Mission is the Key Bridge to Overcome Walls, says Baptist Head
Dr. Roy Medley, general secretary of the ABC emphasized the need to build bridges during this time of separation between 'red and blue'
American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) General Secretary the Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley encouraged the denomination's General Board representatives to become a "bridge" and "wall-builder" for the world by focusing on missions, during the ABCUSA board meeting at Green Lake, Wis., Nov. 19, 2004.
"Mission has knit us together over the years as autonomous churches, regions and organizations to accomplish wonderful things for Christ," said Medley. "It has inspired our imagination. At our best we are a missional people, energizing our world for the sake of the Gospel."
According to the ABC, Medley took note of the visible division within America's borders among party lines.
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"I wondered whether Paul, if penning that verse today, would have been inspired to write: ¡®neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, neither red nor blue, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.' , he said.
Ultimately, Medley said mission is the bridge that can bring all the "wall-builders" together under one Gospel.
The question we must address, he said, is "whether we will mirror our society in this latest embodiment of alienation" or serve "as a countercultural community of reconciliation that allows us to move from division to unity . Our heritage of responding to God's gracious invitation--through the hard work of bridging race-ethnicity, bridging evangelical-ecumenical, bridging male-female--has prepared us for the unique opportunity and God-given responsibility to be a community that builds bridges across even this divide.
"The work of reconciliation is a sacred calling, for it is uniquely God's work in Christ Jesus. The work of reconciliation is a costly calling, for it is rooted in cross-bearing love. The work of reconciliation is a joyous calling, for it provides the sacred space where God's grace can free people to risk to move from division to unity, from enmity to love, from red or blue to red and blue.
"To undertake this holy calling requires of us several things:
"That we be centered in Christ as the common focus of our lives. Apart from him we can do nothing. Through him we can do all things. It is only as we offer ourselves more fully to him that our hearts and arms can be enlarged to receive one another. Only as we walk with him that we discover ourselves walking with each other. Only as we share in his life that we share each other's lives.
"That love and compassion are the rule of life for us. This is the supreme mark of Christ's community of disciples. Love is not sentimentality. It is the will to determine that in spite of what I believe you deserve, I will value you as God has valued you. And God has already determined your value in the death of Jesus for you ."
Continuing on his "bridge-builder" theme, Medley reminded the board members that American Baptists "have been Christians of the bridge" who have sought "the reconciling power of the Gospel to trump" divisions in theological understanding, culture and race.
"In our common life as Baptists, we have a tradition that grants to the majority the right to be the voice of the local church or the denomination and say, ¡®this is how we discern the mind of Christ' on any given matter. I support the freedom of the majority to state their discernment. At the same time we have also accorded to those who dissent the freedom to challenge the majority, knowing that when prophets do arise they are seldom a product of a majority opinion. And I support the freedom to dissent as essential to the authority of scripture," he said.
"I urge you, dear friends, focus on the mission; center yourselves in Christ; even as we struggle with one another and with scripture hold fiercely to one another as Christ has held to us [and] trust God to give us the tools to listen, discern, respect."
"Be a bridge people. Be a bridge people in a world of wall builders. Let this continue to be our sacred calling."
The American Baptist Church USA is one of the largest Baptist denominations in the country with 1,44,824 members in 5,786 churches.
