𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀?

J.H. Spencer Historical Society – Facebook

10h ·

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀?

Last week, Dr. Matthew Barrett, who served as a professor the past eight years at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, announced he was leaving the Baptists and becoming an Anglican. This is not a rare occurrence. A few years ago, Jared Longshore left a leading role with the Southern Baptist Founders Ministries to become a pedobaptist. It seems that the average Presbyterian, Anglican, or Orthodox congregation is full of former Baptist church members. Why are so many Baptists today leaving their denomination and abandoning their doctrinal beliefs? Baptist history gives us some insights into this issue and a solution to the problem.

From the forefront, we need to realize this is a new issue. Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, untold multitudes joined the Baptists from other denominations. Former pedobaptists such as Adoniram Judson, Luther Rice, John Gano, N.M. Crawford, A.C. Dayton, and Stephen Ray became great leaders among the Baptists. During that same period, you can nearly count on one hand the significant Baptists who left for another denomination, it was so rare an occurrence.

Today things have flip-flopped. Large numbers of our members and even preachers are leaving the Baptists. This begs the question, what changed? What was present in earlier centuries that is missing today? Some have contended that pedobaptist theologians are better today than they were in the past. Yet this is not the case, as earlier days had Archibald Alexander, Robert L. Dabney, A.A. Hodge, Charles Hodge, J.H. Thornwell, B.B. Warfield, etc. No, the difference is not among the pedobaptists but among the Baptists.

This brings us to the root of the problem as well as the solution. Baptists are no longer teaching their doctrinal distinctives, nor are they aware of their spiritual heritage. Very little doctrinal preaching exists in our churches. Adding to this problem is the fact our own preachers no longer read old Baptist writers but instead devour the works of ancient and modern pedobaptists. This has been going on for several decades. It should not surprise us to see droves of Baptist church members leaving. We are reaping what we have sown.

So how can we fix the problem? First, we must begin teaching Baptist distinctives in our churches. Here the words of J.N. Hall, founder of the West Kentucky Baptist Association, are helpful: “𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦.”

While this was done years ago through sermon series, Bible institutes, conferences, fifth Sunday services, discipleship training, etc., it has largely gone by the wayside. May it be revived today as we begin teaching our doctrinal distinctives plainly, regularly, and passionately in our Baptist churches!

Second, we must begin reading Baptist authors again. Too many people have never read another historic Baptist author besides Charles Spurgeon. This was not the case years ago. In 1860 the Tennessee Baptist declared, “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥.” The works of men such as John Broadus, B.H. Carroll, A.C. Dayton, J.M. Frost, Andrew Fuller, J.B. Gambrell, J.R. Graves, Joe T. Odle, J.B. Moody, and J.M. Pendleton need to be rediscovered today. Thankfully their materials are readily available in various formats.

These two simple things – a revival of doctrinal preaching and the reading of old Baptist books – can make a huge difference in stopping the exodus of people leaving our Baptist churches today. As we do the work of the ministry, let every Baptist pastor not forgot to “𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴.” Jude 3