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Khaina Duncan
Mrs. Bradley
ENC 2135
21 January 2016
The Baptist Community
The Baptist community is nonexistent without a system of organization and
communication to fulfill its main purposes. With a vast array of communities around the world,
genres function diversely to provide every community with the tools to create its own personal
voice. The Bedford Book of Genres definition of genre is a compositions kind, category, or sort
(BBG). Genres not only create a personal style within each community, but also help to
establish content that is distinctive in its own right. The Baptist community is an expansive group
of Christians that believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins, and gave them the ability to spend
eternity in heaven after death when they accept the Lord into their hearts. While there are several
denominations in the Christian community with different beliefs, the Baptist denomination
believes in regeneration and being fully emerged in baptism when you are of age. By
communicating face-to-face and digitally on a daily basis, Baptists utilizes genres such as
sermons, bible studies, and social media to stay connected.
Every Sunday morning doors of the Baptist Church are opened to the public and the
Christian community gets to fellowship with one another. Praise and worship begins first, and
then everyone has the chance to embrace one another before the sermon begins. Traditionally in
most Baptist Churches, sermons last two or more hours. Several services will go on throughout

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the day at Baptist Churches. The first service is usually around 8 am, and the audience is of the
more mature age group. The style of preaching may be a little louder so the congregation can
hear, and the service may be paced at a slower speed. The style of this service is formal, jokes
about trending topics are not discussed during this service. The next service that starts around 11
am though, might have humorous analogies intermixed throughout the sermon. This
congregation is sometimes called the millennial service. Young families, newlyweds, and college
kids merge with a few mature congregates to form the next sermon. The preacher may preach the
exact same message as the early service, but in a way that is more relatable for the audience. The
use of media may take place in the form of a video clip so that the community can visualize
concepts about the sermon that is being preached. The mode stays visual throughout the entire
day. The final service of the day is later on in the evening at around 5 pm. Members of all ages in
the community come back to the church and have a shorter service that imitate a larger Bible
study. Lasting about an hour this service is informational and less emotional; it uses logos and
ethos to connect with the audience. The purpose of having three or more different sermons each
Sunday is to have specific niches within the community that can relate to one another and grow
even more personal relationships.
Being able to talk about personal struggles with other Christians is the purpose of
communicating in the Baptist community. A pastor might speak about his testimony during a
service, possibly joining Christians together even more by creating a support system for others
who have gone through the same things. Nobody is perfect, and during sermons the pastor is not
condemning the congregation, but trying to connect and create an atmosphere where they feel
closer to God. Sometimes speaking with a booming voice to get a point across helps the
community understand the seriousness of topics, such as salvation. In the Baptist community, the

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belief system is that a person is born again with salvation. After dedicating ones life to Christ,
the congregation claps and embraces the individual. The reason Baptists attend church every
Sunday instead of staying home watching a preacher on television is because of times like these.
The personal attachment with fellow members of the community is displayed in the very
personal moments of accepting Jesus Christ and being born again. While a sermon is spoken to a
crowd of people, it is simple to individually relate to specific parts of the message and make it a
priority to strengthen your faith. During sermons the pastor can affect his or her congregation in
a way that is very emotional. Because of the pastors use of pathos, Christians try to become more
mature in their individual faith; Christians want to be as close to Jesus Christ as possible.
Attending and listening to a clear, impactful sermon on Sunday is how the Baptist community
effectively connects with not only its congregation, but also the Lord.
While the entire Baptist congregation comes together on Sunday mornings, there are days
during the week where more intimate groups of fellowship take place between Christians that
range from men and women of all ages. Youth groups are available to connect teenagers who
want to live for Christ, and college campuses have Baptist Christian organizations that meet
during the week to have a time of worship and fellowship with one another. Having a small
group of all men or all women makes it easier to talk about passages in the Bible that may be
relevant to their lives. Scripture sometimes can not be analyzed as deeply with a large group;
with a small group of Christians asking questions and trying to find answers in the Bible, talking
about sensitive subjects can be more effective. Christians attending Bible studies are trying to
have genuine relationships with fellow believers where they can gain more spiritual knowledge
with an intimate Christian support system. Making Bible studies especially specific is why
people continue to go and learn more from the Bible within a group setting. Talking with people

