The Gospel Coalition

SESSION 14

SPEAKER: Nathan Finn, Assistant Professor of Church History and Baptist Studies at Southeastern Seminary

TITLE: Southern Baptists and Evangelicals: Passing On the Faith to the Next Generation (Audio here)

THE GIST: As both member and observer of the next generation, Finn sees the challenges inherent in cultivating a strong sense of both evangelical convictions and denominational identity among some of my peers. Finn revisited the relationship between Southern Baptists and evangelicals and then considered what it means to pass on the faith to the next generation.

BRIEF OUTLINE:

Southern Baptists and Evangelicals

• Evangelicals have defined evangelicalism in four ways. (Theological categories / Political activism / Common affinity – parachurch / Common piety)
• Southern Baptists defining evangelicalism (Southern Baptists have disagreed on a definition of evangelical)

Three ways to think about the relationship between Southern Baptists and evangelicals

1. Southern Baptists as evangelicals. (Trends among evangelicals shape us.)
2. Southern Baptists against evangelicals. (Our commitment to the local church keeps us from finding our primary identity in parachurch organizations.)
3. Southern Baptists among evangelicals (Participating in the wider world of evangelicals)

Passing on the Faith

• Catechesis: Passing on our Convictions (through preaching, discipleship programs, life-on-life mentoring, theological education, and parenting)
• Narrative: Passing on our Stories (missions, heroes)

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

Whenever we think of passing on the faith to the next generation, we better understand that many of them will not identify with some of our evangelical and Southern Baptist experiences because many of those experiences have been informed by our predominantly white, North American, and Southern context.

While we can and should cooperate with other evangelicals in a variety of worthy endeavors, such cooperation must not come at the expense of an ecclesiological downgrade that would transform us into something other than Baptists.

We must also seek to inculcate a Christian way of reading Christian Scripture, which would include reading the whole Bible as one grand narrative spanning two testaments with one Main Character, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Southern Baptists and evangelicals must also pass on what I call a “gospel instinct,” which I believe will help us to be very hesitant about aberrant doctrines that seem to undermine faithful gospel proclamation.

Authentic conversion must include repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ and must never be collapsed into repeat-after-me’s, walking an aisle, raising a hand, attending a class, or yes, even being baptized. Salvation by sincerity is not the same thing as salvation by grace through faith, and jumping through hoops will never justify anyone.

I wonder if Lottie Moon herself would be greeted with the same adulations that some Republican politicians have received at recent Convention meetings.

Baptists as a general rule have tended to assume the Trinity rather than offer robust articulations of Trinitarian theology.

Even young people who appreciate the Convention aren’t necessarily excited about it.

We must not pass on our penchant for confusing bricks, budgets, baptisms, and bottoms with the blessing of the Almighty.

Have you ever heard the old camping adage that you should leave the campsite in better shape than you found it? Southern Baptists should pass on a faith to the next generation that is even stronger than the one we have now.