June 11, 1997 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Bishops representing Lutheran, Episcopal, and United Methodist denominations joined hands with bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in South Carolina to issue a statement confessing the sin of racism and calling for unity. The meeting was held in Charleston, South Carolina, the middle of May. Joan Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, participated in the two-day meeting.

"The bishops, representing 466,000 church members, said if they deserve to be called Christians, they must 'embrace each other totally and in the firm belief in one Lord, one baptism, one human family with equal liberty and justice for all. ... no dogmas, no creeds, no Christian denominations divide us on these beliefs'" (Associated Press, May 16, 1997).

The statement was signed by Bishop David A. Donges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bishop Dorsey F. Henderson Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Edward Salmon Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and Bishop David Thompson of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston.

"The bishops, whose group is known as LARCUM, have met in recent years to discuss matters of common concern. For example, the four denominations agreed last year to a common baptismal certificate" (Ibid.).

FRIENDS, BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS HAVE NO COMMON BAPTISM WITH THESE LIBERAL DENOMINATIONAL LEADERS. We reject their doctrine of baptismal regeneration. We reject their infant baptism. We reject their unscriptural sprinklings and pourings. Scriptural baptism is a burial in water to symbolize the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is not part of the Gospel, but it is symbolic of the Gospel. "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect" (1 Cor. 1:17). When Paul defined the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, he made no mention of baptism. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, not water, that washes away sin. Baptism is a figure or type or symbol, and it is the answer of a good conscience toward God (1 Peter. 3:21).

WE ALSO REJECT THE ATTEMPT OF THESE LIBERAL DENOMINATIONAL LEADERS TO SPEAK FOR US. We are not racists and our church is not racist. A born again believer of any race is welcome to join our church (if they fulfill the membership requirements) and to serve Jesus Christ through our church in any capacity to which the Lord calls him and for which he is biblically qualified. If these denominational leaders are racists, it is good for them to confess their sins, but they have no authority to confess the alleged sins of other men. They have no authority over autonomous Bible-believing churches. There is only one Head who stands over all churches, and that is Jesus Christ. The Apostles did not establish denominational bodies with ecclesiastical hierarchies. Each apostolic church was autonomous with its own leaders and its own authority to fulfill the Great Commission under Jesus Christ (Acts 13:1-6).

For more on the topic of "corporate confession," see "Promise Keepers and Racial Unity."