[M]any baptists/Baptists have forgotten their own theology of the sacraments/ordinances and have practiced them inconsistently with our history and theology. – Roger Olson
I have found this article by Dr. Olson, professor of theology at Baylor University, most interesting. It is specifically limited to his fellow Baptists, but has much to commend it to a broader audience. Dr. Olson’s insights into receiving Holy Communion are particularly useful. He correctly shows that there is no biblical warrant to demand baptism prior to receiving Communion.
Olson’s main thrust is about the decline in Baptist churches to remain true to their theology of the sacraments and either not think about the issue, or think about it sloppily. Let me reinforce the point with my own observations as I have witnessed a variety Baptist or “non-denominational” (ex-Baptists) churches do baptism. One church in particular really stunned me when the minister immersed the teen aspirant, but said no words, as in the classic Trinitarian formula, or even the United Pentecostal “Onto the name of Jesus.” Nothing. That is an extreme case, but points to what Olson complains about. I hope many people read Olson’s article and give more thought to their sacramental ministry.
If ministry is only the work of professional clergy and is restricted to what goes on at a church service or a major Christian event, then the church is lost and doomed to implode and die in our century. Why? Because, though these things may serve God, the personal touch is often lacking in them….
On Tuesday, June 28, 2011 the news became public that an important, and in some ways, unprecedented, document on Christian witness and mission has been finalized and published. In the interest of full disclosure, along with several others, I helped write it. That doesn’t mean that what follows is a defense. Although some of us…
Paul A. Pomerville, The Third Force in Missions: A Pentecostal Contribution to Contemporary Mission Theology (Hendrickson Publishers, 2016), 276 pages, ISBN 9781619707689. In the updated version of The Third Force in Missions: A Pentecostal Contribution to Contemporary Mission Theology (Hendrickson Publishers, 2016), Paul A. Pomerville offers an amplified reiteration of the major premises of his…
Gastón Espinosa, Latino Pentecostals in America: Faith and Politics in Action (Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press, 2014), xi + 505 pages. Daniel Ramírez, Migrating Faith: Pentecostalism in the United States and Mexico in the Twentieth Century (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015), xix + 283 pages. Why should readers…
In this review essay, missionary-scholar Jim Harries challenges Western assumptions used to decry the prosperity gospel as it is taught and believed in Africa. Hermen Kroesbergen, ed., In Search of Health and Wealth: The Prosperity Gospel in African, Reformed Perspective (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2014). In reviewing a book about Africa written in English,…
Here is a video about the book Creative Ways to Build Christian Community. In this film you will meet the founders of the House of Prisca and Aquila publishing line, the editors, and some of the contributors. I was one of the co-editors so I make a brief appearance in the film. John…
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