Baptist Union? Evangelical Alliance? Can someone put me straight please?

[RufousBartleby]

I'm trying to find the 'right' church for me and DS to attend, but I'm getting a bit bogged down by all the denominations. As a child I attended a methodist church and this was nice enough, but I never found it particularly engaging (though this may have been because the congregation were mostly elderly).

One of the most welcoming churches in the area is a baptist church but I notice that they are members of, and adhere to the code of the Baptist Union and the Evangelical Alliance. I've had a look on the internet, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me in reality what kind of beliefs this would mean that they held?

I'm looking for a very gentle church with fairly flexible ideas, for example I don't believe the bible is the actual word of god, in a literal heaven and hell etc - I don't want DS to hear anything anti-pro choice, anti homosexual etc. To give some idea I went to quaker meetings before his birth, but have just found it impractical to continue since as there is no provision for children his age.

Churches that are members of the Baptist Union (BUGB) can vary quite widely: it's a sizeable denomination and covers a variety of churches.

Key beliefs common to all Baptists would be:

1. Church Government/Authority

In all Baptist Churches the power/authority is with God and the Bible firstly, but then with the Church Meeting - this is made up of all current members of the church. (This is in contrast to other denominations, some of which have 'power' with the Elders; or the Church Council; or the clergy, bishops, Pope etc.)

1. Baptism

Baptists believe that baptism should be performed when someone is old enough to make a decision for themselves, and will usually be by total immersion. (However, nowadays most Baptist Churches have many many members who were baptised as infants.)

link to BUGB

The Member of the EA is probably slightly more significant in the kind of beliefs you may find in the church.

The EA is an "evangelical" organisation, and is generally more right wing/conservative than your average Baptist Church. But very unlikely in this day and age to be creationists.

EA Statement of Faith

Why not go along for a bit and see how you find it. At most Baptist Churches the preacher will be the Minister of that particular church most weeks, and so it should become clear fairly early on as to where his beliefs lie and whether you feel comfortable with that.

baptist union will be as roisin said more liberalm, but baptist union is more an association of churches they have no authority over members or standard practices but will all subscribe to statement of faith, a church may leave baptist union or may be asked to leave but every church is a self governing bosy answerable only to members of that church, there is no higher authority like in more hierachial systems like Cof E or catholic,

evangelical churches will be the same in this respect, but are likely to be more conservative on moral issues,

not hearing anything anti pro-choice as he grows up might be a little more difficult as even quite liberal churches are not really supportive of the idea of abortion on demand, more conseravtive ones would be anti on any ( or nearly all) grounds

see how you feel after a few visits but from what you have said I think EA maybe too conservative for you

Thanks for your replies - I was wondering how conservative the Evangelical Alliance would be, I guess it may be quite?

I know what you mean about pro-choice, may be I'm being a bit unrealistic on that one? I guess I would settle for there being no strong line on that issue.

Any suggestions of what might be more suitable if not this church?

Just had a look at the EA statement of faith. Can anyone tell me about the last point:

11.The personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.

Is an actual second coming of Jesus a 'mainstream' Christian belief - is that was this is referring to. I always thought it was a bit more symbolic than literal - no?

IME many Baptist churches are likely to be less liberal than Methodist churches; and you are more likely to be expected to really give your life to God.

believing in the afterlife and heaven are mainstream christian beliefs nearly all believe in heaven though some would say hell was more annihalation than fire and brimstone.

the second coming is the belief that eventually at the end of the world Christ will come again and that those who are already dead those spirits/ souls are already with jesus will be joined by those who believe but are alive at second coming ... also known as final day of judgment. to be honest there are very few churches where there is very much if any preaching on that subject, tends to be more small house group discussions

that said it is difficult to interpret the bible on what it means ( even if believe literally) as there are many differing views all very interesting theologically but all boil down to roughly the same point that after death there is a judgment based on your faith and life and once dead there is no second chance so it is important to be in the right place with god as we do not know the dya when either we will day or whether christ will come in the night the only thing you can be sure of is that it will not be on any of the predicted days as the bible does say "it will come as a thief in the night when no one was expecting it" pity the daft american who said it was going to be the friday before last had not read that bit!

most churches would not be discussing homosexuality or abortion with pre-teens, if DS is young then that is not a primary issue if he is about 12 it probably is as Cat says there are some lively discussions

lively churches are generally lively because people are fairly committed

Cat64 - that's a good point. DS is 18 months, and you are right, it wouldn't matter if there was a congregation who thought exactly as I do if they weren't tolerant of a small exuberant person it would be pointless.

I think because I live in such a large urban area I've almost got too much choice!

Sarahtigh thank you - you make some good points

My Anglican church is a member of the Evangelical Alliance.

The Second Coming is an orthodox belief:

"He will come again to judge the living and the dead"

I think the key thing is not to get too bogged down by theology. For instance in the C of E church we most often go to there are: people who believe the bible is the literal word of God including Adam and Eve etc; to people who hold a much very loose/liberal theology; several members of the congregation have homosexual friends, including one woman who used to hold quite "homophobic" views, whose son is Gay and works for a church. There are a wide range of understandings of what the bible means by Heaven and Hell and so on.

I would look instead for somewhere which is tolerant, outward looking and welcoming.

I would have thought that your main priority in finding a new church is good provision for children and families and a community that accept you as a person.
We attend a baptist church and have never heard anything about abortion or homosexuality. Baptist churches in the US have strong views on these issues but there are generally more tolerant views in the UK.
To become a member of a baptist church they would expect you to respect the bible and teaching/preaching is usually bible based - but not to take everything in it literally and to have made some sort of Christian commitment (they usually accept C of E confirmation as well as adult baptism). But usually there are many people who attend who are not members as well so don't let this put you off.