(ABP) -- In December I was talking with a promising 30-something Christian who has moved into the Atlanta area. Our conversation strikes me as a good place to begin 2010 -- because it has to do with the vitality and future of the Baptist family to which most readers of this column are committed.

Bill was raised in a prominent Southern Baptist congregation where he eventually came to play a significant role of leadership. His years at this church and his wide reading formed him as a committed, theologically orthodox Christian. When choosing a seminary Bill picked a school outside of the Baptist fold. He eventually helped start a couple of non-denominational churches before coming back to the Atlanta area with his wife, Linda, when she landed a prize job in her field.

Bill and Linda’s entire future lies in front of them, and this couple’s church choices are not constrained by the denominational loyalty of earlier generations. Bill told me that in surveying the landscape he and his wife were hoping to find at least one of two following realities, both if possible: they seek a church deeply anchored in the theological-liturgical tradition of the historic church universal. But they also seek the compelling spiritual vitality and passion most evident among charismatic Christians.

I asked Bill whether Baptists are in the running. Did they meet either of these criteria? He said that Baptist churches were usually neither deeply rooted in the ancient theological and liturgical traditions of the church, nor generally brimming with compelling spiritual vitality and passion. Ouch.

Picture a road that comes to a fork. One fork heads in the direction of Europe, toward Rome or Canterbury. The other heads south, toward places like Guatemala, Zimbabwe, South Korea, and all over the United States -- anywhere charismatics and Pentecostals gather. Christians today are choosing one or the other of these paths -- either the rootedness of sober, thoughtful ancient traditions tested over time, or the vitality of Spirit-filled congregations shouting praises and weeping laments before God.

And so what of the Baptists? Is there a third fork in the road, one that leads our way?

We will clearly lose Bill and Linda. We are losing many more like them. I cannot tell you the number of young Christians I know, raised in Baptist churches, graduates of Baptist universities, who have ended up either Anglican or non-denominational/charismatic.

As a Baptist, I pray we are not on a dead-end path. If that is not to be, we will have to find a way forward that has some kind of organic continuity with our past. We cannot simply imitate either the high liturgism of the Catholics and Anglicans or the emotional passion of the charismatics. We don’t do either of these very well, and our efforts often feel awkward and forced.

We have our own historic strengths that we can build upon. At our best, we have studied and preached the Bible with skill and clarity. We have had not so much a great, high theological tradition but a working, grassroots theology and ethic that has often grounded lives well lived. We have strong traditions of sharing our faith with others by word and deed, in evangelism, mission and service. We have served children well in many generations, and often have had the most vibrant youth groups for miles around. We have sometimes been quite good at making committed disciples out of struggling seekers. We have traditions of moral sobriety and rigor and have expected much of ourselves. We have had a profound internal community life that has carried many people through good times and bad.

Most important, at our best we have loved Jesus. We have immersed ourselves in the story of his life and have so much wanted to be like him that his life has worked its way into our life. Many Baptists “have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back” --  and have not turned back.   

I believe that there is a path ahead for us that can learn from both Canterbury and Azusa Street but that reflects our own indigenous, organic history. It is a path that can mean a vibrant future for Baptists. But there are no guarantees for our future in a context that seems to lead the shrinking population of Christians in our country toward other communities of faith. We need leadership and vision, and we need it now.

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David Gushee is distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University.

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