1 - The Primal Shaping Processes of the Global Baptist Movement

Summary

Dreams for a life that is new and better (however a particular Baptist group might define that) characterize the global experience of Baptists more than any other single set of qualities. Baptist identity has been marked less by a commonly acknowledged body of valued traditions preserved from the past than by the power of dreams to forge the future. Over their history, Baptists, individually and collectively, have been guided by a wide variety of dreams. Among them was the dream of freedom to worship without external coercion; the dream of liberty to study and apply the Bible as conscience, knowledge, and reflection might dictate; the dream of freedom to organize and govern themselves in churches free of ecclesiastical and governmental interference; the dream of liberation from human enslavement; the dream of freedom from cultural discrimination in the formulation of belief and practice; the dream of being trusted as true servants of the common good and not as enemies of the people in socialist regimes; the dream of deliverance from gender bias in religious and communal life; and the list could be continued in extenso.

The foregoing Baptist profile highlighted Martin Luther King Jr. as an exemplar to the global community of Baptist dreaming. He also demonstrates another aspect of the Baptist experience – living a dream is not easy. Power holders tend not to like dreamers, for power holders prefer to keep things as they are. Dreamers, however, like to think revolutionary thoughts. They hope for a new way, being unwilling to accept the hopelessness of things as they currently stand when injustices prevail. Inspired by the Bible, faith traditions, courageous leaders, and the unacceptable situations of the societies in which they have been located, Baptists have been people of many dreams. Sometimes those dreams have clashed with one another. Too often some within the Baptist family have assumed positions as power holders seeking to ossify their own dreams into structures that would enslave or deny the dreams of others, even those of fellow Baptists. During such times, Baptists have entered into conflict with one another as competing dreams have struggled for expression.