Barnabas File

This is the birthday of American theologian H. Richard Niebuhr, author of   Christ and Culture , one of my favorite books.     I came across this quote from Niebuhr that is particularly helpful for 21 st  century believers: “The great Christian revolutions came not by the discovery of something that was not known before.  They happened when someone takes radically something that was always there.” Our Christian tradition is so much richer than most of us realize.  Faithful men and women through the centuries have found innovative ways to communicate the Gospel by discovering and acting upon truths that were already present. Some of this creativity is certainly the result of the work of the Holy Spirit but it also comes when faithful believers come together to address a common task. Receptive activists have rediscovered the truths that were always there.  Walter  Rauschenbusch didn’t discover social justice at t...

Every year our church’s Denominational Relations Committee leads a month-long emphasis on Baptist heritage. The approach each year is different, but the point is to remind us of who we are as a Baptist congregation.   Someone asked this year, “Why talk about denominations in a post-denominational age?   Aren’t we beyond all that?”   The answer would be “Yes” and “No.” To understand what we mean by post-denominational, we must consider how we use the term “denomination.”  If you are talking about judicatories, conventions, and bureaucracies when you use the term “denomination,” then we are well on our way to being post-denominational in the United States.  Even in churches that embrace a connectional or hierarchical approach to church government (Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, etc.), less attention is being paid to what the “denomination” (read national leadership and governing bodies) decides and what a church as a local expression of that...

Seven people have served as coordinator of the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in its 20 year history—Lloyd Householder, Bill Junker, Monty Jordan, Lila Boyd, Don Dixon, Terry Maples, and myself. Three of these friends have gone on to be with the Lord during the past year—Lloyd, Bill, and Monty. Last night at the 20 th anniversary meeting of the Tennessee CBF General Assembly, I had the opportunity to lead the congregation in a time of remembrance for these three leaders. I was privileged to know all of these men and call them friends before they became part of the CBF movement.  I first met Bill Junker when I was a college student.  We later became colleagues in collegiate ministries, and he asked me to write my first published work for The Student magazine.  Lloyd Householder, an innovative and creative communicator for Baptist causes, was also a committed denominational statesman who tackled big projects like Mission 70, a young adult conference that...