Beaufort 2008: Discovering Our Identity
The Baptist Church of Beaufort
February 2, 2008
Introduction
“You know, we are a divided church,” the older woman whispered in my ear just a few weeks after I started as interim.
“No Mam',” I said, “I didn’t know that.”
“Oh yes,” she said, “that SBC/CBF thing.”
“Oh,” I said, “thanks for letting me know.”
The exchange happened quickly and quietly, but it wasn’t the first or the last. In fact we are a divided church. Let me explain:
We are divided every Sunday: 9:00 Worship/11:15 Worship. Divided by who likes to get up early and who likes to sleep in.
We are divided by styles of worship: Covenant worship – robed choir, choral music, loud pipe organ, and hymns of the faith; Convergent worship: Worship band with guitars and drums, intimate worship, casual with praise contemporary praise music.
We are also divided by age – we have 6 generations of people worshipping in this church – 6 different ways of looking at the world because of the cultural forces when we all came up as children.
We are divided by geography – we have people who grew in the Deep South who still love manners and traditions, but there are others who grew up in places like Connecticut or Ohio or Michigan who appreciate straight talk and want to get to the point of the matter quickly.
We are divided by life circumstances – we have young married families, we have families with young children, we have empty nesters who are trying to discover how to live life with no kids and have singles who are struggling with finding community. Each of us have a different need or want from this church.
And we have people who financially support 2 different Baptist groups – the Southern Baptist Convention which began in 1845 and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship which began in 1991. Both groups grew out of conflict – different ways of looking at the world that could not be resolved as a community of faith.
The Baptist Church of Beaufort is divided. The question for us as The Baptist Church of Beaufort is can we allow God to transform our divisions into a strength for God’s kingdom.
The answer lies in scripture. As we have studied Baptist history and distinctives over the last month, we have learned that Baptists throughout the centuries always turn to scripture to answer their hardest and deepest questions.
The Scripture Story
In scripture passage today Jesus arrives with his disciples into “the district of Caesarea Philippi.” About 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, this mountain region had been used as a holy place for centuries – for worship of first Baal, the ancient Canaanite god and then Pan, a Greek God, and then to Caesar Augustus, a Roman Emperor.
Jesus comes to ask his disciples a very specific, personal question. Before he asks them, though, he asks them to survey what all they have heard and seen. His disciples by this point have walked with Jesus throughout the region. They have seen all of the healings. They have served at all of the miracles – remember the feeding of the 5000. They have sat and heard Jesus teaching – both to the crowds and then to them. Jesus asks –
“Who do people (the crowds) say that the Son of Man is?”
Jesus identifies himself as the Son of Man and asks “What are people saying about me? Who do they think I am? What do they say is my Identity?”
The disciples begin outlining all of the prophets that people have named – John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah. Notice that all of these prophets are dead. The crowds can’t get around that Jesus is the Messiah – but they can believe that God has resurrected one of the great prophets as a teacher.
Well…if this is who everyone else says that I am – this is the identity that others have placed on me. Let me ask you another question.
Jesus asks, v.15 “What about you, who do you say I am?”
Here is the decision moment. This is why they have come to this place. This is the personal decision moment for each of the disciples. The Greek word here for you is plural – Jesus is asking the whole group to stand up and say who they say Jesus is.
Peter answers for the rest of the group, “You are the Christ [The Messiah – the one all of Israel has been waiting for over 750 years], the Son of the Living God.”
From the time that Jesus was born and the shepherds arrived praising God to Jesus’ proclamation in the Synagogue in Nazareth where he announced who he was and his friends tried to kill him, Jesus has been waiting to here these words. Waiting for people to see his true identity. Other people could not identify Jesus for the disciples; the disciples had to identify Jesus themselves.
With this confession of faith Jesus begins to work. He tells peter:
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Rock, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it
Peter and the disciples have become the new community of believers. Jesus starts with this group of uneducated men to begin leading a spiritual revolution that changes the world.
From those beginnings – the word and message of God has come down through the centuries. For over 204 years this Church has sought to live out this revolution of following Jesus as the Messiah the Christ. The Spirit of Jesus which began with Peter continues to be an active presence in who we are as a church as well.
The Question for us as The Baptist Church of Beaufort in 2008 – like the question posed to the disciples is -– who do we say The Baptist Church of Beaufort is?
Our Church Story
This question gets at the heart of what it means to be Baptist. Over the last 3 weeks we have outlined the history and the distinctives of our Baptist heritage. At the core of who we are as Baptist – we, as the free community of Faith known as The Baptist Church of Beaufort, decide who we are based on the Bible, God’s Word. No other organization defines – not the CBF or the SBC or the SCBC or the SRBA – we as a church define ourselves through our understanding of God’s word to us at this time and place.
The crowds of people who came out to see Jesus could not define his identity for the disciples. The disciples had to decide for themselves who Jesus was – and then they had to commit their lives.
We have this same task as a Church in interim. Yes, we have many things that divide us – but we have one faith in Jesus Christ, one baptism, and God’s Word to bring us together.
When we talk about identity, who we are - we speak about actions. Core values. The things that we do that define us as a church and that bring us together. These are beliefs and convictions that are extremely meaningful to the majority of a church’s leaders and members. Our Core Values are the things that bring us together. They are the places we have seen God working in our congregation.
Life question: where have you seen God work at The Baptist Church of Beaufort?
As we reflect on this question – let me point out the places I have seen God working in this Church in my 11 years as member, associate pastor and now interim pastor. These are the things for me that bring us together that destroy the dividing walls. Remember those words of unity in Ephesians 2: 14: For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. Jesus brings all of us together.
