Why be Part of a "Denomination?"

Perhaps you heard about the lady who went to the bank to have a large check cashed. The teller went through some of the usual questions when cashing a large check. “May I see your driver’s license?” she asked. “Can you confirm your social security number?” the teller continued. After several such questions the teller finally asked, “What denominations would you like?” The lady responded, “Just one—I’m Baptist!”

I am part of a generation that regularly questioned “the establishment.” It is no surprise then that such an attitude has impacted the church today. Many Christians today have somehow gotten the idea that being part of a denomination is less spiritual or un-cool. They view the denomination as an impersonal institution that drains resources and provides little in return. They don’t see the value in being affiliated with other churches of like faith through a denomination.

Technically, Southern Baptists are not a denomination—we are a convention. We do not have a top-down structure. Each of our churches is independent and self-governing. We share a common confession of faith, but the only creed we embrace is the Bible itself. We see value in voluntarily cooperating together as individual churches for the sake of the kingdom of God. Being a part of the Southern Baptist Convention provides three things we think are important.

First, being Baptist gives us an identity that people can relate to. People know that being Baptist means that we believe the Bible is the foundation for what we believe and how we live. We do not base our beliefs on traditions or someone’s experience or what is most popular at the time. Being Baptist means we believe each congregation is self-governing and does not submit itself to any overseer but Christ Himself. It means that we are committed to voluntarily cooperating with like-minded churches in mission endeavors to take the gospel to the world.

Second, being part of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) makes resources, training and personnel available to us. We have regional Association and State Convention staff members who are committed to serving churches like ours. These ministers have expertise, experiences and wisdom to share that help strengthen local congregations and assist them in being on mission with God. In addition, our convention provides ministry resources through LifeWay Christian Resources as well as other agencies within our convention.

Third, being SBC allows us to take part in the world’s greatest missions program. We support thousands of missionaries in various places around the world. Some of these missionaries are nearby, some are in North America, some are overseas and some are in the remotest parts of the earth sharing Christ, planting new churches and strengthening believers. By supporting these missionaries cooperatively as we do, we can provide a steady, dependable income for the missionaries themselves, and also resources for the work they are doing.

No one I know of believes that Baptist are the only ones who believe the Bible and believe in missions. There are many Bible-believing churches and organizations in the world and we are happy to be part of God’s universal church made up of all those who have professed the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. But there is value in being a Baptist. As we combine our Bible-based theology with our form of church government and our cooperative missions strategy, we are a unique group of Christians. It is an identity and a heritage we humbly embrace.