What Makes Us Southern Baptists?

What makes us Southern Baptists? There was a time in our denominational history when a person could walk into any Southern Baptist Church anywhere in the country and pretty much experience the same style of worship, church leadership structure and outreach methods of every other Southern Baptist Church in America. Those days are long gone! In my own Association of SBC churches I can worship in everything from the traditional SBC church to a very edgy contemporary church, or high church that is almost Episcopal in format, or even a House Church. Add to these the ethnic or language churches that are part of our fellowship and the variety of styles, structures and methods are so dissimilar that it might cause us to question how we identify ourselves as Southern Baptists and, perhaps more importantly, with such diversity, how do we continue to work together?

So what are the immutable foundational principles that determine who we are?

1. We are a New Testament Confessional people: That means that we, like the apostle Peter, have each answered the question that Jesus asked, “but who do you say that I am?”. We have professed our faith in the belief that Jesus is the “Christ, the Son of the Living God!”, He is our Savior who paid for our sins and He is our Lord whom we have dedicated our lives to.
2. We are Biblicists: We accept the Bible as authoritative. When any question is raised about life, faith, values or worldview it is answered with the question , ”What does the Bible say?”
3. We are Great Commandment and Great Commission Christians: Out of our love for God and our neighbor and in obedience to His command we intentionally take the Gospel to the world through sacrificial service to the community and strategic evangelistic and church planting activities for the purpose of making disciples and teaching them the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
4. We are Autonomous yet Committed to Cooperation: We fundamentally believe in the individual accountability of each person and each Church before God, and are equally committed to the belief that we are Called by God to work together with like minded Believers and churches to expand His kingdom. Our primary way of accomplishing this is through our cooperation with the local Baptist Association, State Conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention. These three networks of Baptist churches work together to strengthen existing churches, start new churches and send out thousands of missionaries locally and globally. Our Baptist polity has no hierarchy. Each church chooses to cooperate to the extent and level of cooperation that it decides under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
5. We are Kingdom Focused: We believe that in the fullness of time, that Jesus will soon return and establish His Kingdom on earth, and that everyone who has confessed Him as Lord will be part of His Kingdom, therefore, we will work with other Christians to complete that Harvest.