1. We are a people who trust in the authority of God’s living, transforming Word – the Bible.
I have learned a lot about God’s work through Baptist and through the BCOB over the last several months as I have prepared for this series of sermons. Through all of this time of study, I have been aware of how much this church cherishes, loves and trusts God’s Word.
There’s the moment in the 1790’s when someone stole Rev. Henry Holcomb’s Bible to keep him from preaching in Beaufort town.
There’s the way the revival preachers of the 1830s trusted the God’s spirit in the words of the Bible to transform lives. As they preached from St. Helena Episcopal Church to BCOB – alternating churches each night – people responded to God’s spirit. God transformed individuals with God’s Word – several high standing Beaufort residents left their jobs to pursue God’s work in ministry. This impacted us the most with the calling of Rev. Richard Fuller to the Baptist Church and then into ministry as our pastor.
This church was one of the first churches in the south to adopt a whole new way of relating to the Bible. In the 1870’s as there was a remnant of people here after the Civil War – we began a Sunday School so that our people could grow in knowledge of God’s word and allow God’s word to transform their lives. The growth of this Bible ministry led to building new buildings – Building A in 1917, Building B in the 1950’s and Building C in the 1980’s.
Recently, I have seen God working through our Companions in Christ groups. These groups began to allow God’s word to not be something we learn, but something that comes to form us into the image of Jesus. For me, God’s word has come alive more in these experiences of simply listening to it quietly than the time I studied it in seminary.
God’s Word has shaped and molded the BCOB from our very beginning and it still does today.
The challenge for us is not to let God’s word divide us. There have been religious wars over whose interpretation of God’s word we are going to follow. To be the people God wants us to be – we must stop fighting about the Bible and seek with humble hearts on living the challenging truths in the Bible. As a community of faith there are enough challenges in trying to live these words: “Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. Seek first the kingdom of God and all of his righteousness. Don’t worry about tomorrow, each day has enough trouble of its own.”
2. We are a people who lavishly display God’s love and grace in the world.
When I think of The Baptist Church of Beaufort my mind remembers the many acts of love and grace I have experienced and seen.
I think about our Fellowship time every Sunday morning in worship. The way we come together as a community of faith to show God’s love to each other is just fun. All of us trying to get over to different parts of the sanctuary before the music starts back again. In all of my years here, I’ve never heard one of our guest say, “They were unfriendly, no one talked to me.”
January 2002 stands out to me as a grace filled response from church. Two Sheriff Deputies were shot and killed responding to a domestic dispute. This church loved both of those families in a way that I will never forget. I remember the hundreds and hundreds of police officers who came from around the country and how many of you came to serve and help this church serve this hurting community.
Then there’s the way you all responded to the hurricane Katrina. Many of us traveled to MS with a chainsaw crew. Others of us saw God work a miracle as we led a community wide Fall Festival on the football field of Long Beach high school.
Finally – I can’t say how much love I have seen displayed on our own community here in the NWQ. This has not been a ministry of just go and do and then move on. Many of you have invested your lives into the lives of others. You have loved them. You have shown them God’s grace. Praise be to God.
The is a place of God’s grace.
3. We are a people who have empowered everyone to serve God.
When Dr. Cuttino was here we began an expression that has still not gotten our of consciousness. It simply says, “The BCOB is where everybody is somebody and every member a minister.” The little motto stands out and doesn’t go away, because it has become part of our core values.
For a long time BCOB has believed that God calls everyone to serve him. This church has chosen to not limit God. We believe that God can restore individuals and still use them. We have not said that if you have experienced the tragedy of divorce we keep that scar to keep you from serving God.
We all believe that God can use all genders. BCOB had women staff members long before many of other churches with people like Miss Starkey and Margaret Severance. What a powerful and spirit filled service last week when we ordained three new women deacons.
It makes me so proud that my daughters are in a place that celebrates and challenges them to be the person God has created them to be.
Over the last several years we tried to empower more people to serve God. Realizing that we still have many people who simply come to worship and never get out of the pews, we reorganized our administration to make it easier for people to serve God. We began helping all of us learn our SHAPE for ministry. We have said – we want to help each member find their ministry.
4. Finally, we are a missional people.
Long before the term missional entered into the English Lexicon, TBCOB has been telling people about Jesus through their words and actions.
Our Woman’s’ Missionary Union began educating and raising money for missions around the world in the late 1800’s and hasn’t stopped.
God has called people in this congregation to go around the world to tell people about Jesus – and hasn’t stopped. From the Bosticks in the early part of the 20th Century to the Capps, Dr. Bush, Ed Duryea, Andy Leper, Pat Nolan and many more. The people of this church have always been willing to follow Jesus to the ends of the earth.
We’ve led mission trips to Connecticut, Miami, Canada, Belgium, Torino, Kentucky, Mississippi, and soon Bulgaria. As our folks have gone out to tell others about Jesus, they have returned to tell others about Jesus here.
I’m reminded of the person who returned from an evangelism trip to the Olympics who came home and soon began talking to people they knew about Jesus as well.
Our Mission to be a part of God’s redemption of the world draws us together. It’s this mission that brought Baptists together in the first place. It’s this mission that draws into the future.
Conclusion
Where do we go from here? We move into the future.
God has brought BCOB to this point. God will not let us go.
Each of us could add to this list of Core Values you have seen expressed in this church. Places where you have seen God work in you life because of someone or some event at this church.
One core value I see at The Baptist Church of Beaufort is …
As we move into the future, our deacons will be assisting us in this process – this natural transition step – of refining and affirming the core values of our church. I ask that you keep our church and this transition process in your prayers.
Where is God moving in your life today? How do you need to respond to God before you go? Don’t leave here without an answer to the same question as the disciples – “Who do you say that I am?”
