A Methodist Take on Baptist Worship: Understanding My Backyard in the Bible Belt

Author's note:

One of my deep interests deals with interfaith work and practice. As part of this passion, I've begun to do more research on various Christian communities in particular, because I feel that understanding the different facits of the Chrisitan Church is tremendously helpful when trying to develop unity and witness for a global community. Writing about other Christian traditions is also helpful for me as a confimation class facilitator--having a measurement or context in which Methodist faith practices breathe and interact with.

Baptist Worship
For Baptists, worship can be considerably different because of a major Baptist principle—church autonomy. In other words, the church decides on the way in which it will express and witness worship to the Christian community. But there are some distinct Baptist notions of worship that may be seen in most:

Baptists have traditionally looked askance at formal liturgy. They have come out of a tradition which eschewed all but the most elementary symbols, such as Bible, pulpit, Communion table, and baptistery. All candles, crosses, stained-glass windows, pictures, clerical garb, and altar cloths were taboo; and churches even refused to celebrate Easter and Christmas. More recently, however, attitudes have changed, and it is now common to see a cross and candles on the Communion table and even acolytes who light the candles (Maring & Hudson, 1991, p. 55).

Again, it is the decision of the church as to how and what worship will look like behind its doors. Another aspect in terminology is distinct as well in the way Baptists view baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Ordinances
Both baptism and the Lord’s Supper are considered an ordinance instead of the more common term for both in other mainline denominations—the sacraments. An ordinance recognizes these Christian rites as practices of the Christian community, whereas, churches such as those following an episcopacy view these rites as sacramental—meaning that the act itself evokes a spiritual awakening or change leading to one’s salvation. Not that the Baptist views these rites as unimportant or common place, but instead appreciates the fact that the act itself is a witness to the worshipping community as well as to the broader world. As colonial America took shape, so did the ordinances in Baptist life:

Together with most other Protestants, the Baptists emphasized as central to church membership and fellowship the two basic ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. What made Baptist persuasion different was its belief that only those old enough to make an oral profession of their faith (and their conversion experience) were eligible for baptism and that baptism should be total immersion…The Lord’s Supper, usually held monthly or bimonthly (among those in good Christian fellowship), utilized a common Communion cup and fermented wine (Brackney, 1998, p.119).

Thus, not only did Christian rites viewed as ordinances demarcate Christian practice and witness, it also provided accountability for the Christian community.