Baptist Unity
A comment over at the Texas Baptists blog on the next generation by a young pastor made mention of the fact that our generation has learned more about division than multiplication. And he’s right. But Baptists (who are Christians) should be about the business of multiplying the Kingdom not dividing it. Mitch Randall has a post about that as well:
We Baptists must face facts; Baptist life has shifted immensely in the last fifty years. From the deep divisions within Baptist denominations to the apathy that exists among a younger generation, Baptists find themselves at a crossroads into their future. The decisions our conventions, institutions, and agencies make now will have a lasting effect for may generations to come. Thus, in a reality where everyone seems to be downsizing, it is time for this generation to cast a vision so large that it will take Baptists to a place they have not seen in recent memory…a unified mission.
His take on steps into that unified mission includes starting by attending the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant in Atlanta, Georgia, January 30-February 1, 2008.
In case you haven’t heard, the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant is a huge, historically significant gathering of Baptists from all over North America. These Baptists do not belong to only one faith stream- but many. All are part of the North American Baptist Fellowship, which is a part of the Baptist World Alliance. Over 20,000 Baptists are expected at this event. The theme of the event is Unity in Christ, based on the call of Jesus to pursue both evangelism and ministry in Luke 4:18-19:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
The Celebration will involve five plenary sessions and 4 workshops on 16 different key topics, ranging from prophetic preaching and evangelism to religious liberty and faith in public policy to peacemaking and racial reconciliation to poverty and the AIDS pandemic. Plenary speakers include Marian Wright Edelman, Julie Pennington-Russell, Tony Campolo, Bill Moyers, Jimmy Carter, Senator Lindsey Graham, William Shaw… The Baptist denominations involved include American Baptists, Cooperative Baptists, National Baptists, Progressive Baptists, Seventh Day Baptists, National Missionary Baptists, and more.
The Celebration is an opportunity for Baptists from a variety of different backgrounds to come together and fellowship with each other, hoping to learn a little bit more about our different faith and missions practices all under the context of Baptist understanding. The focus on working together on practical ways to achieve social justice and racial reconciliation appears to many young people to be something new that Baptists are doing.
Because many young adults are interested in creating a new voice for the future that is joined in faith affirmation across racial and social lines, the Texas Baptist Young Professional Network is taking a group of young adults to the Celebration. And we are encouraging many more to go on their own. Is this something that interests you? Do you want to know what other Baptists (of all ages) are thinking and dreaming about? If so, we still have space for you to go. Here is some more information:
If you want to travel via charter bus (for free) from Texas to Atlanta, we have space. Young adults from around Texas will travel together and share ideas about being Baptist, and reflect what they’ve experienced after the Celebration. We’ve also got some reasonably priced hotel rooms but we’ve got to act on the reservations in the next two weeks, so contact Alexis Cooper for more information.
The first night of the Celebration, TBYPN will host a networking and fellowship event for all young adults at the Celebration- connecting young Texas Baptists to global ideas and fellow young Baptists from around the country. It will be $10 but it will be worth it to go. Every young Baptist (under 40) at the Celebration is invited to attend this event.
If you can’t go, know that we in Texas plan to continue conversing about the same ideas that are discussed at the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant. The Celebration is only the kick-off, a next step, to start focusing on Baptist unity. It is about time!
