Executive Committee

Regional Reports

Left: BWA regional

secretaries at a dinner hosted by former BWA treasurer John Jones

Facing page: Participants at the BWA Executive Committee meeting

Developments in So uth Sudan and Kenya

The following are excerpts of a report submitted by Duro Ayanrinola, BWA regional secretary for Africa and general secretary of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship

During my visit to South Sudan from

February 11-14, 2012, two meetings were held with leaders of the Baptist Convention of South Sudan in Kajokeji and Juba, the capital. The purpose of the meeting was to encourage and share ideas. In Kajokeji,

there is a seminary, a

primary school, a secondary school, and a hospital under construction. Most of their churches meet under trees. In Juba, the convention owns two properties. There is a temporary building on one and the other is yet to be developed. Baptist work in South Sudan was

started by Baptists in different refugee camps during the war. There are two groups of trained pastors: those trained at the Kenya Baptist Theological Seminary and those trained at the Uganda Baptist Theological Seminary. Most of the pastors have a B.Th (Bachelor of Theology) degree. Some are bi-vocational. One is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Juba. In the Baptist Convention of Kenya,

the Lord pulled down a seven-year strong wall of hostility and bitterness that has hindered the progress of God’s work and in a specially called meeting, God united His children. A harmonized constitution and the transitional leaders were unanimously accepted. Elijah Wanje, leader of the

transitional committee 18 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

wrote, “Indeed, the last six years of division opened the door to the devil to paralyze much of our work. Since we were asked to give leadership and work toward reconciling the church, God has done amazing things. In our joint meeting with the two camps, there was repentance and further commitment to bring the church to oneness.” Sincere appreciation is extended to

Neville Callam, BWA general secretary, for his leadership and also to the previous AABF leadership led by Paul Msiza, former AABF president, and former general

secretary Harrison Olan’g, as

well as current AABF president Michael Okwakol, who chaired the last meeting.

Caribbean Baptists to Establish Study Center

The following are excerpts of a report submitted by Everton Jackson, BWA regional secretary for the Caribbean

and executive secretary/treasurer of the Caribbean Baptist fellowship

back to the 17th documented

Baptist witness in the Caribbean goes century when Baptists

were deported from England and sent as indentured persons to Barbados. While these early records are lost, there is

evidence of Baptist

presence in the late 18th and early 20th

century and after.

Although the history of this period has been researched, especially as regard to the evangelical missionary enterprise of the 19th

centuries, this has

been done largely from the perspective of the social and political contributions of Baptists to Caribbean life and society. Most of these studies were done

primarily by non-Baptists and scholars from outside the Caribbean, so that the specifi c regional as well as theological emphases and polity that gave rise to Baptist activities in the Caribbean have largely been ignored or missed. A Center of and for Caribbean Baptist Studies (CCBS) is needed to give an authentic Baptist interpretation to the biblical and theological foundations upon which current Baptist witness was built lest in the future Baptists lose their true evangelical identity. Therefore, the decision was taken to establish such a center in the Caribbean. The Center

for Caribbean Baptist

Studies will not only enable the voices and the perspectives of Caribbean Baptists to contribute their unique perspectives to

this ongoing discussion but historical also to contribute

academic an

understanding of Baptist spirituality into the Caribbean ecumenical enterprise. The Center will therefore secure, and become the repository for, documents relevant to Caribbean Baptist life, history and thought, and will encourage research and publication in these areas and cooperate

Bonny Resu

Tony Peck

Duro Ayanrinola

Everton Jackson

Parrish Jacome

George Bullard