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in a Bible study of the same age, sex, and spiritual maturity effectively helps Christians to grow
even deeper in their faith.
In the Baptist denomination, the church has an outreach program called Vacation Bible
School. It joins children together of all ages and gives them a personal community to celebrate
Christ in the summer months. It is another way to bring the Baptist community together but for a
younger audience. In a fun filled environment, teachers begin to explain to students traditional
stories from the Bible. Games and activities such as play performances, crafts, and Bible lessons
use ethos and logos to inform and logically speak to the group about God. Usually Vacation
Bible School has a theme dedicated to each week of its weeklong or longer program for its
students. The ability to connect with youth and get them to come to a Bible camp instead of
swimming in their pools every day of summer vacation brings joy to the Baptist community. It
expands its community by bringing in children that become saved after spending a full week or
longer learning about Jesus Christ. The purpose for this event is to begin to teach youth about the
Lord and inspire them to further their relationship with Him.
In todays culture, missions work is a large part of the Baptist community. Whether it is
travelling to a third world country or dedicating time to a local area, Baptists join together and
help those in need. Giving food and clothing to the homeless are just examples of how Christians
form relationships outside of its community. Inside of the Baptist community, leaders have
meetings to prepare for departing to far away places, or having enough cans of food for local
shelters. Spreading the Word of God is a Christians main goal. Not only is it easy to verbally tell
strangers about Christ, but by demonstrating the love of God through service to others, people
can visualize the Baptist communities desire for missions work. The National Baptist

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Convention supports eleven Mission Stations in the continent of Africa, the Caribbean and
Central America, with hopes to expand this even more (nationalbaptist.com). Communicating
with people that may or may not be Christian while in the missions field gives the Baptist
community a way to expand their community by leading people to Christ. That is their greatest
achievement. Using pathos, missionaries can connect to a stranger by just smiling. Baptists
submerge themselves into different cultures, under developed neighborhoods, and sometimes
dangerous situations to try to witness to unbelievers. The use of ethos is portrayed in
missionaries commitment to educating nonbelievers about what their community believes in.
Baptist missionarys main goals in the missions field is to provide education, health care, and
spreading of the Word of God. Maintaining the ability to serve others takes months of
preparation sometimes, even longer if a group is going to a dangerous area. People are saved
everyday by missionaries because of the Baptist communitys dedication to serve. Those being
served by the Baptist community may not expect much, but at the very least they will be shown
the love of God from members dedicating their lives to missions work.
Social media has taken over the internet in the past few years and several communities,
including the Baptist community, have begun to utilize platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter. Todays society is all about being connected at all times, so several churches have
started posted things about their church online. Creating platforms that locally draw in
adolescents and adults alike increase the Baptist communitys appeal and membership. To reach
out into the community, a church should demonstrate interest and commitment to the local
community, by frequently posting about local issues, events and concerns (though never, but
never, party political views, or criticism of others social agendas). Popular culture is also a
valuable area of common interest, with built-in spiritual parallels that we can use as conversation

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starters (internetevangalismday.com). Communicating on social media about relevant issues

that effect believers and non believers alike effectively creates a way for Baptists to stay
connected at all times. While people can read text based Tweets or Facebook posts, visually Youtube is becoming a visual form of digital media that is also taking over. With one click a person
can watch someones testimony and decide to completely change their lifestyle for the better and
even become a Christian. When it comes to the use of social media in the Baptist community,
ethos is used. People outside of the Baptist community that click on a Christian Facebook
account or podcast with a Biblical perspective are trying to be informed about the community.
Becoming inspired by Christian blogs, or even a moving video clip is just one of the ways that
social media is effective in communicating in and outside of the Baptist community.
Baptists believe in Jesus Christ just like other Christians, but their ability to make their
congregation a close knit family makes them distinctive. Going to church every Wednesday and
Sunday is significant to this community because they want there congregates to be like family.
Constantly increasing its community and leading people to Christ is what this community
commits itself to. Face to face communication and digital communication is the main way that
this community utilizes media and stays connected within itself. Genres such as serving others,
going to church on Sundays, and connecting over social media with believers and nonbelievers
alike enable the communitys ability to function. This leads to individual spiritual growth within
the community, and more people dedicated to helping those who are less fortunate outside of the
community. Displaying rhetorical appeals such as ethos and logos portray the communitys
strong foundation that uses emotional and logical reasoning to relate to its members. Having a
strong system of organization and preparation is a way that Baptists arent just cultured in a
religion, but a community built on the belief that God can do extraordinary thing inside and out

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of their community.

Works Cited
"BryteWave." BryteWave. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.

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"Churches: Use Social Media to Reach Your Community." Building Social Media into Your
Church
Online Outreach Strategy. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.
"What We Believe." National Baptist Convention. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.

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