BELIEVERS’ CHURCH MOVEMENT RE-EMERGES AMIDST REFORMATION ERA RECOGNITIONS

More than 40 persons gathered from June 22-25, on the campus of Acadia University, Nova Scotia, in Canada, for the 17th

Believers’ Church Conference. The theme was “The Tendency Toward Separation.”

The conference marked the renewal of the Believers’ Church

conference series that originated in 1967. Conference papers ranged from broad historical, theological and sociological presentations to specific denominational and regional case studies. With representations from the Baptist, Mennonite and Disciple/Stone- Campbell traditions, the gathering included participants from groups that were not ordinarily part of the earlier Believers’ Church gatherings. These include European Baptists, Hutterites, African American Baptists and Pentecostals. This was the first Hutterites had attended. Major addresses were given by Martin Rothkegel (Germany), Karen

Smith (Wales), David Goatley (US), John Roth (US), Teun van der Leer, (Netherlands), Allison McGregor (Canada), William Brackney (Canada), Paul Wipf (Canada) and Douglas Foster (US). Keynote speaker was Eileen Barker of the London School of Economics. The separationist (or “Come-Outer”) tendency has been a significant

theme in the Believers’ Church tradition, both historically and in churches today, first noted in modern times by Franklin Littell. Believers’ Church groups began as renewal movements within a larger tradition that led to a clear break, according to John Roth, a participant and co-author of the Findings Report. Even as participants celebrated the theological distinctives, Roth observed, participants noted ethical and ecclesial convictions that birthed Believers’ Churches, sometimes at great cost to early members. These include the quest for holiness and purity of ideals, which has often resulted in separation, division and lack of clarity about the locus of authority; a commitment to the primacy of the local congregation has led to a weak theology of the church in its broader expressions and an overly negative view of ecumenism; a focus on religious voluntarism and response to religious liberty can easily become confused with modern individualism and autonomy; and the perfectionist and sectarian impulses in the Believers’ Church tradition can foster a tendency to self-sufficiency that can be narrow, schismatic and even idolatrous Ongoing challenges among Believers’ Churches include a more robust understanding of the nature of the church beyond the local congregation, greater attention to the nature of power and competing claims of authority and a clearer theology of church unity. The next International Believers’ Church Conference will be at Goshen

College, Indiana, in the United States, from September 14-16, 2017. The theme will be “Word, Spirit and the Renewal of the Church: Believers’ Church, Ecumenical and Global Perspectives.”

For Further Information CONTACT

William Brackney, Acadia Divinity College, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

william.brackney@acadiau.ca 22 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

Top right:

Elijah Brown, new BWA regional

secretary for North American and general secretary of the North America Baptist Fellowship

NEW LEADERSHIP FOR NORTH AMERICA

Elijah Brown of the United States was elected

Baptist World Alliance regional secretary for North America and general secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship, one of six regional fellowships of the BWA. NABF has 30 member organizations with total membership of approximately 15 million. Brown, who assumed his position on October 1, is executive vice president of the 21st Initiative,

Century Wilberforce

a human rights and religious freedom advocacy group. Brown succeeds George Bullard who held the positions beginning August 1, 2009. He is vice chair of the BWA Commission on

Religious Liberty and a member of the Commission on Religious Education, the Freedom and Justice Advisory Committee, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee and the Nominations Committee. In 2007, Brown was named one of 35 global emerging leaders by the BWA. Prior to joining Wilberforce, Brown was associate

professor of religion at East Texas Baptist University where he was founding director of the Freedom Center. He is a graduate of University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Texas and did graduate studies at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Other leaders were elected along with Brown at the June 2016 NABF Annual Gathering, including Samuel Tolbert, pastor of Greater St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Louisiana and president of the National Baptist Convention of America, as president. Tolbert succeeds Jim Hill, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Missouri (Churchnet). Newly elected NABF vice presidents are Jeremy Bell, executive minister of the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada; Trisha Miller Manarin, coordinator of Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; and Albert Reyes, president of Buckner International. Robert Cochran, executive director of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention, serves as treasurer. Brown’s positon as BWA regional secretary for

North America was confirmed during the Annual Gathering in Vancouver, Canada, in July.

International