I recently had a good experience with the American Baptist (see post below). And now comes the Baptimergent an Emergent Baptist Network (cool).

We confess that we’re Baptist but we look around and see only two options; moderate/liberal or conservative. We don’t really identify totally with either one. We respect our heritage as Baptists. We value the competency of a person to work out their faith before God without coercion from an ecclesial authority or from the government. We also think that the strength of kingdom mission is in the local congregation, and is best sustained by free association. We also think that the Bible is best understood with Jesus as the hermeneutical guide. When we think of baptism we think of going down to the river for a full bodied washing.

While we value these Baptist destinctives, we are in no way inclined to value our Baptist identity over anyone else’s religious identity. It just happens to be the family of faith we were reared in, but we feel no need to make anyone else in our religious image.

We also have no stake in the fight that has defined many of us for the last forty years. No one has God or theology figured out and finished. The hubris of our recent forefathers who have wasted the last four decades fighting over who is most Baptist or most right is embarrassing. Especially when world events such as South African Apartheid, Latin American Disappearances, Rwandan Genocide, Darfurian Genocide, Middle Eastern war, global poverty, and climate change have dominated the landscape in those decades. Being the most right Baptist, or even the most right Christian is laughable in the face of these world issues.

We are Baptists, but we are dreaming of new ways of living that identity. Something more kingdom-of-God now, rather than later. Something with a lot more room for others, be they Christian or not. Something more than church on Sunday and Wednesday night. Something that hasn’t been co-opted by a political agenda, but still maintains its prophetic edge.

If this confession resonates with you then you will most likely find this blog and its community of friends encouraging engaging, and empowering. You may find that to be the case even if this confession doesn’t resonate. Whether you identify as Baptist, Emergent, both, or neither, you are welcome to interact with us via this site.

Welcome to the Emergent Baptist Network, a.k.a. “Baptimergent.”