Wade Burleson and Freedom

Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, OK, has been fighting a battle for Christian freedom of conscience in the Southern Baptist Convention for the last couple of years. He has stood against persons and policies that unduly restrict Baptists from participating in Southern Baptist life.

Though I may not agree doctrinally with some of Wade's positions, I do praise his spirit of grace. And for me, spirit trumps doctrine anytime. That is what the NT tells us plainly. Several weeks ago I sent this message to Wade.

Wade,
I have followed your journey for the last year and have gloried in your courage and Christian spirit. You have embodied the historic struggle for freedom that is characteristic of Baptists. I salute and honor your efforts.

Baptists have been fighting for personal, spiritual freedom from their earliest beginning. They fought for freedom from the Roman Catholic Church, from the Church of England, from the Presbyterian church in Scotland, from the Lutheran church in Germany, and from the Puritan churches in New England. They have refused to be bound by any authoritative religious power that limited their freedom of conscience, biblical interpretation, and practice of worship.

They have been accused of being illiterate, uneducated, uncontrolled heretics. They have been distrusted because they have pursued a freedom that authoritarian Christians could neither understand nor appreciate.

The Baptist comfort with this kind of freedom has stemmed from their belief in a personal relationship with God through Jesus. They believe that this personal faith relationship produces a spirit of humility, truthfulness, dignity, honorableness and love. It changes the spirit of persons because it allows the Spirit of God to enter the heart and life of the believer.

Baptists learned from the beginning that doctrinal positions had little to do with the personality of believers. The biblical teachings about having a spirit of grace and agape were not automatically connected to any doctrinal position. The gracious spirits found in Christians were the result of a personal connection with the Living Heavenly Father.

As a result, Baptists have placed far more emphasis on knowing God personally than they have on authoritarian dogma. Their insistence on being born again has been a foreign language to those who believe that orthodox doctrine is the key to pleasing God. Baptists have been more attuned to the spirit of care and kindness, truth and honesty, and the unselfish humility of believers. These are indicators of a born again heart, spirit and life.

The Southern Baptist Convention has also known this struggle for freedom from its very beginning. Great pains were taken by its founders to ensure that it could have no authority over individuals or churches. Nothing the Convention decides has any binding power over its cooperating churches. The assembled Convention is simply an annual business meeting to decide how its monies are to be spent, and to receive reports from that expenditure. It has no membership. It only has contributing churches. These churches are completely free to do as they please. They simply contribute to cooperative efforts with other like minded churches.

Many Christians do not trust freedom. They do not trust the working of the Spirit of God in the hearts of those who have a personal relationship with him. They have a difficult time in relating to those who have come to differing positions in biblical understanding. They are looking for mental assent to propositions about the faith rather than for a particular spirit in the behavior and attitudes of fellow believers.

Historically, Baptists have fought a lonely fight. Most other Christian peoples believe that they should be subject to some degree of authoritarian oversight. Be they Catholic or Nazarene, they are more comfortable with some form of extra-congregational accountability. Baptists have exercised a level of church independence that is unpleasant to those Christians who place great value on doctrinal orthodoxy. Baptists have followed a lonely road.

People cannot understand how forty thousand churches with no central authority can voluntarily cooperate to accomplish missions and education unless they can also understand the Baptist commitment to personal rebirth. Pastors from all kinds of churches can gather annually and share the spirit of God’s presence in their hearts and lives. They can glory in a common faith without being concerned with lockstep doctrine. Dogma is a dirty word for them. Knowing the Lord and walking in the Spirit are what they value the most. They are strange people. They are a peculiar people.

There has always been a portion of the pastors of the Southern Baptist Convention who place more emphasis on doctrinal orthodoxy than on living in the Spirit. They would rather the Convention be more concerned about proper biblical interpretation than about like minded churches cooperating in a world enterprise. Church, associational, state, and Convention leaders have understood what would happen to cooperation at all levels if authoritarian leaders assumed leadership positions.

Historically, some pastors of very large Baptist churches have never been nominated for Convention leadership positions. Their spirit of authoritarianism, and criticism of pastors who disagree with their biblical positions, has made them disqualified for leadership of such a diversified Baptist family. Baptists do not trust authoritarianism or intolerance. Their freedom has been pressured by such from their very beginnings. They want leaders who believe in true freedom of conscience, biblical interpretation, and worship. That is simply who Baptists have always been.

Blessings to you my brother. You have that Baptist spirit. You can lead where others must coerce or deceive. You are free and you allow others to be free also.