THE LAST WORD
The Fate of Empires
By Emily A. Row,
Program Coordinator

“All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” —Aristotle

Recently, I have heard several people in Baptist leadership make comments regarding the need to pass the torch to those of the next generation. Inevitably concerns are raised that the next generation is antidenominational and has no interest in Baptist life.

Much has been made of the trend toward post-denominationalism. While I can’t speak for every member of my generation, I do represent a significant portion of young Baptists. When researchers comment that we are anti-denominational, it does not necessarily mean that we do not want to be part of a denomination. It does mean that we have no interest in being part of a group that exists merely for the sake of existing. Further, we feel no obligation to be Baptist just because we have always been Baptist. We do want to work cooperatively with like-minded believers. Often that means cooperating inside denomi-national lines.

If the younger generation seems to have no interest in Baptist life, perhaps it is because they do not know what Baptists believe. After more than two decades of denominational turmoil, we have grown adept at identifying our adversaries, but have failed to clearly communicate the beliefs we hold dear. Innumerable people grew up in Baptist churches but have no idea that Baptists believe in the priesthood of the believer, the autonomy of the local church, or religious liberty. I shutter to think how many are also in the dark regarding our beliefs on the Lordship of Christ, the Authority of the Bible, and our responsibility to make disciples.

I have heard many people who are concerned that we have lost an entire generation in Baptist life and want to find ways to reconnect with them. Perhaps the greater concern should be that we do not continue to lose succeeding generations. When we speak of preparing the next generation of Baptist leadership, let’s not stop with those who are between the ages of 35 and 50. Let’s not even stop with those who are in our seminaries and Baptist colleges. It is important that we begin with the youngest members of our Baptist churches in preparing leaders for our future. It is essential that we begin the process of education at an early age. We have been charged to raise our children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

But how do we begin to educate in Baptist beliefs while remaining true to our belief that religion must not be coerced? It has been written that, “Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes “the practice of freedom,” the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”1

After years of denominational disagreements with those who have strayed from historic Baptist principles, it would be easy to fall prey to the urge to use education only as a means to bring about conformity to our way of thinking. If we truly believe that Christ came to set us free, we must make education “the practice of freedom.” We must rise above the temptation to indoctrinate and instead educate as a means of preparing younger generations to transform their world.

We may not, as Aristotle, be concerned with the fate of empires, but we should be concerned with our effectiveness in advancing God’s Kingdom. It is time for us to equip and encourage a new generation to work alongside us. It is never too early (or too late) to begin the process of training leaders.

Footnotes

1Richard Shaull, Forward to Paulo Freire’s (1970) book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed