Voices: Texas Baptists are historically rooted

Last week, I shared that Texas Baptists are gospel-centered. The lostness and brokenness in Texas and around the world are our biggest challenges. Fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission is our greatest task. Partnership with Baptists around the world through the Baptist World Alliance for the sake of the gospel is our greatest opportunity to finish the task.

As I reflect on the third Texas Baptists descriptor, historically rooted, and on the early church’s description in Acts 2, I’m reminded our faith is rooted around the table of Christ, where he commands us to “remember him.”

Remembering our beginning

The Christian faith is rooted in a historical event: the death and resurrection of Jesus. The church today finds its bearings in the story of the early church. It is in remembering the work of Christ, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the teaching of the apostles that we find ourselves.

Texas Baptists remember our roots. We celebrate 140 years of rich history. We are mindful what we experience in the present and what we hope for in the future is built on a solid foundation. Many have given, worked, served, sacrificed, and passed the baton to us.

When there were five different Baptist state bodies in Texas, leaders such as B.H. Carroll, J.B. Cranfill, J.M. Carroll, and Robert C. Buckner had the vision of bringing these bodies together to form one convention for better cooperation and kingdom work effectiveness. The first meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas took place on June 29, 1886.

Article II of the BGCT’s constitution reads as follows: “The object of this Convention shall be to awaken and stimulate among the churches the greatest possible activity in evangelism, missions, Christian education, and benevolent work and enterprises; to cultivate a closer cooperation among the churches and promote harmony of feeling and concert of action in advancing all the interests of the Redeemer’s Kingdom.”

Remembering our early years

A few years earlier, Buckner had established the Buckner Orphans Home, serving orphans and widows after the Civil War. Baylor University and what became the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor had been established in 1845. Soon, other universities were established, including Howard Payne, Hardin-Simmons, and Decatur (now Dallas) Baptist.

In 1905, Baylor Theological Seminary was founded by Texas Baptists in Waco as part of Baylor University, which three years later would become Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The Texas Baptists Christian Life Commission was established in 1950, the first ethics agency related to a Baptist convention in the U.S., contributing later to the formation of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The precursor of the SBC’s Cooperative Program, the $75 million campaign, was led by George W. Truett, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. The first missionaries to Brazil, the Bagbys, were from First Baptist Church in Waco.

These are but a few examples of the rich history of Texas Baptists. While we cannot live in the past, we recognize our history informs our identity and our future.

Let us remember what Christ did for us. Let us remember how the early church lived out the gospel. Let us remember the history of Texas Baptists as we live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Julio Guarneri is the executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. This opinion article is adapted from his July 15 weekly update.