SEOUL, Korea (ABP) — Baptist World Alliance will launch a global evangelism strategy during next year's centennial BWA World Congress in England, alliance leaders announced in late July.
Playing off the 2005 congress theme, “Jesus Christ: Living Water,” the five-year evangelism emphasis will feature “Living Water” conferences around the world.
BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz said the alliance has received a major grant to help fund evangelism training and rallies throughout the effort. Tony Cupit, BWA's director of study and research, will coordinate the world evangelization strategy.
“We want to encourage in the next quinquennium a strategy for world evangelization to bear witness to Jesus Christ,” Lotz told participants at the July 26-31 BWA General Council meeting in Seoul, Korea.
“Let me be very clear that as Baptists we believe that Jesus Christ is our only way of salvation,” he said. “There is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved.
“That's who we are as Baptists. That's why we come together. We're a missionary movement,” Lotz declared amid sustained applause from council members.
Urging Baptists around the world to continue to “work together for religious freedom,” Lotz said, “No other time in history has experienced more persecution.”
“Sixty thousand Christians are killed every year for their faith,” he added. “That is why we as Baptists need to be more and more concerned about religious freedom in the 21st century, because the clash of civilizations is more real than ever before.”
In other action, General Council members unanimously elected Lotz to another five-year term as BWA general secretary for 2005-2010.
Council members also approved Lairam Jesus Christ Baptist Church, a convention of 80 churches in northeast India, as the BWA's newest member body.
Alluding to the tiny convention's 21,000 members, compared to the withdrawal of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, T. H. Vanlalzauva, Lairam's general secretary, told council members, “After the withdrawal of the SBC from BWA, we are the first to play the role of rebuilding BWA's membership.”
Affirming that BWA membership “is very significant for our church,” he added, “I enjoy very much the life and fellowship of BWA.”
Council members also voted to temporarily suspend the membership of Samavesam of Telugu Baptist Churches in India, which has split into three groups due to conflict over property. Noting that the conflict has escalated into violent clashes, Lotz said the internal controversy “has been a tragic witness for the cause of Christ.”
As BWA leaders seek to help facilitate reconciliation, council members voted to suspend the convention's membership until March 2005 and reevaluate reconciliation efforts at that time.
Council members also heard a progress report from BWA's 21st Century Committee, which will present its final report next March. The committee, chaired by David Goatley, executive secretary of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Missions Convention in Washington, D.C., is seeking to provide a long-range strategy for BWA.
Noting that BWA “builds fellowship and community, promotes vibrant Baptist identities, networks resources and serves as a global voice,” the report adds that it “equips and empowers Baptists” in the areas of missions and evangelism, religious liberty and human rights, and relief and community development.
Affirming that BWA is “highly valued, greatly loved and deeply appreciated” by its 200-plus member bodies around the world, Goatley said committee members are seeking to maintain “appreciation for history, yet innovation for a vibrant and vital witness for the future.”
Council members also heard reports from regional Baptist groups in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. And they heard “Window on the World” testimonies from Baptist leaders in Nepal, Malaysia and Nigeria.
The General Council is expected to approve bylaw changes this week that will permit associate membership for local Baptist churches or other organized Baptist groups such as state Baptist conventions, colleges and mission organizations. The changes also would permit individual Baptists to become personal members. BWA membership currently is limited to national or regional Baptist conventions and unions.
“This has nothing to do with the present controversy we have,” Lotz told council members. “We began almost 10 years ago to question: 'What does membership mean in the 21st century?'
“This was a long time coming,” he added, noting that the proposal addresses “the new understanding of koinonia — what fellowship is all about.”
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