Core Convictions and the Baptist Way

After a day at the Baptist Assembly, I see more clearly the value in affirming three core convictions at the heart of being baptistic Christians. These are summed up as:

• Christ centering
• Community Discerning
• Disciple developing

But I also see how important it is to stand away from two forms of absolutism.

Firstly, we must guard against the absolutism of personal power. Where authority and decision is centred in an individual. This is not the apostolic way. Christ teaches us to listen and to love. To hear His voice through serving the other in humility. Through discovering the authority of the relational community.

Secondly, we must renounce the absolutism of abstract idea or opinion. Theological truth is always incarnated in the story of human life. Truths predicate practices. To contrast our ideas to those of another without comparing journeys through life, and seeking to learn from the other, is sheer arrogance.

These are insights I treasure and want to inform our very essence in affirming what is good in being baptists Christians. I look forward to another day at Assembly!

Vision in Community

It was gratifying, in a good way, to see that the majority of people who went to the introductory Time Bank meeting at the local High School were from Bristo. Listening to the Community workers and people present, it was interesting that three types of people were identified as resident in the Inverleith area. The materially wealthy, professionals and the elderly. These indicators point to a specific category of poverty - loneliness and isolation.

Here is the question for us, as we are located in this area of the town. How do we meaningfully minister to people in this area, with this type of poverty? Some of our Fellowship are burdened by ministering to others groups of poor. One vision I have for Bristo’s future is the establishing of Community Houses, where a catalyst group can live together, inviting others to ‘come to church’ among them. This is very much the pattern of New Testament churches. Out of a group of such small House Church meetings, the larger congregational unit is sustained. We see a baptist congregation like this recently planted in rural Aberdeenshire. This may well be the way forward for Bristo. An alternative and a compliment to other forms of church in the city.

'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life'

Those who seek to reduce Christianity to a set of ‘truth claims’ are unwittingly committing an act of blasphemy. To claim the possession of truth is to claim power over others. The disciple of Christ is not called to a position of power, but to a place of weakness and humility. We make no claims about our ability to possess truth. Rather, we seek to be possessed by truth. We bow in acknowledgement before Jesus Christ and submit to Him, as He declares Himself to be Truth. We look to and for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to enable us enter His path and pursue His life.

When Jesus calls us to embrace Truth, He does not invite us to own propositions which make us feel superior to others. Instead, He invites us to embark on a journey along His way. He calls us and draws us into living His life. Faith, as Jesus Christ invites us to embrace it, is to embark on a journey of purposeful participation in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ Himself. It is about being drawn into Him. To be fundamentally changed in what we seek to get out of life and, consequently, put into life.

As Christians, we do should not seek to stand in a position of power over others, through claims to secret knowledge or special revelation. We do not want to claim that our understanding is complete or final. But we do acknowledge that, in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, we see the One we want to invest our lives in. And it is this investment into participation in the life and ministry of the One who declares Himself to be the Truth that we stand for and invite others to enter into.

The Bible is a book of rich diversity. It is there to help us see more and more of the richness of who Christ Jesus is. To change us and shape us. The Bible is like a doorman issuing us into the doorway. And then to enter into it. So do not imagine that you, my friend, are ever able to possess truth. You can only bow down in wonder and then rise up to follow the one who has declared Himself to be the Truth, the Light of the World.

What's the point?

Ryan Gladwin, our assistant pastor and a research student in theology, said something that stuck with me when preaching on Sunday morning. He spoke of a church that undergone renewal and a visitation of the Holy Spirit in South America. There was much phenomena. Then someone asked, 'What's the point?' And from then on, people were not prayed for unless they were seeking to be intentional about the Christian life.

We must remember that Christ alone is the gateway to knowing the Trinity. We canot speak of the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit unless we first speak of Christ. In Him the Father's full likeness is met with. He is the Word Incarnate, the Son of God. He pours out the Holy Spirit, and to Him the Spirit testifies. There is no true knowing of Father, Son or Holy Spirit without facing up to Jesus Christ.

And here's the point. Jesus Christ, the harbinger of the Kingdom, is the pursuer of an ethical focus. It is about justice. Care for the poor. Reaching out to real people. Unless we grasp that the meaning of our life is found in and through such loving relationship and motivated intentionality, there is no meeting with the real God. There is only false ecstasy and delusional fabrication.

But when we pursue the path of Christ? Then let the power of the Holy Spirit come!