Liturgy

Catholicity as Contribution: 3 Ways Baptists Add Their Voice to the Church Catholic's Choir

Catholicity as Contribution: 3 Ways Baptists Add Their Voice to the Church Catholic's Choir

BRANDON D. SMITH: Catholicity as contribution—how a particular denomination or tradition adds its voice of the church catholic’s choir.

How One Church Introduced Reading the Creeds

How One Church Introduced Reading the Creeds

D. JEFFREY MOONEY AND ADRIAN MARTINEZ: Creeds provided a core set of beliefs for our congregation so that, regardless of the distinctions of other Christians around us, we could cling to these core elements and celebrate the fact that we were one family in Jesus.

EBC Manifesto, Article IX: Means of Grace

EBC Manifesto, Article IX: Means of Grace

MATTHEW Y. EMERSON AND R. LUCAS STAMPS: We affirm the two ordinances or sacraments instituted by Christ, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and believe that they function as signs and seals of God’s grace, expressions of individual faith, and bonds of the church’s covenantal unity in Christ. As such, these ordinances are not empty signs or mere symbols but tangibly demonstrate our union with the risen Christ and with his body, the church. Other Christian practices, such as confession of sin, confirmation in the faith, the ordination of church officers, Christian marriage, and the prayerful anointing of the sick may also frame a life of Christian faithfulness, but should not be considered sacraments.

EBC Manifesto, Article VIII: Historic Worship

EBC Manifesto, Article VIII: Historic Worship

MATTHEW Y. EMERSON AND R. LUCAS STAMPS: We believe that Baptist worship should be anchored in Holy Scripture and informed by the liturgical practices of the historic church. We believe that Christian worship should be Word-centered. In worship, we read, preach, sing, pray, and show forth (through the ordinances) the Word of God. We further believe that Baptist worship could benefit from incorporating historic practices such as lectionary readings, the liturgical calendar, corporate confession of sin, the assurance of pardon, the recitation of scriptural and historic prayers (especially the Lord’s Prayer), and the corporate confession of the faith (expressed in the ecumenical creeds and other confessional documents).

On Objections to the Church Calendar

On Objections to the Church Calendar

MATTHEW Y. EMERSON: The calendar is not used because it is commanded in Scripture; it is used because it helps the church throughout space and time organize its exposition of God’s Word to his people.