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It's timely that you should post this Pilgrim. I was just thinking about this when folks were commenting about how the PCA has some problems and that Baptists ought not to think the grass is always greener.
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Rich, I don't think Chris started this thread to compare Baptist and Presbyterian ecclesiology. It should be a given that both hold to a different form of church governance. What should not exist is a haughty spirit towards each other.
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I've also noticed that independent congregations tend to look toward some unifying para-Church organizations to provide unity of effort when they want to do something bigger than what they can do locally.
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Let's separate para-church organizations from the cooperation of like-minded churches. 20 years ago I used to work for a Christian food bank in Paterson, NJ. While working at the food bank I lodged at the Star of Hope Mission which was right down the street. Both organizations were para-church in nature. They attempted to minister to local churches across denominational lines. Compare those two organizations with ARBCA, FIRE or the SBC. While they don't have ecclesiastical authority, they are made up of member churches laboring together for the common good.
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What is the Founder's Movement, in fact? Isn't there a sense in which many Baptists see this as a movement that can reform the Church at large?
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Some Baptists may see it that way. I don't. My church is not SBC. A few years ago Doug Mixer brought up in conversation the Founders Movement and the SBC. I'll tell you what I told Doug. Instead of trying to reform the SBC, Founders churches should come out from among them. If Founders churches have a vision to partner together, come out from the SBC and work with all like-minded independent Baptist churches. This is what ARBCA and FIRE attempt to do. Come to think of it, wasn't that the impetus for the 1689 London Baptist Confession? Like-minded churches came together to pen a confession of beliefs. There was no ecclesiastical accountability involved between the framers.