July 30, 2003

Valley Forge, Pa. - At its meeting earlier this month in Rio de Janeiro, the Baptist World Alliance's General Council focused on the need for unity and for compassion for the world's poor, and voted to accept five new member bodies, including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF).

In his address to the General Council and in a closing devotion, BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz emphasized the need for reconciliation and peacemaking. Lotz described the work of the BWA in Cuba and among the Telugu Baptists in South India. He also noted dramatic progress in South Africa, where reconciliation has taken place between the Baptist Union and Convention and where all five Baptist groups have formed an alliance to work together.

"So many people around the world hate each other and there is the same lack of reconciliation in the church," Lotz said. "How can we call the world to reconciliation if we ourselves are not reconciled? We do not preach Christ because our culture is better, but because God revealed Himself in Christ. Let us go away knowing that we have been called to be ministers of reconciliation."

The vote to accept the CBF followed "a long, but calm debate," according to the BWA Communications Office, and was the culmination of a three-year process that often produced agitation within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The CBF, which has developed its own missionary and funding programs, was formed from and is composed of discontented moderate SBC churches. BWA President Billy Kim and General Secretary Lotz emphasized, "This decision to accept CBF was based upon the facts that CBF met the requirements for membership. It was not a decision against the SBC, but a democratic vote of the council to affirm our Baptist family. Other member bodies received were also the results of conflict and division, such as the Fraternidad in Cuba and the Community of Baptist Churches of Eastern Congo."

Troubled by the lack of reconciliation between the SBC and the CBF, the BWA Membership Committee asked a BWA team led by Kim and Lotz to meet with leaders of the SBC and CBF. Those meetings took place last September.

Even so, the SBC acted in February 2003 to decrease its annual funding of the BWA by about 30 percent in anticipation of impending membership approval for the CBF.

Speaking after the General Council voted to accept the CBF as a member, with the concern that the Southern Baptist Convention might leave, Kim said, "I leave here with a heavy heart. I do not know the outcome of the SBC decision, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We love them and we will work with them in the BWA."

The four other new BWA members are: the Community of Baptist Churches of Eastern Congo (330 churches; 73,346 members); the Association of Baptist Churches in the Central African Republic (60,000 members); the Baptist Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina (12 churches; 250 members); and the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba (31 churches; 3,000 members).

In Liberia, in the midst of the present civil turmoil, "people are coming to the Lord," said Emile Sam Peale, leader of Liberian Baptists. He also noted, however, that while the seminary has been reopened and many young people are being called to ministry, there now is a potential outbreak of cholera and meningitis to further damage a society torn apart by violence. "We long for peace," he said, citing the fact that 50,000 people recently stood in the rain in the national stadium and cried out to God for peace. "This is a difficult time for Baptist leaders to hold churches and people together," he said.

The council approved several resolutions, including: a statement on Africa that calls on Baptist churches to stand with the churches in Africa in their fight against AIDS, war, economic exploitation and other concerns; a statement on the Middle East that commends the "Road Map to Peace" and urges all parties involved to work for an end to violence and a just and lasting peace; and a statement on religious liberty that calls for all people to recognize this basic right of human beings and allow its full expression in each and every society.

In the business of the meeting, the council adopted a $1.7 million budget for the BWA, no change from the 2003 budget that earlier this year was cut by 20 percent because of the BWA deficit and a loss of investment income. It also approved $2.7 million in funding goals for Baptist World Aid.

Among American Baptists participating were the Rev. Dr. John Sundquist, a BWA vice-president and retiring executive director of International Ministries; the Rev. Dr. Robert Roberts, chair of the BWA Promotion and Development Committee and interim executive minister of ABC of Ohio; the Rev. David Laubach, member of the BWA Evangelism and Education Executive Committee/chair of Church Renewal workgroup and associate executive director for Evangelism and Church Renewal for National Ministries; the Rev. Dr. Charles Wallace Smith, member of the BWA Budget and Finance Committee and pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.; G. Elaine Smith, esq., vice-chair of the BWA Resolutions Committee and past president of American Baptist Churches USA.

American Baptist National Ministries staff attending included the Rev. Dr. Aidsand Wright-Riggins III, executive director; Laura Alden, associate executive director of Media and Information Services; the Rev. Cheryl Dudley, associate executive director; the Rev. Laura Miraz, director of Missionary, Staff and Board Services; and Marilyn Turner, director of Mission Effectiveness.

Other national American Baptist staff present were the Rev. Hictor Cortez, newly elected executive director of International Ministries; the Rev. Rothang Chhangte, director of Ecumenical Formation for American Baptist Churches USA; and Lauran Bethell, global service missionary for International Ministries.

Other American Baptists attending the gathering included the Rev. Dr. Ian Chapman, chair of the BWA Doctrine and Interchurch Cooperation Commission and former president of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Lombard, Ill.; the Rev. Dr. Dolores McCabe, faculty member at Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa.; the Rev. Leo Thorne, a pastor from Maryland; and the Rev. Brad Berglund, a pastor and Discipleship Ministries staff member.

The BWA, which is facing a $600,000 budget deficit, is introducing a new fundraising emphasis that will identify individual "Global Impact Churches" which will join in the new category of "associate members" giving $1000 or more per year. That membership category also will include institutions such as colleges and seminaries as a way to raise support and funding for BWA.

The new member communions bring the total BWA membership to 211 member bodies, including American Baptist Churches USA, that represent more than 46 million baptized believers around the world.

American Baptist News Service