non-conformist and proud of it

I feel the need to get something off my chest. It’s not much of a confession, but it is something that is bugging me.

I have not been watching much of the coverage of the Pope’s visit to our little island, but what I have seen has made me annoyed. I am not annoyed at the Pope, or what he has said and done. I am not anti-Catholic: far from it, I believe we are all part of the universal Church of Jesus. But I have been annoyed at the way in which his visit has been treated by the media. Reporters constantly talk of ‘The Church’ and it irritates me. They do the same when they are reporting on things Anglican Bishops say and do, when the Pope is not it town. My Protestant hackles have been rising.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I really am all for the unity of the Church – after all, that’s one of the things Jesus prayed for in Gethsemane. In my last post working with the Baptist Union of Great Britain I described myself as ‘ecumenically promiscuous’, by which I meant I would work with any Christians for the sake of the gospel. I do believe in the universal Church, by which I mean all Christians in the world. Christian churches of all flavours are working far more closely now than for many years and that is absolutely brilliant! We should always do together what we can do best together and encourage each other in what we need to do on our own. We have different styles, different emphases, different ways of being church, but we are like the different regiments in the British Army: they have different traditions and even different ways of being soldiers, but are all on the same team. I pray that God will bless and use all of us in his mission and ministry.

The lazy journalism that has got me riled suggests that the Pope is head of The Church, not just the Roman Catholic Church. It places all Christians within one tradition and ignores history, growth, and the vibrant life in the different Christian traditions. The Pope does not speak for me. I don’t agree with some aspects of different traditions of Christian church. Like my Baptist forefathers four centuries ago I am a dissenter. I am a non-conformist and proud of it.

I am part of a tradition within the Christian church that has over 46 million members (within the Baptist World Alliance alone, there are other Baptists that are not part of the BWA). There are about 140,000 members in Baptist churches within the Baptist Union of Great Britain, about as many Buddhists in the country, with many more people attending our churches who are not members. Yet if you looked only at the media you would not know we existed!

I am not after status, but it would be nice if sometimes the media realised that there are other sorts of Christian out there than Roman Catholics (and the Church of England when the Pope’s not here).

Rant over. I feel better now.