While at the Second Convocation of the Order of Baptist Ministry we spent some good time reflecting on the aim of the Order. I had come to the Convocation because the intimation and invitation
seemed a good way of creating space to gather my thoughts and allow the
sediment of a too full life to settle a little. Too much sediment and water becomes
worryingly opaque.
What follows is a personal reflection shared with the others, and providing a basis for further reflection. During the discussion of the aim of the order the sediment settled enough for me to see that such an Order
would provide and important alternative to other understandings of ministry
prevalent within our own communities of faith. That is, the Order would provide an alternative living out of Baptist
Ministry that, with intentional seriousness of purpose, seeks to pay close
attention to both words, Baptist and Ministry, thereby offering a framework of
relationships which will enable, encourage and enhance ministry in a self-consciously
Baptist way.
Not that
Baptist is the only way, or even the best way. But if we take our identity
under God seriously, then we are called to be Baptist in those essential
convictions and practices which are inhabited, and lived out, in the gift and
calling of our varied but shared ministries within Baptist communities.
This means
that the Aim of the Order would be neither critical of other expressions of ministry,
nor satisfied with our own ways of living out our vocations. Ministry is too
rich, varied and expressive of the diversity of the Body of Christ to be
captured or constrained by any particular model or embodiment. Baptist however
is a term we consciously own, as the talent entrusted by the Lord to our
particular communities of faith. While the name Baptist is rightly contested,
and understood in Baptist communities in different ways, the Order seeks to
give lived expression to the theology, practices and spirituality that are
quarried from the rich seams of our own historic and theological peculiarities.
By being
faithful to our own Baptist particularity we remain alert and obedient to God
who called us to follow and serve Christ in ministry. We do this precisely by
seeking to sustain authentic Baptist ministry as a gift to the whole Church of
Christ. Calling is always a gift, and the Aim of the Order, it was felt, ought to articulate
the specific peculiarity of what we believe is God’s gift to us. Therefore we
commit ourselves to walk together under the rule of Christ, faithfully
following after the Great Shepherd of the sheep, as Baptist Christians
encouraging and accompanying each other in fulfilling the vision of service we
believe is entrusted to us.
Nevertheless,
and that word is a decisive caution and qualifier – nevertheless we recognise
humbly and gratefully the richness and necessity of other forms of ministry,
which have their own validity, and which are God’s varied gifts to the Church as
the Body of Christ. As Baptist we gladly acknowledge our
dependence on the insights and resources of the Church Catholic, and seek to
sustain and enrich Baptist ministry by appropriating the gifts and spiritual
resources of the wider ecumenical consensus of faith in the Triune God. The Order aims to explore and enrich Baptist pastoral spirituality by conscious indebtedness to the rich catholicity of Christian thought and experience: building upon disciplines of prayer in the Daily Office, developing and sustaining a pastoral disposition that is both attentive and contemplative, and pursuing in prayer and study, a humble receptiveness to the knowledge and wisdom of the Triune God.
The Order
aims to give faithful expression to a vision of Baptist ministry and therefore
the aim could be stated: To embody, encourage and enable ministry
that is intentionally Baptist, vocationally pastoral, and spiritually faithful,
under the rule of Christ.
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