Guest View

Soul freedom and the New Baptist Covenant

By Aaron Weaver

This article is the second in a three-part series in the run up to the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in 2008.

Just 100 years ago, Baptist minister Walter Rauschenbusch, the father of the Social Gospel Movement, penned a series of five brief articles titled “Why I Am A Baptist.” Rauschenbusch wrote: “We may be Baptists by birth, but we must become Baptists by conviction. ...I began by being a Baptist because my father was, but today I am a Baptist, because, with my convictions I could not well be anything else.”

Like Rauschenbusch, I too am the son of a Baptist minister. And like Rauschenbusch, I was also “born” a Baptist. But even after experiencing the coercion and forced conformity of fundamentalism firsthand, I remain a Baptist because of my convictions. At the heart of those convictions is what prominent early 20th century Baptists, E.Y. Mullins and G.W. Truett, referred to as “soul competency,” and James Dunn dubbed “soul freedom.” Walter Shurden has stated that soul freedom is the “stackpole around which Baptist convictions develop.” In the words of Rauschenbusch himself, “The Christian faith, as Baptists hold it, sets spiritual experience boldly to the front as the one great thing in religion.” Indeed, if there is one tie that binds us Baptists together, it is our belief that each person has the freedom, ability, and responsibility to respond to God directly without a human mediator. No priest. No bishop. No magisterium. And definitely no spiritual masters.

United around this bedrock principle of soul freedom, a diverse group of Baptist leaders representing more than 20 million Baptists were brought together by President Jimmy Carter on April 16, 2006, to reaffirm voluntarily their commitment to historic Baptist values like “sharing the gospel, promoting peace with justice, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and poor and promoting liberty and respect for religious diversity.” With not a small bit of courage, these Baptist heroes vowed to work together to create an authentic and genuine prophetic Baptist voice in North America.

A promise was made and a promise was kept. And because of that promise made good, more than 20,000 Baptists from across North America will converge in January at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, Ga., for the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. This historic three-day display of Baptist unity will hopefully usher in an era of unprecedented cooperation between Baptists. Lord knows we need it!

For nearing 400 years, Baptists have engaged in endless battles among themselves. Recent decades of fighting fundamentalism has left the Baptist witness severely fractured and needing to be fixed. By uniting thousands of racially and ethnically diverse Baptists together in fellowship and worship, the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant is a first step toward healing. The Celebration will provide a much needed opportunity for Baptists in North American to follow Christ’s command in Matthew 5:24 to “... first, be reconciled to your brother or sister ... .” With the world watching closely, we will show that evangelism and social justice are but merely different sides of the same missional coin. We Baptists whom have found freedom in Christ can not neglect one for another.

As a young Fellowship Baptist, I hope that the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant will rekindle pride in our legacy as a Christ-centered people, committed to soul freedom, who can cooperate and unite amidst our diversity. Our commitment to an unfettered conscience means we support religious freedom for all. And when we see that all must be free to respond to God, we cannot neglect the conspicuous social implications of the Gospel.

— Aaron Weaver, a graduate student at Baylor University and former intern at the Baptist Joint Committee, writes for his blog at www.thebigdaddyweave.com.