In the Search for a New Testament Model of the Church. Elements of Baptist Ecclesiology and Beginnings of the Dialogue with Baptists about the Church

Abstract

The article depicts the elements of Baptist ecclesiology such as: nature and structure of the Church, baptism in relation to the Church membership, understanding of the Lord’s Supper and of the ministry in the Church. At the end there’s an outline of the first fruits of the official Baptist-Roman Catholic dialogue on the world level concerning ecclesiology.

For Baptists the pattern of the Church is a local congregation gathered by Holy Spirit in the obedience to the word of God. Such a local gathering is totally independent and any higher forms of organization or unions do not represent a higher form of ecclesiality. The Baptists practice the baptism of adults only, as the profession of faith must be prior to the baptism, which does not create any new reality in a faithful nor cleanse of the original sin. In the Lord’s Supper a faithful while consuming bread and wine not transformed anyhow, receives by faith the benefits coming from the vicarious sacrifice of Christ. The ministers in the Church – deacons and presbyters – are instituted in a non-sacramental rite of ordination. The most of congregations present only men for ordination.

The official dialogue between Baptists and Roman Catholics produced up to now only one document. In the field of ecclesiology the statement contains mainly enumeration of divergences. For this reason it seems obvious that Baptist-Roman Catholic talks will not lead in the near future to the instauration of the full communion between our two Communities.