*I originally was going a different route when I started this post but it went this direction and I'm going with it. My mom asked me long ago about my decision of not being Baptist anymore and I never gave her an answer. Here, at last and at least, is part of that answer.
One of the most influential books in my life has been Visioneering by Andy Stanley which I read in 2000 or 2001. Already wrestling with a discontentment and sensing that things weren't the way God intended them to be, this book resonated in me, put words to my groanings, gave hope, lit a fire of passion for something more. It was the beginning of the end. It began the unraveling of the old methods and ideologies that, to me, had become tired and worn and gave birth to something new, more refreshing, real, hopeful, powerful. Because my relationship with Christ had become religionized, my God had shrunk to fit my beliefs. It was time to lose my religion and let God be God and Christ be Christ. This is an ongoing journey and its a journey of a lifetime.
This journey (not Andy's book) is one of the reasons I stopped being a Baptist. In a sense, I felt slightly deceived. I was discovering that God was bigger than the Baptist belief system under which I was operating. I had been a Baptist all my life but I was sensing some definite shortcomings in methodology and teachings. I was ready for a change. Baptist was not how I wanted to be known. It was not how I wanted to be defined. It was not the label I wanted to carry. And it was one of the reasons I chose to be non-denominational when we started our church in 2002.
This does not mean that I am anti-baptist. I love and appreciate my Baptist background. The Pointe Church, where I currently attend, is a Baptist church but they hide it well. Most of my family and friends are Baptists. But I am not for denominationalism. I imagine someone who is far from God and wonder what they must think when they see all the different churches. I remember one person saying that they wanted to be a Christian but they didn't know which kind to be. This reminds me of the Corinthians who were divided and lined up behind the various teachers. One says, "I am of Paul," the other, "I am of Peter," and yet another, "I am of Apollos." (I am trying hard not to be the guy who piously cried, "I am of Christ," but I feel for that guy.) Now it is "I'm a Baptist," or "I'm a methodist," or, heaven forbid, "I'm a charismatic."
I understand the reasons behind denominations and can even appreciate the plusses of being in a denomination but I also believe that denominations have attributed to the "religionization" (I think I just made that word up) of a faith that was meant to be so much free-er, bigger, untamed, and unconfined. We are in danger of missing God and what He wants to do when we think we have God all figured out. It's time to simply be Christ-followers and adhere as closely as possible to the Word of God in our personal walks and in the practices of our churches. I know that there are many denominational churches who try to do this and do it well but for me it was time to go a different route.
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