Being Baptist in the 21st Century: Series Introduction

By Nate Akin

What does it mean to be Baptist? It’s a good question to revisit even though it’s been answered. We often assume our convictions, especially if we’ve grown up with them. We need to make sure our convictions align with the New Testament and God’s ideas for ordering His church. We are Baptists because we believe Baptist theology most faithfully represents the New Testament and so reexamining the Scriptures from time to time to both affirm and confirm our convictions is a worthy practice. In addition, this is a good exercise so that we can pass on our convictions to those we disciple and explain why we order our churches in these ways. 

In light of this, we are beginning a series on Baptist distinctives entitled Being Baptist in the 21stCentury. We have asked a group of mainly younger Southern Baptist Pastors to answer what it means to be Baptist (insert joke about what is considered young in the SBC). This series will consist of blog posts and podcast interviews as we both identify the distinctives biblically and consider the challenges of being Baptist in the 21stcentury. 

As we begin this series, it is important to note that many denominations hold to several of these distinctives (i.e., many denominations hold to Believer’s Baptism by immersion). This is not surprising because they are biblical distinctives. What distinguishes Baptists is that we hold all of these together and that these distinctives as a whole have historically marked Baptist churches. 

Where we are headed in Being Baptist in the 21stCentury:

  • Intro Podcast with Nathan Finn on Baptist Distinctives
    • Part 2 will release next week 
  • Regenerate Church Membership (Nathan Rose) 
  • Believer’s Baptism by Immersion (Clint Darst) 
  • Congregationalism (Dave Russell) 
  • Local Church Autonomy (Dave Russell) 
  • Soul Competency (TBD)
  • Religious Freedom (TBD)
  • Lord’s Supper (Nate Akin) 
  • Church Discipline (Josh Wredberg) 
  • Two Offices in the Church (Matt Diaz) 
  • Cooperative Missions (Steven Carne) 
  • People of the Book (TBD)

We hope you will join us for this series!