Back to the Future

Throughout the Back to the Future series, Marty McFly, a hapless teen­ager, continually saves the present, and the future, by going back to the past in his DeLorean. While the series didn’t help anyone understand anything about science (still, how cool is a flux capacitor?), there is one valuable takeaway: The past was once the present, and the present is what dictates the future. For Christian theology, this is an invalu­able reminder.

For pastors, ignoring the past is both foolish and dangerous. During my first stop in vocational ministry, I met a young man who had only recently been called to his first pastorate. Over the next two years, I watched as this young, uneducated preacher moved from a shallow or­thodoxy into the deep waters of heresy. As he preached week-in and week-out, he began to “see” things in the text of Scripture that led him to believe that Jesus was created by the Father. He began to embrace heresies condemned long ago as unscriptural.

In his mind, he had found something that no one else had ever found before; he was the next great theologian. But in reality, he was simply another hack heretic who would hurt believers and eventually drop out of ministry. Looking back, I wonder how a little knowledge of church history could have prevented his errors. What if he had been aware of the christological controversies in the early church and the orthodox response to the claims he was making? I believe he would still be in the ministry.

Ignorance is Problematic for Polity

For many pastors, ignoring church history will not lead to theological errors regarding the deity of Christ, but it can lead to many practi­cal errors. For much of my undergraduate education, I assumed that a democratically elected board of deacons who served in three-year terms led all churches throughout history. I was utterly floored the first time I found out that this was not the norm throughout Christian history—not even in my Southern Baptist tradition. I was shocked to learn that elders and deacons were not the same thing and that there were churches that took seriously both the distinctions between these roles and the biblical qualifications assigned to these offices. I began to rethink these matters, not because of a new approach to exegesis but because of history. These distinctions long existed, and the biblical qualifications for these roles mattered.

Through this exploration I discovered that most Christians go through life with incredible historical bias and prejudice without re­alizing it. For instance, as an American, I assumed that democracy is a “Christian” thing and that churches have always practiced this form of government. I was wrong. I found that many, including my own tradi­tion, had formerly practiced a much more biblical form of church gov­ernment: elder-led congregationalism.

Moreover, as I began to examine the historical distinctions that led to the current state of my own tradition, I found out that Southern Baptists were not always deacon-led, democratic congregationalists who hate dancing and syncopated rhythms. Instead, ours is a tradition that emphasizes baptism by immersion, religious liberty, regenerate church membership, and biblical authority (among other distinctives). History led me to understand that I was not a Baptist by tradition, but by conviction. Tradition that lacks biblical conviction can only lead to error. Convictions informed by traditions protect against error.

This principle is incredibly important. It’s now a matter of public record that denominations are in decline. Most millennials find de­nominational affiliation problematic. One impetus for this disdain of denominations arises from a misunderstanding regarding the purpose of denominations. In my experience, most Baptists aren’t sure why they are Baptist. This alone would be bad enough, but many pastors in various traditions also aren’t entirely sure why they align with the denomination in which they find themselves.

I am convinced, pastors, that if you became aware of the histor­ical-theological basis for your denominational tradition, you would either jump ship or become reinvigorated in your support for your tra­dition. If you are passionate for your tradition, many in your congrega­tions will be as well. Stories shape our lives. Our traditions have a story to tell. It’s time we hear those stories and tell those stories.

This blog post is an excerpt from Hartman’s new book Church History for Modern Ministry: Why Our Past Matters for Everything We Do.

Dayton Hartman is the founding pastor of Redeemer Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and serves as an adjunct professor for Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dayton has earned a M.A. from Liberty University and a Ph.D in Church and Dogma History from North-West University (Potchefstroom).  Dayton is a regular contributor at For The Church and lives in Rocky Mount with his wife Rebekah and their two sons, Jude and Gavin. His personal website is www.daytonhartman.com.