a manifesto from 1997 for 2011

It's Christmas Eve, but I find my mind looking forward to 2011.

Reading about mission and the majority world church today, I came across this manifesto statement composed by Jim McClendon with five other ministers in 1997 ("Reenvisioning Baptist Identity: A Manifesto for Baptist Communities in North America," Baptists Today, 26 June 1997, pp8-10).

I'm not quite sure what a theory of 'soul competency' is, but apart from that, it's a vision worth sharing and putting into practice:

1. We affirm Bible Study in reading communities, rather than relying on private interpretation or supposed 'scientific' objectivity.
2. We affirm following Jesus as a call to shared discipleship rather than invoking a theory of soul competency.
3. We affirm a free common life in Christ in gathered, reforming communities rather than withdrawn, self-chosen, or authoritarian ones.
4. We affirm baptism, preaching and the Lord's table as powerful signs that seal God's faithfulness in Christ and express our response of awed gratitude rather than as mechanical rituals or mere symbols.
5. We affirm freedom and renounce coercion as a distinct people under God rather than relying on political theories, powers or authorities.