Baptist Ideas: Covenanted Communities

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Paul Davison

Martin Sutherland

The call to Christians on earth is to live out, to make visible, the Kingdom of God. Faith is not merely a matter of some spiritual transaction which has taken place over our individual souls but includes the mission of the church, which is to declare to the universe what God is bringing about.

However, this mission is risky, as it involves values and standards which stand in conflict with reigning orthodoxies and power structures. To be a Christian, to be a follower, is to place oneself in the train of Jesus – if necessary to suffer as he did.

For Baptists, the act of baptism is the declaration of this risky discipleship. But it is more than just the individual shouting to the world “look at me”. Baptism is something done to you, not by you: the Spirit and the church community are also intimately involved. The Spirit, because this is an empowered calling. The church, because in the act of baptism, the individual becomes part of a group, a band of disciples bound together by a new covenant.

That sense of covenant is crucial. Membership is not merely a symbol of spiritual connection to Christ. It is membership of this community, these people. Following Christ must take flesh. It will result in real decisions, real action, real commitment to real people. The local covenant was taken very seriously by our Baptist forebears. When a church was formed in Cambridge, N.Z. in 1881, the first members agreed “by the help of the Lord to watch, in love, over one another, seeking each other’s good, bearing with each other’s weaknesses and by every means in our power endeavouring to promote the glory of our common Saviour, and the salvation of precious souls.” This was no club, existing merely to provide a means of boosting individual spirituality. Together they would “watch...over one another”, because it was by such mutuality that Christ would be glorified.

So Baptist membership stands in some tension with a society in the midst of a well-publicised “crisis of belonging”. Surely we can’t expect postmodern free spirits to submit themselves to the scrutiny, the “watching”, of the group, can we? Actually we can, indeed we must. There is no New Testament model of faith which doesn’t include self-giving love for others, a new community. In any case, the individualism of postmodern generations is often overstated. We hear just as much of the “search for connection” (sometimes even described as a new tribalism) in which people display intense loyalty and commitment. All the same, there is no ground for complacency, or an unthinking insistence on old ways of doing things. Mere forms have little currency. The crisis of belonging demands that church communities be authentic, genuinely covenantal. They must be active sites of changed lives, not merely lists of names.

Baptism and Membership

So, with all this at stake, what is the relationship between baptism and membership? From one end the answer is clear enough. Baptism into discipleship implies in its very nature a commitment to a flesh and blood community of Christians. Baptism and entry into membership should ideally be simultaneous. But what about the other end of the equation? Is adult, full immersion baptism an essential prerequisite for membership of a local church? This is troubled turf. Baptist churches in N.Z. have argued for decades over “open” or “closed” membership. Angels fear to tread on such ground, but, being no angel, I’ll give it a go.

The nub of the issue is not infant versus adult baptism. Unless we are to attach some sacramental value to the act of baptism (and I have argued we cannot - infant or adult, it doesn’t matter), then an involuntary event with no adult decision carries no weight in terms of covenantal membership. What does matter is evidence of an adult choice to follow Christ – even to death if necessary. How is this evidence to be found? The history of the church is testimony to the view that the symbolism of full immersion baptism provides the best possible declaration of discipleship. But it cannot, in the end, be held to be the only way.

Local churches should be free to welcome into membership any who will demonstrate their choice to follow Christ and their commitment to the community of his body. Truly Baptist thinking will be prepared to look beyond form, to substance. It’s not a matter of water, it’s a question of discipleship and no group of disciples can be justified in denying fellowship to one who is clearly walking in Christ’s footsteps. Yet for all that, such cases will be rare. Adult baptism is the best sign of the decision to follow and should remain the norm.

Radical discipleship will be comfortable with both open membership and a celebration of believers’ baptism. To be “closed” over form rather than substance is not “following” at all. It is not dynamic, but static - imprisoned in a web of rules. On the other hand it makes complete sense to seek a powerful sign of commitment. That’s not exclusive, it is merely to welcome fellow pilgrims in the way of Christ.