The Ohio Independent Baptist, October 1963

Are they necessary? • ounc1 s During recent decades Bapti t churches have often neglected calling Recognition Councils. This i unfor– tunate, for it has re ulted in problems that could have been avoided. The historic and customary pro– cedure when a new Baptist Church i formed i for that church to call a Council of si ter churche , including .pastors and messengers to meet to– gether and examine the articles of faith, the con titution, the covenant, the practices of the church, and the purposes for organizing. If the Council finds that all documents and practice are in keeping with Baptist faith and policy and the purpo e for the or– ganization are justifiable, it then vote to recognize the church as a Bapti t Church. Find ing not binding As is the case in all Bapti t Coun– cils, the finding of the Council is not binding upon the local church. If the Council should decline to recognize the church, it would still have the right to call itself a Bapti t Church . On the other hand, every other Ba.pti t Church in the country wou]d have the right to refuse to accept it into as– sociational fellowship. The main purpose back of thi s hi - toric procedure among Bapti t is the c;afeguarding of the general fello:'– ~htp again t the possibility .of unwit– tingl y receiving into fellowship church– es which are irregul ar in doctrine or practice. Obviously ~uch care need~ to be exercised. It is a very easy n1atter for a group of people to get togeth.er a r1d organ1, e what they call a Bap tist hurch and then app ly for fe ll ow– ship ' for insta11ce, in the (1 Al{ BC~ - offering no other evidence th at the) are a 13 apti st hurch. It is itlso verz eas)' for an uni11for111ed grot1p o f incere l1eli ever to be 111istakcr1 antl to crea te a ch11rcl1 wl1icl1 i~ not a 8 a1, ti t l1urch in it s doctrine or 1~li– C)'. Jf 1 0 our1ciJ i ca ll ed to exa n1111 c 111~ docL11r1e11t , u L1all)' tl1e errors arc 11ol di covered t111til so111eti111c la lc;r \\ l1e111 tl1e AJ<l1 , or 011c o tl1 r a - ciatio11, J i11d tl1at tl1e cl1t1rcl1 i11 que 1io11 sl10L11d 11'-=,,er J1 ave l)ec11 a~– Cef>ted i11t tl1e fello'A' l1i1, l:>~cat1 '-= it i not a Bai ti :s t c11urcl1. The OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST Many problems result when churches fai l to call recognition councils; historic procedure is to call meeting of churches Strange and startling as it may seem the GARBC has found this to be the case in its own experience on at lea t five different occasions. Such churche had to be informed that the un-Baptistic error must be corrected or the church drop,ped from the fel– low hip roll of the as ociation. In four of these cases the errors have been corrected - in the fifth, the .church failed to correct the situation and was dropped from the rolls in 1952. In order to protect the GARBC from fur·ther problems of this kind, the Council of Fourteen voted in 1952 to request all newly-formed churche to hold Recognition Council . Later in 1961 , thi rule was extended to in– clude all churche applying for fel– low hip in the GARBC, regardle s of the age of the church. A favorable report from such a Council i to be a strange reque t if the church ha been a Bapti t Church for many years. However, the fact that it wa a Bap– tist hurch 20 year ago, or I 00 years ago proves nothing about the pre ent standing. Furthermore, a Recognition Council now i to consider whether or not it is a Regular Bapti t Church. The e ession are a ble ing to the church and those that participate, and they al o con titute an opportunity for a good te timony in the area con– cerning the position held by the church, and why it is different from the churche in the ecumenical move– ment. Dead Sea Scrolls to be exhibited The Dead Sea Scroll ancient Biblical manu cript found ince 1947 and reputed to be among the greate t Old Te tament di coverie of all time , will be exhibited by Jordan and I rael in their re ,pective pavilion at the New York World' Fair. The manu- cript were di covered by wander– ing Bedouin hepherd in cave near ome old ruin , in the Judean de ert along the we tern hore of the Dead Sea. BAPTIST BIBLE SEMINARY TRAINS LEADERS! B. 8. S. Graduates Are Serving With Distinction at Home and on the Mission Field If you are called to full time Christian Service, you should prayerfully consider what Baptist Bible Seminary offers. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION WRITE TO DR. ARTHUR WOOLSEY, PRESIDENT ThB. Bre & Diploma Courses BAPTIST BIBLE SEMINARY JOHNSON CITY, N. Y. p 9 5, OCTOBE 1963