ACCRA, Ghana (ABP) — The Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering got off to a rousing start July 2 as more than 500 participants joined a choir from Calvary Baptist Church in Accra, Ghana, to celebrate God's work through a fast-paced chorus in the twi [pronounced “tree”] dialect.
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. He had spoken to them the previous day.
The conjunction of the meetings was prophetic, Asante said, calling on fellow Baptists to have the grace to show unity.
“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.”
Asante said Christian unity echoes the community and unity of the Trinity. Many believers belong to one community despite differences in gender, race, tribe and other distinctions, he said.
“In every kingdom, the words of the king become the law,” Asante said, and in God's kingdom, “God has called us to be one.”
Asante called for Baptists to offer a holistic ministry and spoke of ministries, such as providing mosquito nets, through which Christian volunteers can impact people in developing nations.
He was greeted with applause when he said “Let's support BWA financially because BWA means a lot to those of us in Africa.”
Denton Lotz, retiring general secretary of the BWA, noted that the location of the meeting is significant. The BWA had never met in western Africa, he said. And Ghana is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence.
“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to Ghana,” he said.
Lotz said unity is a major theological issue for Baptists. “Some Baptists seem concerned only about doctrine,” he said, “but Jesus talked about unity as a great doctrine of the faith.”
Lotz reported that about 110 million Baptists are affiliated with the world alliance. Counting others who have withdrawn from BWA and other similar groups who don't use the name “Baptist,” there are about 200 million “Baptistic worshipers” around the world, he said.
Lotz recognized representatives from the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship, the European Baptist Federation, the Union of Baptists in Latin America, and the North American Baptist Fellowship. The largest contingent, as expected, was from the All Africa Baptist Union.
The meeting, which includes a variety of work groups called “commissions” and fellowship-based “affinity groups,” continues through July 7. On July 5, participants will travel to a fortress formerly used in the slave trade and hold a formal service of memorial and reconciliation.
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