FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY, Neville Callam
HAVE WE LOST ANYTHING?
How might we mark the 400th anniversary of Baptist witness? This was a question we faced as we began to
make plans for the BWA Annual Gathering in Ede. As a worldwide movement, hardly could we be content to focus
merely on our historic origins; nor could we use the time to engage in prideful gloating over past achievements, if
these were segregated from the clear acknowledgment of the failures of our past and our present. We decided to
use the worship occasions in Ede as a stimulus for recalling some milestones in the past with a view to stimulating
us to ask ourselves the question, “Have we lost anything?”
We remembered some of our founding leaders. John Smyth helped us to ask ourselves, “Have we lost the
capacity to see how our attitudes can sometimes be destructive, and have we developed patterns of confession
that can set us free?” Thomas Helwys showed us how not to run from life-threatening challenges on the home
front, but instead to face the music, speak the truth respectfully and face the consequences for so doing.
We remembered some of our great missioners. George Liele reminded us that large libraries and attractive
financial compensation are not adequate prerequisites of faithful pastoral service. Prompted by a sense of the
urgency of the “Great Commission,” William Carey noted how prayer must accompany work to obtain the things
we pray for. Questioning the narrowness of our vision and the scope of our dreams, Johann Oncken emphasized
the need for the strength and blessing the Spirit affords to aid our eagerness to spread the Gospel. Lottie Moon
challenged us to remember the hard work and sacrificial service of pioneers who preach Christ in foreign lands
and Ann Judson showed us how joy in doing the will of God must not be confused with pleasure that comes from
access to the creature comforts
We remembered some of our great preachers. Charles Spurgeon canvassed “the grounds for expecting more
from Christians than from others.” George Truett identified the dangerous possibility of human beings resisting the
promptings of the Holy Spirit. Rubens Lopes proclaimed the priority of faith over sight in the process of spiritual
discernment and William Tolbert challenged us to courageously strive to help make the world a better place.
We considered challenges from some of our Baptist prophets of social consciousness. We listened as Samuel
Sharpe showed how, with confidence in the hope of all believers in Christ, one can fight against injustice fearlessly.
We heard William Knibb, standing before the dragon of chattel slavery, sounding the clarion call for action in
defense of human liberty. We were transported to great heights by the oratory and wisdom of Martin Luther King
Jr. as he characterized the sin of oppression and the need for human solidarity if the radiant stars of love are to
shine through the dark clouds of injustice.
During our annual memorial service on the final day of the Gathering, we reflected on what two of our great
theologians wrote. G. H. Morling asked us whether we still hold to the fundamental doctrines in the ancient creeds
of the church – and also in Baptist creeds and statements of faith – such as the claim that “He shall come again to
judge the living and the dead.” For his part, Henry Wheeler Robinson issued a passionate call for acknowledgment
of the work of the Spirit in vivifying Christian life and witness – thereby signaling the start of the journey from Ede,
where the BWA met for the Annual Gathering, to Hawai‘i for next year’s Baptist World Congress that will have
the theme, “Hear the spirit.”
We have to ask ourselves, “Have we lost anything?” Anything of the passion for evangelism that should burn
brightly in the heart of every Christian? Anything of the zeal for justice that springs endlessly from bowels of
Christian compassion? Anything of the costly confidence in the Word of God that might make us seem strange
in an age of unbelief? Anything of the firm reliance on the enabling of the Holy Spirit without which we dare not
continue boldly in the Christian pilgrimage?
Now is as good a time as any for us to note how wonderfully God has blessed us over these past 400 years. It
is also a very good time to ask whether we have lost any of the passion, the zeal and the confidence, the reliance
on God, without which our vision and our witness can never match, much less exceed, those of our forbears
whose faithful witness we celebrate this year.
Will those who come behind us call us faithful?
OCTOBER/DECEMBER 2009
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