BAPTISTS: Say What?

A move by Southern Baptists to bar enlistment of missionaries who profess to speak in tongues as they pray is stirring some controversy within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

by Anita Wadhwani (The Tennessean)

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention’s international missionary branch say their vote in November to ban the private practice of speaking in tongues – which they call “private prayer language” – is in line with Baptist traditions and the beliefs of most Baptists.

Southern Baptist ministers opposed to the new directive include those who say they or other Baptist church members have been taken over during prayer by the Holy Spirit and made to utter words in languages they often do not understand.

“Are we now going to set a policy that says if God in his sovereignty gives someone a prayer language, we are now going to disqualify them?” says Rick White, pastor of the 6,000 member Baptist-affiliated People’s Church in Franklin, Tenn. “My concern is, who’s next?”

The article.

Toward the end of the article …

Baptist experts say openly speaking in tongues from the pews is a rare phenomenon that is frowned upon by most in the denomination.

My question: What is a “Baptist expert?”

Growing up in the rural South, there were “understandings.” A Baptist who started speaking in tongues would understand the necessity to join the Pentecostal (later, Assemblies of God) church. A Baptist predestined for better business connections might understand the need to become a Presbyterian. A Baptist who moved up the social ladder, unless of course he was a member of “First Church,” would understand the need to join the Episcopal church. Obviously, these “understandings” now need an interpreter.

Wait … isn’t that similar to what St Paul said?

HT: News Forum