INDIA - REGIONAL BAPTIST GROUP HOLDS 60TH ANNUAL MEETING
The Council of Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI) held its 60th annual meeting from April 16-18, 2010, in Williamnagar,
Meghalaya state.
The churches in North East India were planted mainly by missionaries from the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society approximately
175 years ago. Subsequent to having gained autonomy, six of the 11 conventions in North East India joined the CBCNEI, which was
formed in the 1950s. The six conventions are the Assam Baptist Convention, the Garo Baptist Convention of India, the Karbi Anglong
Baptist Convention, the Manipur Baptist Convention, the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, and the Arunachal Baptist Church Council.
Since the 1950s, the CBCNEI has grown from less than 2,000 churches to almost 6,000 churches, and has a membership of just over
one million. There are an estimated 1.5 million Baptists in the 11 Baptist conventions in North East India, an area consisting of several
Indian states.
North East Indians are ethnically related to East Asians such as the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans.
A new team of leaders, led by President R.D. Shira, a Christian layman
(Continued on next page)
UNITED KINGDOM - ONE WORLD, ONE MISSION
by Chris Hall
In one of his last engagements as BWA president, David Coffey spoke at the Baptist Assembly, the annual gathering of the Baptist
Union of Great Britain (BUGB) and BMS World Mission, held in Plymouth, Devon in south west England, in May.
Coffey spoke at a seminar organized by the Baptist Peace Fellowship in which he highlighted examples of Baptist peacemakers around
the world. “In all parts of the world there is a constant need for Baptists to be involved in peacemaking,” he said. During the National
Mission Celebration, he gave the keynote address in which he recognized the pressures many ministers feel – “It is possible to grow
weary in the service of the Lord,” but he said they must not get downhearted. “Your ministry matters and your gift counts,” he said.
Anne Wilkinson-Hayes, originally from England and now a regional minister in Melbourne, Australia, touched on similar themes in her
Bible study. “So much damage is done to the mission of the church because people lose perspective.” She encouraged Baptists to be
renewed at the source, not to stand on the river banks but “jump into the river” and be “filled with all the fullness of God.”
Each year at the Baptist Assembly, a new president of the BUGB is inducted. This year Roger Martin, senior minister at the Stockton
Tabernacle, Stockton-On-Tees in north east England, and vice chairman of Spurgeon’s College in London, was due to become
president. It was not to be however as, tragically, just weeks after the Baptist Assembly in May 2009, Martin died from cancer.
As a tribute to Martin, members of his family took a prominent part at the assembly. His widow, Liz, stood alongside BUGB General
Secretary Jonathan Edwards and BMS World Mission General Director David Kerrigan and shook the hands of those ministers who had
received accreditation this year, a role that Martin would have done. Two of Martin’s sons addressed the assembly; Karl Martin, who
is senior pastor at Morningside Baptist Church in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Reuben Martin, a church planter for BMS World Mission,
currently leading a church in Rouen, France.
At the start of his talk, Reuben revealed that during his ministry his father had baptized more than 750 people and sent more than 30
people into full time ministry both in Britain and overseas. The theme for the assembly, “One World, One Mission,” was Roger Martin’s
idea. “Mission was his passion, making Jesus known was his thing. And he wanted to communicate that passion to others and rekindle
a passion for mission - local mission - world mission - among the Baptist churches of Great Britain. And so . . . we’re going to explore
his theme, this theme of ‘One World, One Mission’ - the need to become passionate once again about mission, the need to become
passionate once again about winning this world for Jesus Christ,” Reuben said.
On the last morning of the assembly two public resolutions were passed, one calling on governments to reduce the amount of nuclear
weapons through the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty Conference that happened in May, and one on Violence and Human Trafficking which
was seconded by European Baptist Federation General Secretary Tony Peck. There was also time in this session for the assembly
to reflect on what pastors and delegates felt God had been saying over the weekend. BMS World Mission General Director David
Kerrigan and BUGB General Secretary Jonathan Edwards gave their own take on the message of the assembly. “How can we bring the
good news to everyone?” Kerrigan asked. “Let's get engaged with difficult issues, be involved in our communities, get deeper and risk
more with God,” said Edwards.
Chris Hall is a writer and editor for the Baptist Union of Great Britain

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32