What makes Baptists a distinctive people?” Tony Campolo asked.
Campolo, professor emeritus of sociology at Pennsylvania’s Eastern University, headlined the annual meeting of Mainstream Alabama Baptists held Nov. 18 at Spring Hill Baptist Church in Mobile.
The widely known author and social justice activist addressed about 100 people on what it means to be a Baptist.
First, Baptists are holistically evangelistic, Campolo said. Baptists come from an evangelical tradition, he noted. “We want to see people come to Jesus Christ as Lord.
“Jesus wants to save us,” Campolo said. “By His grace He delivers us. On the cross He took away the punishment for our sins.
“Dying to me is not a remote possibility any longer,” he said, noting he had a stroke this year. He said those who die in Christ will awake to live in a heavenly Kingdom.
But Campolo pointed out that Jesus’ prayer said, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” He said Christians must address issues in the world.
He said that as of this past July, there were 13 million orphans in Africa as a result of the AIDS crisis there. By 2010 it is estimated there will be 40 million orphans in Africa. “We will be judged by how we treat the poor and oppressed,” he said.
Campolo, who has helped establish schools and universities in several developing countries, said, “People must be treated with dignity. Be agents of change in the world.”
Campolo said Baptists have always believed in the separation of church and state.
Referring to faith-based initiatives, he noted that governments have found out that churches do a better job of social service programs than the government does.
But he pointed out dangers come when the government offers help. When churches accept money from the government to do social work, religious activities have to be separated from the social work.
“I don’t want social ministry separated from evangelism,” Campolo said. He noted that in European countries where the government subsidizes churches, individuals have reduced their contributions to the churches. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” he noted. So churches will lose spiritual support, he said. “When the government giveth, the government taketh away.”
Local church autonomy
“We [Baptists] believe in the autonomy of the local church,” Campolo noted. He said the Holy Spirit guides ordinary people to learn great truths from the Bible. “Truth comes not from the top down but from the bottom up.” Campolo said surveys reveal that the most spiritual people in the United States are poor people. Each local church can hammer out its own theology, he said, adding, “We can teach and learn from each other.”
Campolo concluded, “We [Baptists] believe in missions. He said, “It is the real mission of the church: to make the world that is into the world as it should be.”
(TAB)
Share with others: