The National Baptist Convention Of America, Incorporated

Although the early history of Baptist's worship reflects an emphasis upon a public preaching service, National Baptists have recently moved from this narrow concept to a broader understanding of the worship experience. Members have expressed a deep longing to worship God rather than merely to hear the pastor preach. This broader understanding centers around the National Baptist's belief that God is truly present in their corporate worship.

Introduction. The member churches of the National Baptist Convention of America, Incorporated have always understood the significance of the worship experience in the light of their understanding of God and their understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. They accept the fact that God has revealed himself in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who has risen from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. The active presence of God in Jesus Christ is made real through the activity of the Holy Spirit. This means for member churches of the denomination that the worship experience is an expression of gratitude for all that God has done in Jesus Christ, and their obligation is to acknowledge God's goodness by rendering gratitude and praise. The Presence of God in the Worship Experience Throughout the long history of the Baptists, even though they have been soundly thrashed by critics for their seemingly unorthodox positions and so called peculiarities in worship, a keen and intuitive sense of the presence of God in personal devotional life and in the corporate worship of the church has always existed. Even though Baptists are accused of their pie-in-the-sky faith, they have always believed that the God they worship does make himself known and present in the contemporary affairs of human beings, and that God, through the Holy Spirit, is ever present in their services of corporate worship. Admittedly, Baptist churches, including the member churches of the National Baptist Convention of America, Incorporated, have never really focused upon the technical aspects of worship like many of the other mainline Protestant churches (denominations). Early history reflects that Baptists assembled for the public worship of God, but the emphasis was upon a public preaching service in which the pastor/preacher was the central figures conducting the service and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ with a teaching emphasis. National Baptists have moved, however, from this narrow concept to a broader understanding of the worship experience because of their deep commitment to worship God, rather than merely to hear the pastor (preacher) preach. National Baptists know that nowhere in Scripture is it affirmed that "?they who wait upon the preacher or preaching shall renew their strength …?" Member churches of the denomination in the twentieth century have improved their understanding of the worship experience, but more importantly, they have understood the spiritual reality that God is present, sensed, heard, and felt in their individual worship and each component of their corporate worship experience. Their commitment to God as Father of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, acknowledges God's presence in their personal lives and in their worship services. For National Baptists, God's presence is not a physical entity or limited by time. National Baptists believe that God has revealed himself through the work of the Holy Spirit. For them, this revelation is not a phantom or ghost-like presence, nor merely a symbolic presence. The congregation of the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas authenticates and expresses God's presence in a chant sung following the prayer of invocation:

Surely the Lord is in this place. Surely the Lord is in this place.

I can feel his presence. I can feel his presence in every place. Surely the Lord, Surely the Lord, Surely the Lord is in this place. Recognizing their inadequacies related to worship technicalities, National Baptists have begun to examine the components of their worship to make God's presence more evident in every component. The result is that National Baptists have come to realize that the corporate worship of the church as the body of Christ facilitates the adoration and praise of a God worthy of praise. Furthermore, corporate worship de-emphasizes the perception that God's presence is the sole experience of the individual. The so-called pie-in-the-sky theology or futuristic hope of God's presence reminiscent of earlier years by some member churches has been transformed to a hope in a God perceived as living, present, and active in Jesus Christ and active in the Holy Spirit's empowering function. The Presence of God in the Sacred Actions of the Church The renewed acknowledgment of the presence of God in worship is incorporated into the specific sacred actions and/or consecrated acts of worship designated as baptism, Communion (Lord's Supper), confirmation, ordination, marriage, and healing. Baptism and the Lord's Supper will be discussed at length in a subsequent section of this discussion. Suffice it here to say that baptism and the Lord's Supper are the two ordinances of the Baptist church which are practiced systematically. Every Baptist believes that God is present when performing these ordinances. The member churches of the National Baptist Convention of America, Incorporated do not adhere to the sacred act of confirmation. When a child less than eight years (not an