Our Messy Denomination

I thought I would take a break from my conversation with my skeptical friend (he hasn’t written back yet). It is a fun time to be in RI – the rains come down and down and down and down. I’m lucky that I haven’t had much water damage (aside from a leaky roof), but many others aren’t so lucky.

Last week I attended my General Board orientation for the American Baptist Churches/USA. From what I could gather, there are three or four entities floating around, under the name ABC/USA but not having much purpose for connection. There is the office of the General Secretary (OGS), which acts as the presence of ABC in the ecumenical and interfaith contexts as well as in the world (they do other things, but that is a good summary). There is the Board of International Ministries (BIM) which works with foreign missionaries and ministries. There is the Board of National Ministries (BNM) which is focused on ministry here in the States. Finally there are Regional Ministries (RM) which coordination work of the churches and ministries in geographic (kinda) regions. Four different entities all vying for dollars and support. They are all connected through the local churches, but not connected to each other.

Here is how I see it – both BIM and BNM are connected to OGS for the sake of identity. If either board loses its connectional identity with ABC it will be difficult to have continued support from the local churches. OGS needs BIM and BNM in order to speak to ministry that is actually happening. Yet there is no real connection between BIM and BNM – at least thus far. While there are moments of collaboration, they are not necessarily connected. Why is this a problem?

Think of the Trinity. In the Trinity there is a mutual indwelling (perichoresis) between all three parts. Because of this no one part of the Trinity is above any other part of the Trinity. They are all equal.

In the ABC model, it would not be unthinkable for one part of the triad to elevate above another. Or, if one becomes weak, the others would not necessarily have to help. This is not a new problem. It is a problem addressed in 1813, in 1907, in the 60s and continues. If we cannot find a way for BIM and BNM to be necessarily connected, it will continue to be a problem.

Finally we have RM. This is another difficulty that I have not given a lot of thought to. We could move to a quadrilateral or continue the triad with the churches in the middle. I have to think about this for a bit.

Regardless, we have a mess on our hands which is not a bad thing, but could be better.