Ertan Cevik (second left), president, and M.Orhan Pickalar (right), secretary, of the Alliance of Baptist Churches in Turkey, with members ҫükrü Boyacioglu and Abdullah Erguven

Turkey has a deep Christian heritage that goes back to the Early Church, but Christians are now a minority. It is estimated that there are approximately 120,000 Christians in Turkey, out of a population of more than 76 million. Only a few thousand Protestants are in the transcontinental country, which straddles both Western Asia and Southeastern Europe. Sunni Islam is the majority religion. Many of the travels by the Apostle Paul recorded in the book

— Newly Formed — Alliance of TURKISH Baptists

Four Baptist congregations have formed the Alliance of Baptist Churches in Turkey. The goals of the group are to encourage member churches, explain the teachings of Baptists to member churches and to others, develop Baptist leaders, pray for the churches’ needs, highlight these needs to other churches, and strengthen believers by organizing seminars, camps and conferences. Ertan Çevik, pastor of Izmir Baptist Church, was elected president and Orhan Pıçaklar, pastor of Samsun Agape Church, was named general secretary. Each will serve an initial term of five years.

— UNITED STATES—

The Need for Solidarity, Hospitality and Fidelity in the Church

Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam urged a Baptist congregation in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States, to commit to cultivating three virtues that are evident in healthy churches. The BWA leader spoke on the occasion of the 152nd anniversary of Friendship Baptist Church, the oldest African American Baptist Church in Atlanta. Organized in the days of the American Civil War and unable to purchase property, Friendship Baptist started meeting in a discarded boxcar that they received from a church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The church grew rapidly and, over the years, it started nine Baptist churches in different locations in Atlanta. What is now called Atlanta University was first housed at Friendship Church. The church also provided accommodation for Morehouse College when, in 1879, it moved from Augusta to Atlanta. In 1881, Spelman Collage had its beginnings in the basement of the church. Interim pastor is Emanuel McCall, a former BWA vice president and a current BWA ambassador. There is the need, Callam told the congregation, for churches to practice a solidarity that goes beyond ethnic boundaries, social status and gender differences. He noted that, in the early church, Jewish and Gentile believers belonged together in the one Christian family because they were united in Christ whom they claimed as their Lord. Within the church, he said, “every believer in Christ finds a sense of belonging.” There is need, Callam said, for churches to embrace a hospitality that is based on friendship. Callam asserted that in the first 500 years in Christian history, it was common practice for Christians to welcome strangers and neighbors whom they encountered. These early Christians shared their lives with the needy and “they did this without concern for advantage or ambition.” In their manifestation of the spirit of true hospitality, “they encountered the risen Christ in the needy stranger.” Callam also commended the need for a fidelity that expresses itself in authentic Christian living. True fidelity “does not put selfish interest first” nor does it “count the cost involved when one is determined to follow the teachings of the Lord of the church.” He emphasized that fidelity “does not scorn serious effort” but instead “opens its arms to joyfully embrace obedience to the demands of love modeled by Christ Jesus.” Callam encouraged believers that, as “citizens of the kingdom of heaven,” to let solidarity, hospitality and fidelity “join hands” and “kiss each other,” as they continue the search for a new home. The church recently voted to accept an offer from the city of Atlanta to purchase its property in order to build a new stadium, and is making plans for relocation.

of Acts were in Turkey. The epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians were addressed to churches located in modern day Turkey. The book of Revelation was addressed to seven churches in what is now western Turkey. The first seven Christian Ecumenical Councils took place in the territory that is now Turkey. The founding of the Alliance of Baptist Churches in Turkey occurs just months before the Baptist World Alliance begins its Annual Gathering in Izmir in early July. Izmir is biblical Smyrna mentioned in the book of Revelation. The Annual Gathering includes a tour of the ruins of Ephesus, an important biblical city of the Early Church. The BWA Annual Gathering brings together denominational leaders, pastors, theologians, seminary presidents, professors and interested Baptists from around the world for worship, fellowship, study and decision meetings.