arbitrarily selected age) affirms that he or she wishes to commit himself or herself to the lordship of Jesus Christ through the church, he or she is counseled by the pastor and other professional religious (Christian) counselors in an attempt to ascertain the level of spiritual maturity and commitment. If the pastor and/or professional Christian counselors determine that the child's spiritual maturity and commitment are acceptable, the child is then admitted to membership and required to participate in what is described as a new member class or as orientation ministry. Upon the completion of this experience, the child is admitted to full membership through a special act of fellowship recognition as a part of the worship service, where National Baptists believe God is present. Contrary to much public opinion, National Baptists do not establish age twelve as the acceptable age for full church membership. The marriage ceremony in National Baptist churches is an act of worship by the church as the body of Christ, reaffirming the intimate relationship of the church as the bride of Christ. National Baptists believe that persons who come to the church to be married reinforce the Christian idea of the family of God, and that this act of worship, praise, and thanksgiving is offered to the God revealed in Jesus Christ who initiated Christian marriage. There is no specific sacred act of healing in the member churches, but most member churches of the denomination conduct a period of intercessory prayer for members with all kinds of problems which accompany life. When individual members request the need for prayer for specific persons with physical, emotional, psychological, financial, and social problems, special periods are devoted to intensive prayer for these persons. Although these prayers are offered by the pastor and other members, there is never the claim that healing is a result of the pastor or other individuals, but a demonstration of the power of God to heal through Jesus Christ. Again, the contention of member churches is that the power to heal is attributed to the powerful presence of God. Ordinances Practiced The National Baptist Convention of America, Incorporated practices the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper; thus, it is in accord with all of the mainline churches of America with the possible exception of the Friends and the Quakers. The administrator for these two ordinances is an ordained pastor (minister) who may be assisted by ordained deacons. The Ordinance of Baptism. Member churches of the denomination prefer the term ordinance rather than sacrament because the latter term conveys to them the negative meaning that baptism as a sacrament communicates a means of saving grace. This preference is buttressed by the conviction that salvation comes only through the redemptive act of Jesus Christ and not through the sacraments. For member churches, baptism as an ordinance has historical and spiritual roots. National Baptists believe that the ordinance was instituted and ordained by Jesus Christ himself as substantiated by his baptism in the river Jordan (Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21). Additionally, they believe that baptism represents the centrality of the gospel message and is the initial act, following conversion, for entry into the church fellowship as the body of Christ. National Baptist churches administer the ordinance of baptism to new converts in obedience to the command of Jesus Christ. However, they also believe that baptism has a future or eschatological significance in that it is the consummation of the Christian hope for eternal life. National Baptists, like most contemporary Baptists, consider the ordinance of baptism as a symbolic act which belongs to the church as the body of Christ and not as an act of obedience solely for the individual convert to Christianity. The symbolism of the act removes, as indicated before, baptism from being defined as a sacramental act. National Baptists are quick to respond that this does not mean that God is not included in the act. Indeed, for Baptists, God is present in the conversion experience in addition to baptism. Thus baptism is not purely a human act nor is it a magical or mechanical distribution of salvation. The mode of baptism for Baptist has been written about and discussed greatly. Some member churches have narrowly mandated one mode of baptism to the exclusion of modes practiced by other churches. Yet, the preferred practice for most Baptists is immersion. Most Baptists encourage baptism by immersion because immersion is the root meaning of the word baptize and is the mode which appears in the New Testament. More importantly, member churches do not commit themselves to infant baptism because they believe such acceptance suggests sacramental implications, i.e., that something happens to the child which may be interpreted as God's grace. Furthermore, for member churches, baptism by immersion is rich and resplendent with symbolism related to the conversion experience—death to the old life of sin, the burial of the old life, and the rising to newness of life with Christ Jesus. This symbolic trilogy for National Baptists also symbolizes Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. The symbolism is also continued in the Trinitarian benediction formula "?in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Spirit).?" While this Trinitarian formula has a meaningful history, some few churches of the denomination have begun to take a hard look at the Trinitarian formula