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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses Bound together in the liberty of Christ: Renewing Baptist collaboration in mission. CLAYDON, JOHN,RICHARD How to cite: CLAYDON, JOHN,RICHARD (2013) Bound together in the liberty of Christ: Renewing Baptist collaboration in mission. , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9420/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Bound together in the liberty of Christ: Renewing Baptist collaboration in mission. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Theology and Ministry in Durham University Department of Theology and Religion By John Richard Claydon 2013 1 Abstract Bound together in the liberty of Christ: Renewing Baptist collaboration in mission. By John Richard Claydon Baptists are a historic mainstream Christian denomination whose origins are found in the Radical Reformation expressed in the English Separatists and the Anabaptists. Having a strong emphasis upon covenanting together as local churches, they have developed a deep sense of liberty for the local church and also theoretically for their translocal relationships, which is ultimately expressed in Associations and the Baptist Union of Great Britain. The contention of this thesis is that the independency of local liberty has seriously disabled the more effective collaboration to which they aspire. The aim of the thesis is to establish the means for renewing Baptist collaboration in mission in ways that are faithful to the nature of Baptist theology and culture. Baptist sociality is explained and explored through the lens of Group-Grid theory in order to provide a framework for understanding the different cultures of the local church, Association and Union. This is then explored by the analysis of the fieldwork interviews which examines the perceptions of 30 Baptists, involved in a variety of spheres of Baptist life, regarding distinctive features of Baptist culture, issues relating to translocal collaboration, collaborative strategy and leadership, with a particular emphasis upon attitudes to translocal finance, known as Home Mission. The tensions of independency vis-à-vis interdependency are then examined through the lenses of Baptist history and theology, Methodism and bureaucracy in order to discover successful precedents from the past and models from other sources, that will enable Baptists to overcome the strong inclination to independency and enter into a more mature interdependency expressed in inter-church relationships as well as those between churches, Associations and the Union, leading to more effective mission. 2 Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of figures ........................................................................................................................ 6 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... 7 Statement of copyright ............................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 8 Dedication ................................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 9 1.1. Setting the scene ...................................................................................................... 9 1.1.1. Personal anthropology ................................................................................... 10 1.1.2. The aim of the thesis ...................................................................................... 12 1.1.3. The methodology of the fieldwork ................................................................ 13 1.2. Baptist Strategy: an organisational matter ............................................................ 18 1.2.1. Who is the strategy for?................................................................................. 18 1.2.2. The Union and leadership .............................................................................. 18 1.2.3. Is organisation theory appropriate for the church? ...................................... 19 1.3. Literature survey .................................................................................................... 20 1.3.1. Baptist life, culture and theology ................................................................... 21 1.3.2. Baptist history ................................................................................................ 23 1.3.3. Anthropology and Sociology .......................................................................... 25 1.3.4. Methodism ..................................................................................................... 26 1.3.5. Organisational Studies ................................................................................... 27 1.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 2: Living in Translocal Community ........................................................................... 30 2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 30 2.2. Cultural Theory ...................................................................................................... 30 2.2.1. Cultural Theory .............................................................................................. 30 2.2.2. Baptist Sociality .............................................................................................. 35 2.3. Translocal Structural Relationships ........................................................................ 41 2.3.1. Associations ................................................................................................... 42 2.3.2. The Baptist Union of Great Britain ................................................................. 43 2.3.3. Home Mission ................................................................................................ 47 3 2.3.4. Translocal Ministries ...................................................................................... 52 2.3.5. Translocal Authority ....................................................................................... 53 2.3.6. Union and Association relationship ............................................................... 55 2.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 56 Chapter 3: Purse, Practice and Possibilities ........................................................................... 57 3.1. Analysis of the fieldwork interviews ...................................................................... 57 3.1.1. Baptist Culture ............................................................................................... 57 3.1.2. Home Mission ................................................................................................ 68 3.1.3. Strategic decisions about finance .................................................................. 92 3.1.4. Leadership and governance ......................................................................... 101 3.1.5. Association Life ............................................................................................ 105 3.2. Preliminary observations ..................................................................................... 112 Chapter 4: Covenanted together under Christ: Baptist history, theology and culture ....... 115 4.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 115 4.2. Local Church: The Church as the local covenanted community .......................... 118 4.2.1. The Local church as a strongly bounded group ........................................... 118 4.2.2. The Local church and regulation .................................................................. 121 4.3. Translocal Organisation: Associations and the Union ......................................... 125 4.3.1. Baptist translocal organisations ................................................................... 125 4.3.2. Associations ................................................................................................. 128 4.3.3. Union ............................................................................................................ 129 4.4. Translocal Ministries ...........................................................................................
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