Thursday, May 03, 2007

Van Neste on the Ordinances

Here's a paper I hope a lot of Baptist pastors will read and take to heart: Reinvigorating Baptist Practice of the Ordinances, by Ray Van Neste. Dr. Van Neste suggests four reasons for the neglect of the ordinances in our churches: (1) the Church bought the cultural assumption that ritual is bad; (2) our culture has lost its ability to appreciate symbolism; (3) there has been a serious downgrade in substantive biblical teaching in the Church; (4) our entertainment-driven worship services cause us to view baptism and communion as things that take up too much time and get in the way.

He goes on to show why baptism and the Lord's Supper are important, and argues specifically for immediate, as-soon-as-possible baptisms and weekly communion. Amen!