Heard two stories in a pastoral conversation with a senior Baptist lady today:

(1) In the 1930s a Victorian Baptist College lecturer visited the study of a theological student and saw a small wooden cross on his desk. There was a meeting of the College Council, and the ‘Baptist Union’ about it, and the student was expelled from the College and from the Union. He transferred (with another student) to the Presbyterians and served as a Pres. pastor for many years…

(2) More recently (about 30 years ago) in Melbourne a Christian Baptist lady and her unchurched husband moved residence. They were visited by the local Baptist pastor, and this conversation ensued:

Pastor: ‘You ought to come to church…’

Husband: ‘I work on Sundays and can’t attend a church.’

Pastor: ‘You’ll go to hell for that.’

Husband: ‘You can leave our home right now…’

Sequel: the lady and her husband have never attended a church of any kind from that day onwards…

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Shalom! Rowland Croucher