Centralising Covenant in Baptist Calls for Accountability

The well documented problem of sexual abuse in churches has prompted calls for more robust responses and the establishment of clear systems of accountability. This article considers first the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, in which the Baptist Union is hindered in their response to issues of safeguarding by a particular view of its own ecclesiology that asserts that local congregations must be left to deal with these issues themselves. I argue, however, that this deployment of autonomy as an insurmountable barrier to accountability relies on a flawed understanding of Baptist ecclesiology, which does not take seriously enough the covenant calling of Christ on Baptist communities. Recognition of the basis of Baptist ecclesiology in covenant, and by extension the connections to other churches that this covenantal view mandates, provides a strong foundation for an appreciation of the shared responsibility for sexual abuse in the Baptist church.