Heritage Column for August 11, 2005
By Fred Anderson
BIRMINGHAM, England – In 1955 “Dr. Bob” Caverlee of Fredericksburg Baptist Church attended the 50th anniversary of the Baptist World Alliance in London. He reported that there were so many Virginians in attendance that it looked as if it were a meeting of the General Association!
The crowd of some 13,000 delegates for the 100th anniversary meeting in Birmingham contains enough familiar faces that a Virginian could believe that a General Association meeting was underway. The weather also felt more like the time for a BGAV meeting. It felt like November in Virginia rather than July. While Virginia is sweltering in 100-degree heat, the people in Britain are wearing sweaters and light jackets.
Since late May this columnist and his wife have been tramping across Europe on sabbatical. We have seen a million strangers. Imagine our surprise to walk into the Roman Baths in Bath, England, and see Rose and Bert Browning and Shirley and Jim Flamming from Richmond. They were with their fellow Virginians on a tour leading to the BWA congress. They were the first indication to us that the tribes were gathering. When we arrived in Birmingham, we were glad to see my associate from the Heritage Center, Jon Messer, and his family.
In the breakfast room at our hotel in Birmingham we see many more familiar faces and old friends-Earlene Jessee, Pat and Bob Bloxom, Bill Tuck, Nancy Elliott, Ruth Guill, Jim Baucom the elder and the younger. On the walkway I heard someone call my name and it was Jim Walthall of Richmond who had attended the 50th anniversary meeting and is still stepping lightly. There were so many members of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board staff that it seemed as if a staff meeting was about to be called. We saw Jerry Jones, Paige Peake and Diane Smith. We know that John Upton was somewhere in the crowd. We saw Richard Smith, the president of the BGAV, and there were enough BGAV officers present that an emergency meeting could have been called.
The joy of a BWA meeting is that there are many more faces from around the world-some familiar from previous gatherings while most are new friends waiting to be met. The opening concert in Birmingham's Symphony Hall was a showcase of musical talent from around the globe. Despite different cultures and languages there was one common bond with Jesus as Lord.
Many of the groups wore native costumes. There were Native Americans from Oklahoma, young men from the Congo who had been rescued after a massacre, a lively group from a place called Nagaland in India, a folk group from Chile, a gospel choir from Trinidad and the Baptist Fellowship Choir of North Carolina which performed old-time sacred harp hymns. The Korean Children's Choir stole the show and the hearts of the audience! There must have been 30 violinists and a small army in the choir.
In the congress's opening celebration there was the traditional Procession of the Nations as representatives of many countries carried banners. Billy Kim, the president of the BWA, delivered a stirring message with frequent references to the American Army sergeant from Virginia who was stationed in Korea and who arranged for him to study in the United States. In time, Kim baptized the very man who had been his benefactor.
The thousands of Baptists who have gathered from around the world for the Centenary Congress will experience many spiritual highlights. There are world-class Bible study groups. There are opportunities for sharing information and ideas on a variety of issues, including the possible futures of Baptists, the lack of religious freedom in many parts of the world and the plight of the poor.
A highlight will be America's most famous Baptist layman, Jimmy Carter, who will teach in “the world's biggest ever Sunday school class.”
At the opening celebration, the people of the world recited together the Apostle's Creed. A developmentally-challenged Briton led the delegates as he used body gestures to symbolize the words in the creed.
The BWA dares have no further creed. In 1955 at the 50th anniversary Congress, Herbert Gezork, president of Andover-Newton Theological Seminary, spoke about the reluctance of Baptists to establish and impose any creeds. He said: “Now creeds and confessions have their distinct value in the life of the church. They are banners of the faith, to proclaim to all the world the beliefs of the Christian fellowship. But when they are laid on men's consciences by ecclesiastical command or by any other form of human authority, then they become instruments of coercion, clubs held over men's consciences, shadows standing between the soul and God.”
Throughout the congress there will be references to the beginnings. Likely no mention will be made of the following fact. In the Religious Herald of June 22, 1912, Editor R.H. Pitt wrote: “We take pride in remembering that the idea of gathering representatives of our brotherhood into a great world conference originated in the office of the Religious Herald. Away back in 1890 the Religious Herald, adopting a hint offered privately to the editor by his friend, W.W. Landrum, repeatedly called attention in its columns to the desirability and possibility of such a gathering. Other Baptist papers took up the idea.” Pitt confessed that “a wise and venerated Baptist leader” urged him to delay any formal organization, “thinking that the time was not ripe for such a gathering.” Baptists united in the BWA can be thankful that “the suggestion was destined not to die” and in 1905 the formal organization was held.
Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society.