Religion: Return of the Baptists

Fifty years ago, speakers at the first congress of the Baptist World Alliance pounded the rostrum in London's massive, red brick Royal Albert Hall, predicted that the Alliance's next meeting in London would find the world's 6,000,000 Baptists doubled in number, London's streets less congested, pubs banished and the Church of England separated from the state.

Last week some 9,000 Baptists from 60 countries drove through London's congested streets, past hundreds of pubs and dozens of state-related Anglican churches, back to historic Royal Albert Hall for the first time in 50 years. There, as the Golden Jubilee Congress of the Baptist World Alliance opened, they learned that one prediction had come true beyond all expectations: since 1905, the number of Baptists has soared to more than 20 million, in one of the most phenomenal growths ever experienced by a major denomination.

Quick Answer. Delegates filled hotels, hostels and private homes; 400 youths camped in tents just outside London. Blue-robed Nigerians with pagan tribal scars mingled with costumed Finns and with Indians in colored voile gowns. As usual, the U.S. sent the biggest delegation : 4,000 men and women, hung with cameras, the men wearing broad-brimmed hats, bright neckties and, occasionally, cowboy boots. Great Britain provided 1,600 delegates, Canada 500, Germany 300. Nine Russian Baptists showed up (Russian Baptists have been missing from alliance congresses since 1928), but there were no delegates from other Iron Curtain countries or from Spain (Franco refused exit permits).

As head of the British Council of Churches, the Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed them all to Britain, immediately touched a Baptist sore spot by making a plea for "the drawing together of the Church of Christ in the ecumenical movement." He got a quick answer from jovial, chubby Alliance President F. (for Fred) Townley Lord, a London pastor. Said Lord: "We decline to equate brotherly cooperation with sacrifice of essential principles . . . We do not share the views of those who talk about organizational division of Christendom as 'sin.'"

Consistent Radicals. Herbert GeTork, president of Massachusetts' Andover Newton Theological School, spelled out Baptist beliefs (authority of the Bible, fellowship of believers, necessity of evangelism), hailed Baptists as "the most consistent and radical Protestants." When it came to resolutions, the congress:

¶Urged each Baptist to "make an honest effort to win at least one soul during the coming year for Jesus Christ."

¶Passed, at the urging of Russian delegates, a warning about the danger of war and nuclear weapons.

¶Declared itself "unalterably opposed to racial discrimination in every form."

¶ Resolved that "intolerant churches and systems of religious organization can be as grave a menace to liberty as governments . . ."