Fundamentalism & Evangelicalism

Songs: How Great Thou Art; How Great Is Our God; Great is the Lord Almighty; Our God Reigns
Solo by Brooke Greening “Creation Sings” (Getty) - wonderful words, title song on new Steve Green CD
Harp Offertory “Our Great Savior” - beautifully done
Daniel 4 – Dr. Dan Davey

As a first-timer at a national GARBC conference, I have been trying to take it all in. The worship is more traditional than contemporary although some newer songs from people like Gettys and some older “newer” songs from Twila Paris and others. From what my children have relayed to me, the children’s and teen programs tend to be a little more contemporary in nature. I will say all the musical worship has been very respectful and God-centered. They’re using a combination of piano/keyboard for accompaniment. The staging is simple but tasteful with decent sound and accent lighting.

One feature of the GARBC Conference that many other conferences lack is a good many reports. In each general session, there is at least one report of some kind in addition to the preaching and music. These are not always exciting, but this morning’s truly was. More on that in a bit. The overall effect of the reporting is that you realize this association is doing things all over the place. The GARBC doesn’t own and directly operate very many of these efforts.

It’s been a busy and blessed morning at the conference. The morning general session featured Pastor Dan Davey of Colonial Baptist Church, Virginia Beach, VA. His official assignment was Daniel chapter 2, but he provided a helpful perspective on the book as whole first, in the form of “four pillars” that are key to understanding Daniel and fully grasping its message.

I’ve actually only been to a few GARBC conferences, and this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to be there for the opening evening. Opening Night includes several of the kinds of things the other sessions do, but there is an emphasis on introducing the theme for the week and creating the context for what will follow. More on that later.

Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Dispensationalism

Conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists actually hold a great deal in common, including the most important things. Nevertheless, they do differ in certain ways. Some of those differences are more important and some less so. Some of them are more characteristic of each group, while others are matters of degree.

One of the differences has to do with dispensationalism and covenant theology. In general, fundamentalists are rather loyal to dispensationalism. Also in general, conservative evangelicals incline toward covenant theology.

This difference does not apply in every instance. Exceptions exist in both camps. Some fundamentalists are (and always have been) covenant theologians, while some conservative evangelicals are dispensationalists.

Actually, at one time many or most conservative evangelicals were also dispensationalists. For example, in his recent history of Dallas Seminary, John D. Hannah argues that Dallas Theological Seminary tried to stake out a middle ground between fundamentalism and neo-evangelicalism. He cites Lewis Sperry Chafer and John Walvoord to show that these leaders disapproved of inclusive evangelism as it was practiced by the new evangelicals, but they also disapproved of the rigid separatism (as they saw it) of many fundamentalists.¹ Yet Dallas Seminary was certainly among the leading voices of dispensationalism.

Coming soon… Aaron Blumer & Brian McCrorie blog from the GARBC conference. (Twitter fans: Brian may do some Tweeting as well. Watch for more info.)

Last night we had the opportunity to hear Pastor Rick Arrowood. Pastor Arrowood is the pastor of Crosspointe Baptist Church in Indianapolis. He preached from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. He used this passage to describe the comfort that believers posess in the rapture. This service was by far the most attended service of the whole conference as it formed the Wednesday service for plenty of the area churches.