The other day I had to do a short talk about being Baptist at a youth service. Of course I laboured the point that we need to be Christian first and always express our differences with other Christians with humility, respect and love. But I structured the talk around the following metrics as a way for folks to see how important Baptist distinctive were for them. It was a fun way to have the discussion and get them to think about their own beliefs. Afterwards I wondered about turning it into one of those annoying facebook quizzes or putting on the church website.
How Baptist are you?
(0=don’t agree, 1=don’t care, 2=I like the idea, 3=I agree with this, 4=this is important, 5=this is essential)
Credo/Believer’s Baptism Only (vs paedo/infant) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Baptism by Immersion Only (vs sprinkling, etc) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Soul Competency/Liberty (vs church, govt, family) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Salvation by Faith Alone (vs religion, good works, etc) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Scripture Alone Authority (vs tradition, hierarchy, etc) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Congregational Autonomy (vs hierarchy, etc) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Priority of Evangelism and Mission 0 1 2 3 4 5
Totals
0-7 = Definitely not a Baptist
8-14 = Vaguely Baptist Compatible
15-21 = Luke Warm Baptist
22-28 = Strong Baptist
29-35 = More Baptist Than John
What was your score?
How could I make the test better?
What have I missed out?