BIRMIMGHAM, England (ABP) — BWA officials launched a new $1.2 million evangelism strategy during a one-day conference in Birmingham, England, on the eve of the group's centennial world congress.
Regional training and vision conferences are a key part of the strategy, but Baptist World Alliance President Billy Kim urged delegates to make prayer the cornerstone of the new program.
“All the money you have, all the organizations you have will mean nothing unless there is prayer,” said Kim, pastor of the 15,000-member Central Baptist Church in Suwon, Korea. Without prayer, “this committee will be like noisy cymbals and a lot of hot air.”
The training and vision conferences will feature “Telling the Story” workshops like those held during the launch event. The workshops addressed such issues as “Telling the Story in a Hostile Environment” and “Telling the Story to an HIV/AIDS Person.”
Workshops featured speakers with firsthand knowledge about the subject. The session on “Telling the Story to a Muslim Enquirer” was led by two Baptist pastors who live and work in countries with Muslim majorities.
“Everything has changed since Sept. 11,” said Victor Rembeth of Indonesia. Christians must befriend Muslims and see them as humans in need of God, he added.
The first regional conference will be held in October in St. Petersburg, Russia, featuring speakers Anne Graham-Lotz and BWA Youth President Ron Bobl.
Other conferences are scheduled for:
— Curitiba, Brazil, in April, 2006.
— Mexico City, Mexico, in July, 2006.
— Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2006.
— Thailand, Ghana and the United States in 2007.
— India, the Middle East and Europe in 2008.
— The Caribbean and Holland in 2009.
— The 2010 Baptist World Congress in Hawaii.
BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz told delegates the BWA wants all 211 Baptist unions throughout the world to be involved in evangelism. He urged church leaders to send workers and members to the conferences to help ensure the long-term success of the strategy.
Money to fund the strategy was raised through donations from supporters of the BWA.
Kim shared from his personal experiences to illustrate the importance of prayer in the work of evangelism.
“I would like to tell you as your colleague who has been involved in evangelism for 40 years now that the foremost thing for me has been prayer. If we put prayer behind the strategy the Baptist World Alliance will be a force to reckon with.”
Christians teach and preach about prayer, he noted, “but there is a lack of prayer among Baptist leaders. It is easy to preach, but I have a hard time to pray for half-an-hour on my knees.
Kim told the conference he credits an active prayer in his congregation for the fact that his church had encountered few major problems throughout its history.
“I have turned over the leadership to a younger man and I had been very worried about it and thought attendance would fall, but the offering is up, attendance is up,” Kim said. “I had to realize it's God's church not Billy Kim's church.”
— Chris Hall writes for the British Union.