Commission on Evangelization

Obstacles to Evangelizing Together

The obstacles to evangelizing together are powerful, historical and fundamental. The Commission and both speakers identified the main obstacle as ignorance of one another’s language, beliefs and practices. That ignorance leads to misunderstanding, mistrust and fear. Consequently, ecumenical education is critical to pursuing ministry together.

Baptists strongly believe in the sole authority of the Bible, personal conversion, simplified worship, local church autonomy and the separation of church and state.

Catholics value highly the sacraments, find religious authority in both Scripture and Tradition, practice liturgical forms of worship and have hierarchical governance.

— From a pamphlet: Myth: Baptists Are Anti-Catholic, published by Baptist Historical Society

Other obstacles for Baptists identified by Rev. Simmons are:

• Competition and ego. Doing ministry projects together is well and good, but how do we deal with people who become interested in pursuing a relationship with Jesus? Both churches have very different processes of acceptance.
• The Catholic sacramental life is problematic as we seek to worship together.
• While Baptists may have close relationships with individual Catholics, the institutional Catholic Church is seen as a hindrance to salvation. Some Catholics may have a relationship with Jesus, but, according to Baptists, it is ”in spite of being Catholic.”

Father Frank Ruff listed these obstacles for Catholics:

• The history of Catholic / Baptist relations
• The non recognition of the Catholic Church as fully Christian.
• The differences in theologies of salvation and different approaches to leading others to Jesus.
• The differences between being a hierarchical church and a congregational church.
• Prejudices on both sides which prevent the recognition of each other as authentic Christians.

• Keep the goals of joint evangelizing efforts modest.
• Keep the expectations of both churches clear and realistic.

To return to 'Why Should Catholics and Baptists Evangelize Together?'

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