a life-changing encounter with Christ through the Holy Spirit. For them, baptism is a symbol bearing witness to an event that has already happened. For others, conversion and baptism are two parts of a single event, even if they are separated in time. As a result, for these persons, the event of baptism takes on greater significance. Put differently, the affirmation that

What Baptists Believe ABOUT BAPTISM

By Neville Callam T

The following are excerpts of a lecture by BWA General Secretary Neville Callam at the 8th Annual E. Glen Hinson Lectures at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky on February 29.

he following is a rough characterization of how Baptists generally understood baptism at the end of the 20th

century: First, Baptists continued to emphatically assert that conversion baptism best

expressed the teaching on baptism that is found in Scripture. While some were hesitant to administer believer baptism to persons baptized as infants, they were, however, unwilling to relativize their understanding of believer baptism by regarding infant baptism as an exact equivalent of it. Second, while firmly teaching conversion baptism, most Baptists refused categorically to believe that churches that administered both infant and believer baptism were not churches in the true sense of the word. Nor would they claim that persons baptized as infants were not members of the body of Christ. This is the typical ecumenical embrace that Baptists display, but which some may be tempted to deny if they hear it being labeled ecumenical. Third, Baptists had diverse views on the sacramentality of baptism. Some continued to claim that baptism is administered to persons who earlier experienced

to the content of BWA programming, but instead to the way the work of BWA is organized. Indeed, BWA’s table of accounts was adjusted to fit into the perceived new structure. In this perspective, form trumps content and method supersedes focus. Until we secure a theological grounding for BWA’s existence, and therefore

its

mission, we will not succeed in articulating a reason for the bonds of unity that we share and the various

relative instruments that

roles played by we develop

to give expression to our worldwide communion as Baptists. Nor will we be able to experience the “essential oneness” and the derivative cohesiveness that can help us discover the confidence to confront

faith precedes baptism signifies Baptist understanding of the preeminence of divine action in the process of salvation. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of sin and who leads them to the life of faith. It is not that human beings choose to follow Christ, but that they accept the grace that God offers. It is through the operation of the Holy Spirit that God takes the initiative in Christ to open the door to communion with the Trinity. It is God who enables people to answer affirmatively to the offer of grace.

In popular Baptist understanding, this

divine transaction is centered rather in the moment of conversion than in the moment of baptism. When the inseparable relation between conversion and baptism is affirmed, baptism may be invested with a greater weight and, in addition, its proleptic nature is affirmed. Baptism points back to the experience of the Holy Spirit’s operation in a person’s life, but it also points forward to the continuing operation of the Spirit in the life of the disciple concluding in the fullness of fellowship with God, which is the goal of Christian experience. Baptists never achieved unanimity on the

relation of baptism to the unity of the church. The dominant view seemed to ground church unity essentially on the work of the Holy Spirit in incorporating believers into Christ, and so (Continued on next page)

disruptive forces and potentially unity- shattering developments that BWA will face from time to time. Because

BWA is an ecclesial

organization – people of God joined together in one denominational global family, which is one part of a wider global Christian family – certain qualities should mark the pattern of our working together. There should be no basis for questioning the commitment of those who serve in the General Council, Executive Committee and the sub-committees of these two bodies to furthering the interest of the organization to the glory of God. Anyone who participates

in the organization’s governance bodies needs to be a good

steward of the trust that is implied. Anyone who desires to make major changes to the way global Baptists work together should contribute constructively to a discussion within the organization and should feel compelled to guard against contributing to the organization’s disintegration. During this quinquennium, let us all

pledge to work together to advance BWA’s welfare. BWA constituent members pledged their

their application for membership. Without the

cooperation when they submitted continual

recommitment to this

collaboration, BWA’s future will be at risk. May all of us who serve in the BWA work together to advance God’s mission through the organization.

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