How Baptist am I?

I KIND OF ENJOY BEING A BAPTIST
There's lots of confusion about what a Baptist is.
Are they conservative?
Are they republicans?
Are they anti-abortions?
Are they anti-gay?
Anti-Disney/Harry Potter and pro-war?
Do they protest military funerals?

Some of these things can be said of a lot of different denominations.
Just in Northern Virginia you can find Baptists that don't let women teach and Baptists that are one stop away from Unitarianism.

A neighbor of mine once observed that the 'casual' Baptist isn't that much different from the casual Mormon.
Their religious experience seems to be centered around family and righteous appearances.
There are these social norms formed around what kinds of sin are okay and not okay.
If you play it right you can fit in and be accepted, it's all very... pleasant.
I grew up hearing how misguided the Pharisees and Judaizers were, and the warnings of legalism for the modern Christian... silly when you think about it, God is neither a respecter of 'worldly' culture any more than church culture. The Pharis-aizers were obsessed with sin and technicalities, we're supposed to be obsessed with grace.

ANYWAY
When I was a kid I thought that being a Baptist meant that you had a pastor from Texas that wore a light blue suit.
My wife went to college with a girl that grew up in the inner-city of a northern state. When Melissa told her that she was Baptist the girl had a look of surprise.  She said, 'You go to a black church?'

The significance of the Baptist Church is the autonomy of the local Church...
and in my experience the individual Baptist as well... so it's a lot like being non-denominational.
Maybe I was naive, but I was shocked early on to find that there were Baptists that were comfortable not agreeing with their Senior Pastor.  I wonder if the divergence got to the point where one didn't agree with the leading of the pastor, should they still stay committed to the church family or divorce themselves and find another family?  Some stay and make a stink (they should go), and some stay because their kids love the program (that's a tough one).  I've heard about pastors loosing their prophetic voice for winning approval by their disgruntled members... is that even church?

AUTONOMY
Although I like being Baptist, I don't understand Baptist pride.
Jews have a rich heritage.
Catholics have a rich heritage.
Even Lutherans and Episcopalians and... IDK, are Weslians a thing?
But one Baptist church doesn't share the same traditions and history with any other Baptist church.
I guess there are some Baptist churches (maybe somewhere in Alabama) that identify with the 'Great' Baptists of yester-year.  How relevant can your mission be in a hyper-culture if you are basically Amish?

My Religion 101 text said, 'ask 10 Baptists what it means to be a Baptist and you will get 10 different answers'.
It's like being punk rock in the 80s.
To some being punk meant that you were a delinquent and participated in 'risk-taking' behaviors.
To others it meant that you were socially conscious and abstained from all drugs and alcohol.
To other still it meant that you didn't bathe or you were a combination of absurd, morose and angsty.
The unifying factor was that you had to drive further than non-punk kids to buy a record or be content to listen to a college radio station with a really crappy signal... or mooch mix tapes from friends.
I also remember a feeling sense of community with any brand of punk, at least in Ballwin Missouri.

HIP TO BE SQUARE
Am I trying to make being Baptist sound cool?
No.
Trying to make Christianity look cool is a waste of time and kind of pathetic.
From a secular perspective, being Baptist is about as cool as Aunt Betunia and her red-headed step child.
The most unifying characteristics of Baptist Churches are buildings from the early 70s, and Donny Osmond style worship.
So what, does it affect me or my mission?
Would it be cool is my church was shaped like Godzilla and people like people like Helena Bohnam Carter hung out there? Yes.

I get the crits, I really do, but Church is like a weird uncle.
Weird or not, you love him because he's your uncle.
Don't expect the hipsters to get it.

MACRO LEVEL
That's pretty much where interest in my Baptist-ness ends.
I could care less about what the Southern Baptist Association does, it just doesn't affect me.
My interest in the local association is the same as my interest in meeting any kind of local youth pastor.
Because of autonomy, partnering with Baptist youth pastors isn't all that different partnering with youth pastors from other denominations.

I don't really notice my denominational distinctions until I start working with youth pastors from other churches.
For the most part I can do whatever I want to achieve the five purposes.
Some of my colleagues are restricted by what seem to me to be arbitrary boundaries, until it occurs to me their denominational tradition.

Here's a book that explains the differences of different denominations.  I have couple other chart books by this company, they're pretty cool. 

What is your denomination? What does it do for your mission and ministry?
Do you go to your denomination for leadership training? 
    If not, what do you do?