Growing Up Baptist - Inside the Church

My first trip after birth was to my granddaddy's church. I cannot remember a Sunday that we did not attend church, both Sunday School and preaching. My-oh-my could my granddaddy do some powerful teaching of the Word. He would stomp across the left side of the ten-foot diagonal pulpit, and without taking a breath would stomp and quote scripture on his way to the right side.

Granddaddy, with his bushy white hair and eyebrows, rose six feet four inches on his solid rock statue. He frightened most of the grandchildren, but "Miss Lily"; my step-grandmother lent him her softer side. She brought candy for the primary class (kids) every Sunday.

Wednesday night was "Prayer Meeting". We separated according to age. Each attended customized classes with age appropriate material. Primaries colored pictures, Miss Lily read Bible stories, and we memorized one verse each week. We sang Jesus Loves Me, recited prayers to bless our food and learned bedtime prayers. Wednesday night "Sunbeams" had lots of fun. We even had our own song.

My favorite was "GA's", Girls Auxiliary, and boys were "RA's", Royal Ambassadors. Most of us read our Bibles regularly. We had many fun games, such as finding scriptures, answering Bible questions, guessing the character, learning the books of the Bible. To this day, I can recite the Old Testament books, but my teacher taught us to sing the New Testament books; so, I sing.

In a small town, the Church was not only the religious hub, but also the social hub. As part of the GA's, we held a pageant for any girl who reached the queen level. I remember the path to "Lady in Waiting" seemed as if I had to memorize half the Bible. The verses required meticulous reciting with in-depth explanations. With each step, the requirements doubled with imposed recitation time limits. At last, with evening gowns, gloves, heels and fancy hair-dos, we celebrated a candlelight coronation befitting a queen.

Thrown in to keep our summer's busy was Bible School; one week of fun, crafts and yes, more Bible training. Every evening, we marched into the Church, said the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, to the Christian Flag and to the Holy Bible. Following a brief assembly pep talk, we again separated into our respective age groups where Bible quizzes rocked and Bible drills were a breeze. I am smiling now because they were fun and challenging. The Baptist are masters at marketing their system and its appeal.

Teaching continues throughout your life. We have young teens, middle teens, old teens, young adults, young married adults, old married adults, singles, men, women, couples, seniors and of course our children's classes. There is additional training at each phase, and by the time you reach adulthood, you have read your Bible many times over. We also continue in college with Baptist Student Union or Community of Baptist Ministries. Present in all classes is an emphasis on home and foreign missions.

I continue to read and study the Bible. It is a marvelous book; even if you are not of the Christian persuasion. It is difficult to find a good Bible teaching church in today's world. Everyone has opinions, interpretations and private agendas. Nevertheless, the Baptist Nation remains strong to its faith. Now, you can understand the passion behind the faith.

Some will say this is brainwashing, and if it were not for my personal relationship with the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, I could understand. I will not pound a Bible into your chest and demand you confess all sins. That is not my job. I hope that I live and inspire by example. I have amazing stories of faith, healing, promise and miracles. For non-believers, you must admit; it is not a bad set of rules to live by.

Sources:

http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp#i

http://www.bible.com/

Personal Experience