Baptists and Offerings

Some people wonder why there are so many Baptist churches. But without beginning to step into that deep river of Baptist experiences and growth, we would do well to explore some of the common threads of Baptist-ness that deserve understanding.
One of those threads is the Baptist way of giving. Baptists arose as a small stream of believers flowing out of the great Reformation era of change who gathered around a common biblical conviction regarding believer’s baptism. Also connected to their developing community was a strong aversion to the support of a state church with which they did not hold common beliefs and feel the necessity to support. Nonetheless, taxes levied on behalf of state churches was the practice across England and Europe and was transported into the American colonies as a standard practice until the Revolutionary period brought some modifications. In that regard, the church and the state were closely aligned by the sheer connectionalism of the line of support designated to sustain their co-existence.
Early in America, Baptists, having long suffered the harsh outcomes of dissenting views…such as jail time, confiscation of homes and property, the levy of taxes and fines, the demand for an end to preaching without proper state-church licensure, among other humiliations…had suffered long because of the “state-church” stranglehold over their religious conscience and freedom to exercise their religion as they believed appropriate. In other words…Baptists resisted a religious practice against their conscience. Baptists also felt less than inclined to support a state-mandated taxation for the support of an official “state” church. This led to charges of delinquency in paying taxes, even when they offered evidence of their giving to support their own congregations. Fortunately for all Americans today, Baptist influence had an effect on the leaders of our new nation in calling for religious liberty for all. Along with that came the provisions that ended “state churches” and called for the state to make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion or any law establishing religion (as a state tax-supported entity).
So today, when you hear Baptists who remember this history or who have studied it long and hard rallying against calls for tax credits or vouchers to support church related schools and faith-based endeavors, do not interpret it as a failure to appreciate Christianity or the work of Christian education or the moral support of positive causes in the community. Rather understand it is the deeply felt and long established concern that no one should be directly or indirectly taxed by the state to support the religious activities of others with which they do not agree nor can hold in conscience supportable.
The protections of the first amendment to the constitution for the freedom of religious expression must not be sacrificed on the altar of parental dissatisfaction seeking alternatives to public education. Nor should tax dollars go to support the specific aims of religious bodies in the promotion of their religious aims. State funded church work should be regarded as inappropriate. Too often when it has occurred, both state and church essentially prostituted themselves in the responsibilities they were to carry out.
There is no question that the work of the church in sharing Christ has positive effect upon communities across the nation, but we should not muddy the waters with state funds for accomplishing that work that comes from those who do not hold to our beliefs. At the same time, if churches are to be sustained in their work, it is necessary to utilize the biblical bases for church support described in scripture, namely tithes and offerings, freely given in thanksgiving and obedient response to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Such giving is proportional, regular, and dedicated to the work of the Gospel.
When such giving undergirds the work of the church by the willful, purposeful, and intentional giving of its members…the church will have resources in abundance for doing the work God has called them to do. When it is otherwise, there will be pandering, begging, fund-raising, and otherwise distasteful and often shameful attempts to manipulate resources for the “survival of institutions” rather than for edifying the body of Christ.