because it may not always convey that this sacred act of baptism is an initiation into Christ's church. Nevertheless, National Baptists believe that baptism is the most distinguishing act of the church as the body of Christ with a time and spiritual-honored place which is a preliminary for participating in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. The Ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Member churches believe that the observance of the Lord's Supper is predicated upon the three-pronged essential qualities which they also attribute to baptism. They believe that the Lord's Supper is observed in obedience to the command of Christ, that it represents the proclamation of the central truth of the gospel message, and that it is an act of the church as the Body of Christ rather than a personal act for the individual convert. Given the many ascriptions to the ordinance (Eucharist, Communion, Holy Communion, the Last Supper, the Lord's Table), member churches prefer the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper, just like baptism, is perceived by National Baptists as a symbolic experience commemorating the sacrificial act of redemption by Jesus Christ to provide humanity's salvation, but not as a means of communicating sacramental grace. The symbolism of this ordinance means that members of the churches partake of Christ's broken body and his shed blood by eating bread and drinking wine (or its substitute). The symbolism is carried further when member churches take the words of the biblical injunction seriously in John 6:53–56, "?He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him.?" The biblical passage most used by National Baptists is 1 Corinthians 11:24b–26, "?This do in remembrance of me.?" This is perceived by National Baptists as the divine command by Christ himself. Other biblical passages such as Mark 14:22–24, Luke 22:17–20, and Matthew 26:26–29 certify for them that the Lord's Supper is an act mandated for the church in the Bible. There are a few churches of the denomination which contend that the divine command of Christ is meant more for new converts (disciples), but most churches contend that the ordinance of the Lord's Supper is an act mandated for the entire church. Varied interpretations of the meaning of the Lord's Supper can be found in the members churches of the denomination. These differing interpretations usually depend on the location of the church and the teachings of the pastor. Member churches reject the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation (the transforming of the bread and the wine into the actual body and blood of Christ). They also reject the Lutheran view of consubstantiation, which focuses too much upon the new convert and the maturity of the new convert's faith. National Baptists straddle the fence between the Calvinistic view which focuses upon the real presence of Christ as being spiritual rather than a bodily presence and the Zwinglian view that the Lord's Supper is a memorial meal in which Christians commemorate the sacrificial death of Christ. The Zwinglian interpretation is adopted by many member churches, but it is not the prevailing view. Some member churches adopt the Calvinistic view. Thus, contrary to the prevailing notion that Baptists have a special interpretation of the Lord's Supper, National Baptists have no special Baptist interpretation. Within the last twenty-five years, National Baptists have moved from a very narrow and strict interpretation of how the Supper is to be observed. As late as 1965, some member churches still contended that the Lord's Supper should be closed, i.e., only Baptists should partake the ordinance in a Baptist church. This narrow interpretation, with very few exceptions, is no longer observed in most National Baptist churches. The only requisite which member churches insist upon is that the ordinance of baptism precede the Lord's Supper in logical sequence because baptism is perceived as the initial act of entry into the church as the Body of Christ and the Lord's Supper is perceived as the second step which facilitates fellowship, nurturing, teaching about the faith, and demonstrating of one's commitment to Christ. Through the observance of these two ordinances, National Baptists celebrate an affinity with most of the mainline Protestant churches in America today. Empowering Lay Ministry National Baptists, like most mainline churches in America, do not provide special observances for empowering lay ministry as they do for the ordained ministry of the church. Lay ministries in member churches include many different areas of Christian service. One can participate in a teaching ministry (Christian education), or a mission ministry which is the primary focus of the missionary society groups. On other hand, many men are participating in the Brotherhood or Laymen's ministry which presents the gospel to men whose numbers are declining in the church, provides nurturing for young men, and ministers to external communities and social agencies. Furthermore, the evangelistic ministry is designed to train congregations and equip them for witnessing and soul-winning. While member churches of the denomination have no special rites empowering and/or commissioning these ministries, some local churches place a day on the calendar for special celebrations which focus upon the importance of these ministries and raise financial assistance to insure that these ministries remain a vital force in presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ at home and abroad.