind of relationship. Accredited ministers represent the Baptist Union. Here the stumbling block is our impoverished theology of ministry.

Malcom Duncan's post and other comments point us to the issue of hermeneutics. The cry from some (many?) is 'Surely scripture is clear on the matter of homosexual relationships. There is no discussion to be hard. Attempts to justify otherwise have all been found wanting.'

A few comments in relation to this:

1. The recent collection of essays on Baptist hermeneutics, especially the contributions by Helen Dare and Sean Winter (see also his earlier 2007 Whitley Lecture), I think can be of some help, as this debate/conversation continues. If you've not read it, I highly recommend it.

Helen Dare, argues that Baptists always read scripture 'in the fray' (the phrase comes from Walter Brueggemann, with whom the paper is in dialogue with), with 'a constant stream of discernments and negotiations to be made'. This is because there is no higher authority, apart from Jesus Christ, to refer to. This involves risk, but also opportunity.

Sean Winter similarly argues that all interpretation of the bible involves disagreement. Winter develops an understanding of the church as a community of friends (grounded in an understanding of covenant), which gives space for the church to read and interpret scripture and find disagreement, and diversity, but which need not be destructive.

2. What is scripture? I fear too often we work with a knee-jerk understanding of scripture as similar to a Haynes car manual (the example John Colwell often uses), which suggests scripture is a straight-forward, simple text, which requires no work (the Holy Spirit's or otherwise) to read it. Primary for us is that our trust and authority is in Jesus Christ - which means we need help to read scripture and live according to it and its testimony is one that is not closed, but open and ongoing - 'there more light and truth to break forth from God's word' (see Sean Winter's Whitley Lecture and Anthony R. Cross's paper in the Brian Haymes festschfrit Questions of Identity)

3. As I suggested in my earlier post, I think, most Christians, find themselves at neither extreme of complete affirmation or complete disavowal, but caught in the middle. I said on another occasion that the conversation needs to go beyond the bible - simple exegesis will not get us anywhere - but we need to explore a wider thelogy of personhood, sex, marriage, etc. We need to do more to listen to and understand why those in favour of affirming homosexual relationships have come to this position and in the best cases the argument is more than just one of equality and liberalism (see the likes of Eugene Rogers, Rowan Williams, David Matzko McCarthy) and at the same time, we must pay attention to the work of Oliver O'Donovan and Christopher Roberts, who want to raise concern/questions. To put it another way we need to have a much better informed, open and generous conversation rather than the fairly dismal one we often get.

4.If there was to be a new Downgrade on how we read scripture it would be a failure of relationship and trust in our being Baptist (and probably because we given not enough time to theological reflection that is worthy of the name 'theological')