as I grew up among Southern Baptists (though there was the occasional accusation that Presbyterians and Methodists had it all wrong). And even when I went to seminary (a large Southern Baptist seminary), neither my classes in systematic theology nor in pastoral ministry offered so much as one lecture on forms of church government and the rationale that we Baptists have for doing things our way. I do not think that my experience is unique. Thus the central question addressed in this book: How (and