Profession of Faith and Regenerate Church Membership

Baptist Faith and Practice – Survey Question – Regenerate Church Membership.

If your Baptist Church requires a profession of faith to be received as a member: (1) Would your church receive the following profession? (2) Why or why not? Please give any biblical reasoning for your answer.

I don’t know when I was saved. I was raised in a Christian home and I don’t remember ever not believing in Jesus Christ. However, I believe in the work of regeneration by the Spirit. I think that the work of the Spirit on my heart was evident by when I was about 14 or 15 years old. That’s when I can remember having independent affections for God – having a desire to read my Bible and pray, for example. I didn’t have a conversion experience particularly. I professed faith and was baptized when I was eight years old, but if the new covenant birth is a change of heart, for me that happened at about 14 or 15 years old.

RULES/REQUESTS.

1. JUST GIVE YOUR ANSWER AND REASONING. DON’T DEBATE WITH OTHER COMMENTERS.

2. IF YOU’RE NOT BAPTIST, YOU MIGHT HAVE AN INTERESTING REPLY – BUT THIS IS A SURVEY OF BAPTIST PRACTICE. PROCEED ACCORDINGLY.

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Note: Awhile back I posted the above survey on Facebook. The background source is as follows.

3:28 “I was saved – I don’t know when. I don’t remember ever disbelieving in Christ. I was raised in a Christian home and I’m very grateful for that. But I believe in the work of regeneration by the spirit. And the only (and I put a lot of work into Piper and therefore back into Edwards and ultimately Augustine and Paul and Jesus). I did my dissertation on Paul’s positive religious affections. So, I think that the work of the spirit on my heart was evident by about 14 or 15. That’s when I remember having independent affections for God, wanting to read my Bible in halting ways, wanting to pray. Uh, I don’t – I didn’t have a conversion experience really. I mean, I professed faith and was baptized at eight. But if the new covenant is a change of heart – Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36 – that happened at about 14 or 15 for me.” Mark Ward testimony on Room For Nuance podcast. This is not a comment on whether or not Mark Ward is converted. However, it recognizes that most churches with whom I have been associated would not receive that sort of profession of faith. Most who commented on Facebook also agreed.