Thoughts following actions of the Southern Baptist Convention barring churches that employ women as pastors

It will probably surprise many external observers of Southern Baptists--and probably many contemporary internal participants in Southern Baptist life as well--to learn that while there are no liberals in the SBC today (contrary to what the ultra-conservative faction of today's SBC alleges), once upon a time there was a genuinely progressive stream of Southern Baptist life before it was expunged in a two-decade-long effort than began in earnest in 1979 to wrest control of the SBC away from those whose Baptist respect for the freedom of congregations and consciences had made space for a variety of ways of being Baptist to coexist and cooperate in a common commitment to participating in the mission of God in the world. This genuinely progressive stream was never a majority, but it fully participated in the denominational life of the SBC. It embraced critical approaches to the interpretation of Scripture when others shunned them. It worked for racial justice when others defended segregation in both society and church. It ordained women to the ministry and called them to serve as pastors when others did not. This stream may have been diverted from the SBC, but it did not dry up. It continues to flow elsewhere--in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (my own Baptist communion), in the Alliance of Baptists, in the American Baptist Churches USA, and in denominational traditions beyond Baptist life that have received refugee Southern Baptist members and ministers as ecumenical gifts to their own church life. I am grateful that I have been able to serve as a theological educator in partner institutions of theological education associated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in which that stream continues to flow. And I am proud of the many women I have had the privilege of teaching in those institutions who are now serving as faithful ministers. May God continue to bless their ministries!

New book--Seeds of the Church: Towards an Ecumenical Baptist Ecclesiology

My new co-edited book Seeds of the Church: Towards an Ecumenical Baptist Ecclesiology, co-edited with Teun van der Leer, Henk Bakker, and Elizabeth Newman, is available from Cascade Books. Here's a description of the book from the publisher's site:

The landmark World Council of Churches convergence text, The Church: Towards a Common Vision (2012), which has the potential to become this generation's Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (1982), invites the churches to envision how their own distinctive visions of the church might have a place in the global church's imagination of the ecumenical future. Seeds of the Church: Towards an Ecumenical Baptist Ecclesiology is a collaborative effort by members of the Baptist World Alliance Commission on Baptist Doctrine and Christian Unity to respond to this invitation. This book contends that the distinctive Baptist ecclesial vision is best embodied in twelve core practices of Baptist churches and their interrelationship: covenanting, discerning, gathering, befriending, proclaiming, equipping, baptizing, discipling, caring, theologizing, scattering, and remembering. Seeds of the Church opens a window on what is possible when Baptists engage with people of other Christian traditions in the exploration of the common heritage of people belonging to the one household of faith. The global Baptist theological voices represented in this volume offer it as a reading of an ecumenical text in a Baptist key that paves the way for ecclesiological renewal--among Baptists and in the whole church to which they belong.

Here is the book's Table of Contents:

Foreword

Neville Callam

Preface

Teun van der Leer, Henk Bakker, Steven R. Harmon, and Elizabeth Newman

Chapter

1 A Response to The Church: Towards a Common Vision

Baptist World Alliance Commission on Baptist Doctrine and Christian Unity

2 The Baptistic Ecclesial Voice

Teun van der Leer

3 Covenanting Churches

Paul S. Fiddes

4 Discerning Churches

Henk Bakker

5 Gathering Churches

Jan Martijn Abrahams

6 Befriending Churches

Lina Toth-Andronoviene

7 Proclaiming Churches

Ruth Gouldbourne

8 Equipping Churches

Uwe Swarat

9 Baptizing Churches

Anthony R. Cross

10 Discipling Churches

Marion L. S. Carson

11 Caring Churches

Frank Rees

12 Theologizing Churches

Amy L. Chilton

13 Scattering Churches

Daniël Dros

14 Remembering Churches

Elizabeth Newman

Endorsements for Seeds of the Church:

“Seeds of the Church provides ample evidence that Baptists understand themselves best as they engage in relationship and dialogue with others in the worldwide Christian church. But this is no theoretical exercise. The strength of this book lies in its critical reflection on various actual practices of Baptist ecclesiology and how these can contribute to, and be enriched by, a growing ecumenical consensus around the rich concept of the church as koinonia. I warmly commend it.”
—Anthony Peck, general secretary, European Baptist Federation

“This fine collection of essays represents an intriguing Baptist contribution to ecumenical dialogue, namely, beginning with a recent ecumenical convergence text and following its emphases through the lens of traditional Baptist commitments. The beauty of this collection lies largely in its consistently receptive and generous tone and a posture geared toward giving and receiving as opposed to merely comparing and contrasting. Those of us from neighboring free-church traditions have much to learn from these thought provoking and inspiring essays.”
—Jeff Cary, Lubbock Christian University

Seeds of the Church may be ordered from Wipf and Stock/Cascade Books or via Amazon.