Baptists Share New Vision, Outlook for the Future
BWA Head: Unity, mission, religious freedom, compassion, theological reflection, and persistent faith constitute the new focus for Baptists in the 21st century.
WASHINGTON -- Unity, mission, religious freedom, compassion, theological reflection, and persistent faith constitute the new focus for Baptists in the 21st century, the new president of the Baptist World Alliance said to some 300 international and local Baptist leaders on Saturday.
"The World is sometimes more aware of what Baptists are against thatn what we are for, and that's no way to win the world to Christ" BWA president David Coffey said during the "Window on the World" celebratory gathering in McClean, Va, about 10 miles west of Washington.
The annual dinner conference, held one week before the Alliance's executive committee meeting, offered local Baptist leaders the chance to fellowship with top BWA representatives from around the world, including regional secretaries from six continents.
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The conference also served as a fundraising opportunity for the 21-million-member BWA, which took a nearly crippling hit last year from the pull-out of its largest donor, the Southern Baptist Convention.
Prior to the break, the Southern Baptists had contributed $425,000 to the international Alliance it helped establish 100 years ago. It steadily decreased the amount to about $300,000 before it cut off all funding and membership with the BWA in 2004.
Other BWA member bodies, such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and American Baptist Churches, nearly doubled their support to the BWA last year, but contributions still dropped by $157,000 last year, according to Ellen Teague, director of finances and administration for the alliance.
However, spirits were still high during the Saturday conference, with attendants sharing the vision for a newer – and freer -- Baptist World Alliance.
“The SBC was such a strong shadow, that now other groups are stepping forward, and it will be stronger than before,” said Rev. Ralph Duke, pastor of Beacon Hill Baptist Church in Herndon, Va., and member of the BWA North American Council.
At that light, Coffey stressed the importance of unity and fellowship and the need for “spiritual intelligence” in a world full of division.
“When we strive for unity we are taking seriously the unity of the body of Christ for the sake of mission of the world,” said Coffey. “…number one on my list is how we maintain that unity and fellowship in the body of Christ.”
“When we see changes in culture as we see here in the US and in the UK, the changes in culture constitute a fresh call for mission,” he continued. “It doesn’t do for us to pray to Jesus to take us out of this strange and alien world. It’s a new call for spiritual intelligence to know how we may respond to this world where 400 million people live in a culture with no witnessing church.”
