A Tale of Two Churches

            On Sunday, August 4, I worshipped at Immanuel Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, where I served as pastor for 30 years. This is an old church that is home to an educated congregation of academic, business, and professional people. Most worshippers dress in their Sunday best, including suits and ties, but some come in good casual clothes. I felt very much at home in the beautiful sanctuary with large windows on each side looking out on the green landscape of the upscale neighborhood of Belle Meade, hearing the wonderful Moller pipe organ played by Dr. Richard Shadinger, and listening to the 30 voice choir in their formal robes, led by Dr. Jerry Warren. As always, I admired the floral arrangements by Charles Businaro, a skilled and experienced decorator. The service was led by Pastor Steven Meriwether and Associate Pastor Tambi Swiney, both dressed in their black pulpit robes with gold stoles. Tambi delivered the sermon, telling about a group from the church who had just returned from a mission trip to Hatii. We sang hymns from our new Celebration Hymnals. We took communion together at the end, coming to the front to receive the bread and the cup. It was a true experience of worship.

            The next Sunday I was back at the First Baptist Church, Lorena, Texas, where I served as interim pastor for eight months. This is a small town twelve miles south of Waco, just beside I-35, where more than 100,000 cars and trucks pass by every day. It is also an old church, even older than Immanuel. It serves a small but growing community of good hard-working country people, a few educators and professional people, and a number of commuters who work in Waco. It is a lot closer to what most Baptist churches in the South and Southwest are like. The worship is what is called blended, that is, it combines a choir, familiar hymns, contemporary songs, a band with drums and guitars, a screen for projecting the words to the songs, a warm and friendly atmosphere, and frequent applause. A few worshippers and choir members raise their hands in praise as we sing and pray. No organ, no choir robes. Also, no suits and ties, except for the preacher, the music leader, and the pianist. This, too, is a true experience of worship. (For the record, neither church’s worship service is bringing in the crowds.)

            Immanuel Baptist, being a more academically oriented congregation, has a lot of members who ask questions and think outside the box. They are very much in the orthodox Christian tradition, but they could not pass a strict doctrinal test. They treasure the Bible and believe it, but they recognize that it needs interpretation and that some of its features are conditioned by historical and social circumstances that are not essential to the faith and cannot be directly applied today without some theological analysis. They support new seminaries that train ministers to think critically and interpret theologically. They ordain women as ministers and deacons and give them positions of leadership in the church.

            Folks at Lorena are more traditional, like most Texas Baptists. I started my ministry preaching to the dairy farmers in Jack County, Texas, and I was trained at a Texas Baptist college and a Southern Baptist seminary in Texas. I remember talking with a man at an associational meeting in Jacksboro one night in 1962. When I told him I was a seminary student, he said, “Well, the seminary ruins preachers.”

I understand what he meant. To let go of the literal interpretations and the simple, dogmatic answers opens us up to some dangers and struggles—some would say a slippery slope that will destroy us. Education can cut us off from ordinary people, who are most of the people. But some of us find that we have a stronger faith if we face the doubts and questions and come out on the other side. We also find that today’s complex world cannot be engaged with simple, dogmatic answers. A young person who has been taught not to trust science will have a hard time dealing with college, and a harder time living in our scientific age.

            Well, then, what have I been doing in a traditional Southern Baptist Church? The answer is that God has led me into intentional interim ministry in my retirement years. I came to the church as an outside consultant to guide them through an established process of self-study and planning in order to be ready to call a new pastor. I was not there to change their theology or their worship, although I did preach to them the Bible and basic Christian doctrine, and I worshipped with them gladly.

Moreover, they have ministered to me. I have found these people to be genuine, committed Christians who are as close or closer to God than I am. They study and know the Scriptures. Their Bible knowledge is impressive. They witness to the Gospel and help people come to faith in Christ. They believe in prayer, and they do more of it than a lot of Christians I know. Their worship is lively and fervent, and I am impressed at how well they join in congregational singing (unlike some contemporary churches I have visited, where the people just stand there and watch the praise team sing). Many of them practice tithing—a helpful by-product of taking the Bible literally. Also, though they may not put as much emphasis on education as my Nashville friends, they are just as smart. I have learned this year that truck drivers, carpenters, auto mechanics, and electricians are usually very intelligent. A lot of people who never went to college could easily have done so if they had chosen to or been able to when they left high school. They are also hard working and dedicated. The lay members of this church do the work, lots of it, and do it gladly. They don’t tell you “No,” like many over-committed upper-middle-class people do. They are also fun to be with. I have enjoyed lots of potluck meals and domino games. I have found the people of Lorena to be true friends, and I have come to love them a lot.

Serving the same church for thirty years can make you think the whole world is like that, but it’s not. Being in three different churches the past eight years has been a learning and growing experience for me. God wants, and the world needs, lots of different kinds of churches.