ACCRA, Ghana (ABP) — The twin themes of freedom in Christ and reconciliation that leads to unity echoed throughout the July 2-7 annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance.
With more than 110 million members, the Alliance is the world's largest Baptist umbrella organization. Meeting in West Africa, delegates elected Neville Callam — a Jamaican whose ancestors were slaves from West Africa — as the body's new general secretary. Denton Lotz, who has been general secretary since 1988, will retire later this year.
Callam is the 102-year-old organization's first non-white general secretary, as well as the first from somewhere other than the United States or Europe.
Callam said his election shows that the alliance has become a worldwide body with a global reach.
“God is working to make out of our cultural plurality as Baptists a wonderful mosaic that models the diversity that enriches and builds up unity, rather than diluting or diminishing it,” he declared.
“There is a home for all Baptists in the BWA,” Callam said. “There is no turning back now. Christ our Lord goes before us; He leads the way. … Let us be content to be servants among the servants of God.”
Callam was among several other descendants of slaves who assisted in leading a July 5 service of memorial and reconciliation at the Cape Coast Castle, formerly a major center for the slave trade.
BWA's general council also approved seven resolutions, several of which touched on freedom and reconciliation. In commemorating the 200th anniversary of the first act to officially abolish slavery, delegates acknowledged that as many as 27 million people remain enslaved through human trafficking and pledged to “stand against this ongoing and pervasive evil institution” and “compassionately minister to those trapped by it.”
A resolution on Darfur expressed concern about ongoing human rights violations in Sudan, affirmed efforts of the Sudan Interior Church to remain united, and encouraged the development of partnerships with Sudanese Baptists.
A resolution on “Detention and Due Process” urged all governments and non-state actors “to enforce and abide by the basic tenets of human rights as represented in international laws and conventions in the investigation, arrest, interrogation, detention, due process, trial, sentencing, and incarceration of all persons.”
BWA leaders also expressed concern about corruption worldwide and affirmed the work of Baptist World Aid. Delegates passed a recommendation expressing concern “for nations and peoples who are caught in a terrible circle of hatred, violence, injustice, and suffering.” The recommendation encouraged prayer “for justice and mercy upon these troubled nations and peoples.”
Joao and Nora Matwawana, natives of Angola who live in Canada, received the 2007 “Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award.” BWA president David Coffey said the Matwawanas have worked, suffered, and toiled together through many years of promoting reconciliation efforts in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Canada, where they are involved in prison ministry.
Plenary worship speakers through the week also promoted the themes of freedom and unity.
Steve Asante, pastor of the Asukwa Baptist Church in Kumasi and president of the Ghana Baptist Convention, called for participants to work for oneness in Christ: “the testimony of unity is powerful,” he said.
Asante noted that government leaders from all over Africa were meeting in the same city to work toward greater unity and cooperation among African nations. The conjunction of the meetings was prophetic, Asante said.
“When Baptists work together, we show what we can do,” he said. “If we have a voice, it will only come through our unity, through our oneness.”
Coffey, of England, drew from Galatians 5 to declare that Christians are free of binding legalism. Being free in Christ does not mean believers live without any boundaries, he said, for “to be truly free is to be truly yoked to Christ and serving one another.”
Legalistic beliefs about worship style, eschatology, or matters such as prayer languages should not be required for full participation in Baptist life, Coffey said.
Paul Msiza of South Africa, president of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, said God offers “a freedom equal to none other because it brings us all equal before God,” in whom “there is no Jew, Gentile, male or female.”
But Christians are tempted to add to God's free offer, he said.
“What I see as human nature is that we are uncomfortable about the things we cannot control,” Msiza said. “We want things we can fiddle with. We want to open the free gifts from God and fiddle with them, and we change the gospel by adding and subtracting so many things.”
Sometimes it is a “tendency to prescribe and describe what is good for us,” he said, resulting in a freedom that only men or the powerful can enjoy.
In his closing message, Lotz emphasized reconciliation by recalling the story of Jacob and Esau's reunion in Genesis 33. Jacob feared that Esau would still bear hatred toward him, but instead, Esau embraced him.
Jacob responded, “To see your face is like seeing the face of God.”
“That's real reconciliation,” Lotz said, “when you can look at your neighbor and see the face of God.”
Such reconciliation comes through spending time in prayer and looking into the face of Jesus, he said.
The meeting included a number of forums and workgroups, several of which dealt with poverty, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, and other issues of freedom and justice.
In business matters, the BWA adopted a 2008 budget of $2.8 million, an increase of nine percent over 2007. Budget officials said growing income from churches and individuals made the increase possible.
Delegates also voted to approve the membership application of the Community of Christian Churches in Africa, which consists mostly of churches in Rwanda, with some also in Uganda and Burundi.
On July 7, participants feted Denton and Janice Lotz with a tribute-laden farewell celebration.
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