"A new Christendom, originating from the Two Thirds World, is rising to take the place of the old" George Bullard, church consultant and former executive director of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina has declared.
Bullard was speaking at the executive committee meeting of the North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF) in Atlanta this month.
He said, "The next Christendom will not be organised in a centralised or decentralised way, but in a distributive way."
In addition, Bullard also explained that there are other characteristics of the new phenomenon. More and more will be done through congregations than through denominational structures, including ordaining pastors and other leaders directly out of congregations.
These developments, among others, may lead to the questioning of the existence of denominational organisations themselves, as there may be the view that much that is done through these denominational centres can be done better through the local church, a Baptist World Alliance (BWA) release explains.
There will be greater fragmentation. Among the factors pulling in this direction include the freer, expressive worship that characterize Two Thirds World Christians as against their contemporaries in the north. Healings, exorcism, and spiritual warfare will gain greater prominence. There will be more emphasis on holiness, spiritual development, and prayer.
He told that Baptists from the southern hemisphere are mission-focused and do not, for the most part, see a dichotomy between social action and spirituality.
According to Bullard, "Evangelism and social ministry will not be divided. They will be one, seamless in their execution, and indivisible conceptually. Caring for the whole person will be the hallmark of congregational ministry. A driving force will be life transformation and its implications for community transformation."
Baptist World Alliance (BWA) General Secretary Denton Lotz, in an invited response, concurred with Bullard. Lotz noted the shift in the demographic of Christians. Whereas 85 percent of all Christians were in Europe and North America in 1905, the number of Christians changed dramatically to more than 60 percent in the Two Thirds World by 2005.
"North America faces the challenge of doctrine," Lotz asserted. The BWA leader, who retires at the end of 2007, noted that "There is a challenge between the heart and the head," between authentic belief and action. This new tension is what faces old Christendom as the new Christendom rises.
The NABF, which unites most of the major Baptist conventions and unions in North America, has 36 member bodies representing more than 20 million baptised believers.