Bible Stories

More than a few children in this generation are not privileged to hear bible stories on a regular basis. Fewer than half of those enrolled in Sunday School across the country attend weekly and even more are forced by parental decisions to be “elsewhere” when it comes to religious instruction opportunities. A significant number of parents have adopted the principle attitude that “if my child doesn’t want to go, I don’t make them.” The same applies to the attitudes of some parents toward regular educational responsibilities, and it shows now in the public school’s struggle for even regular attendance by some students. A generation has now been marked by a declining rate of literacy. Further exacerbating problems are declining vocabulary, more visual technology, and more technologically linked communication, but less personal conversation, less personal attention to children’s needs for feedback, conversation about life choices from responsible, caring adults. I make the case that every child needs a host of people to help them grow and mature. Community is vital to the health and perspectives of those who otherwise would depend upon television as their source of comprehending the world. Soap operas do not define or describe life as it should be modeled for the masses. The level of violence portrayed in video games and many forms of “entertainment media” compete with the worst battlefields of history. Such is the daily diet of many children. While I make no case that the Bible is free from violence, sexuality, betrayal and pain, I will make the case that it relates to those experiences in redemptive measure. The stories of the scriptures teach important lessons for life. I remember the words of a man who spent much of his life struggling with alcohol addiction and years in prison because of behaviors associated with that addiction. He said, “If I had only read the Book of Proverbs thirty years ago, I would have saved myself a lifetime of pain.”
I remember the big red bible story book with the full page pictures every so often.
It was from there that I learned the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Lot’s wife,
Noah and the Ark, The Parting of the Red Sea, Moses and the Ten Commandments, Joshua and Caleb, David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, Elijah and the Prophets of Baal, and on and on. I remember those stories read again and again through the years and the impact these and countless others have had upon my life. They formed a framework of understanding about God and His mighty acts in the world. As I heard the story of Jesus, and began to understand who He was and is, I looked forward to each new day as a gift of God, coupled with His promises and his blessings to experience and share.
I may not have a lot of other things that some find so attractive, but Bible Stories are one of those precious gifts I hope to keep on sharing with others.

Something for Nothing

The pursuit of something for nothing has permeated our culture to the degree that even church ministries are adopting its themes and practices. Gaming interests have long understood the connection between bait and switch techniques to lure participants down the path toward greater and greater involvement in behaviors detrimental to their economic condition. The appeal of the sweepstakes was widely accepted in relationship to promoting magazine sales, but the lid came off when states adopted lotteries that lure millions of dollars into coffers, not necessarily for state use, but often for advertisers, promoters, and fees associated with “staying on top” of the marketing schemes necessary to keep money flowing.
Like English ivy growing into a brick wall, the tentacles of seeking something for nothing grow long and tenaciously. Allowing door prizes for bingo parlors charging for cards and expenses, in the name of “non-profit” interests, is ludicrously veiled gambling for the most gullible among us.
So in the same vein, churches are sought that will promote the latest pyramid scheme to raise funds for their building program or mission trip. Lotteries and “chances” on cars, boats, and get-a-way weekends are the frequently devised methods for separating people from their money for the sake of “Christian enterprises?” Where are we when the capacity of the people of God to be faithful in their stewardship has so fallen so as to allow the church to become the casino of chances, the proliferator of prizes, the auctioneers and street corner hucksters and merchandisers of everything from magazines to makeup, in the name of ministry?
It is a sad day when our church young people know more about candy sales than Jesus. It is a tragic hour when there is a more enthusiastic response to the “silent auction” than to the Sunday offering. It is a telling sign that less and less are we finding the next generation thinking the church is any different from the world they live in, when so often it simply isn’t.

In the Land of Tall Birds

The sound startled me. I had heard it before, but never so close and never so surprisely interrupting my ordinary day. It was twilight, too dark to see past the edge of woods from where the sound came, but no doubt about it….a turkey was near.

And then another day…I saw another bird…tall and gray, standing on its spindly stalk of legs. A heron, if my ornithology serves me right. Solitary birds for the most part it seems…always alone, at least in public. I find them almost daily in my neck of the woods, along the shallow water-filled ditches that line the roads to and from my house. Others are found standing in the swamp shallows along the roads heading to the coast not so far down the highway.

I like these big birds. And others that I see here: the buzzards that share breakfasts of road killed possums and the seasonal influx of hawks adept at clearing out a host of field mice. These birds can soar, or mind their business. In the late winter storms when winds howl, they sometimes seem to battle mightily to stay in the same place in the sky….like great sky-watchers providing security for sacred ground. These birds provide comfort when I see them. They remind me to enjoy the place where I am. They remind me that even in the most shallow of places, nourishment can be found. They remind me of struggling against the forces that may be unseen, but upon which we can soar if we so choose. They remind me of the grace of God that provides for their needs as He does mine. If that turkey keeps hanging around, I might be tempted come thanksgiving to…well, you know what I’m thinking. Maybe its right to understand that what looking at the birds is good for is to teach us things that aren’t just for the birds.