appointed a Baptist missionary, which led to the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845.
Baptist educational history is replete with institutional contributions to social transformation. Brown University in
Rhode Island was cited as the mother school of the elective system of courses, which allowed for a greater degree
of specialization, the brainchild of the school’s fifth president, Francis Wayland. Missionary Baptists established
schools to train American Indians, the premier of which was Indian University in Oklahoma, later Bacone College.
In multi-lingual Montreal, Quebec, the finest religious library in the British provinces was supported by generous
English Baptists in the first half of the 19th century, and in the same era, the Baptists of the Annapolis Valley in Nova
Scotia, excluded from the provincial university of Halifax, commenced their own academy to become fully-chartered
Acadia University in 1838 and one of the first schools in Canada to admit female students.

POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION

Baptists have made significant contributions in transforming political cultures. What began in 17th century
England has continued around the world. Baptists stood against the prevailing cultures and institutions where such
institutions attempted to interfere in spiritual matters, yet maintained a healthy allegiance to social order and human
progress. “Two political doctrines emerged from this context: religious liberty and its corollary, the separation of
church and state,” said Brackney. Closely related to the principle of individual soul freedom is the autonomy of the
local congregation. John Locke demonstrated his indebtedness to Baptists in describing churches as voluntary
associations, as voluntarism was at the seedbed of a new understanding of religion in mid-century England.
The separation of church and state emerged powerfully in the North American experience. The 19th century
witnessed the internationalization of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Baptists in Europe,
Asia, Africa, and Latin America influenced new institutions and brought about democratic reforms.
There is a list of individuals whose names are synonymous with Baptist political transformation such as Lott
Carey, William Carey, and the Judsons. The formation of the Baptist World Alliance in 1905 has as one of its stated
objectives, the pursuit of religious liberty. Three Baptist groups (the Southern Baptist Convention, the Northern
Baptist Convention and the National Baptist Convention) united to support the American Baptist Bill of Rights which
asserts religious liberty as an inalienable right which is indispensable to human welfare. Religious liberty is the first
and most basic human right and the implication is that Baptists are among the leading Christian voices in the area of
human rights.
However, the irony is that Baptists have themselves been resistant at times to the prevailing political culture,
which they have helped to create; and, at other times, have resisted the democratizing forces they themselves were
at the forefront of producing.

FACTORS IN BAPTIST CHARACTER THAT LEAD TO TRANSFORMATION

The Bible is an important resource in the transformation of the Christian community. Scripture clearly teaches
direct accountability to God. The Bible, for Baptists, represents a constantly transforming text. The scriptures are
replete with instances where persons are called to new life in Christ, transformed patterns and attitudes, and bold
sacrifices. Baptists are by their nature activists: it is part of our sense of vocation. The priority of religious experience
explains why Baptists at their best are transformers.

THE CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR A TRANSFORMATIONAL PEOPLE

When one considers the oppressive political regimes that characterize Central Asia where non-Christian
religious leaders deny Christians the right to worship, as well as similar circumstances in Myanmar, Thailand, North
Korea, China, and some parts of Africa, it is clear that the challenges ahead are looming.
Christian transformation also lies in the response we can make through the BWA and the Global Christian
Forum to the trafficking of human beings. “The United Nations estimates there are 12.3 million persons held in
forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, and sexual servitude.” In 2008, “800,000 persons were trafficked
across national borders against their wills, 80 percent of whom were women,” Brackney said.
“We are called to be God’s free people to transform the world,” he concluded. “It is part of who we are. Let us be
faithful.”
(William Epps is senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California, in the United States, and
is a member of the Baptist World Alliance General Council, Executive Committee, Communications Executive
Committee, and the Congress Program Committee.)
PHOTO: William Brackney from Canada gives the main lecture during the “Baptists and Transformation” forum at
the Annual Gathering

OCTOBER/DECEMBER 2009 17
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