Noel Vose & Community

“What house are you in?” ask students at the school at which I’ve recently begun regularly teaching. I wasn’t officially given a house, but I find myself gravitating to Vose house. Why? Those of us who knew him know why - he had a gravitational pull…

1) Noel loved us, all, in a specific, enthusiastic, enlivening way, that made each of us feel better than we were before the encounter. It’s as though he’d studied you & devised just the right gift for you, every time we met. Sometimes just a word or catching the eye would do it. He became more than my theological principal, he gave me great advice as a single man, and ultimately presided at my wedding. Once over dinner he pulled out a Robert Browning poem for us! Specific. Enthusiastic. Enlivening. Inspiring. Pr27:17 iron sharpens iron

2) Noel had a way of dignifying normal life. We college boarders saw each others’ bad hair days, and once Noel asked my friend for a razor to shave because he’d left his at home. He was not embarrassed because he was genuinely humble. He knew that his little moments were just as significant as his global work. His gracious attitude was the same in all circumstances, everything was a gift from Christ. From the podium to the kitchen he was Christ's grateful servant. This inspired the community with integrity from top to bottom. Lk16:10 faithful in little things

3) Noel kept Christ at the centre of the community. Without this, communities inevitably drift. But Noel’s communities stayed true. He would often remind us that the college was to teach us to “think theologically,” because through Scripture we get to know Christ. Noel knew both intimately, which is why often you could tell he was led by the Spirit to say just the right thing, to have that gracious humility, to love that enlivening way. If everyone bathed in the Word and the Spirit like that, counselling services would become redundant. Eph5:26 washed with the word

Each house at this school has a theme, Courage, Character, Compassion, and that of Vose house is Community. This might surprise if you only knew Dr GN Vose from his Wiki page, looking at all his academic achievements and the Theological College he started. But that College was a Vose-like - no, Christ-like - community. It pulled people together. And I’ll warrant that same enthusiastic community was a hallmark of Noel's presidency of the Australian Baptist Union, and then of the Baptist World Alliance: he pulled people together. Noel regenerated discussions between Baptists and Mennonites in a way that hadn't happened since 1630! He planted a new church at 70! Community was his legacy. Back then we used to tease him about being "The Pope of the Baptists.” But he kind of was - in the best sense of “papa,” building up all of us who came to orbit around his truly Christian community.