BAPTISTS TOGETHER – REGIONALLY AND GLOBALLY By Ross Clifford

One of the joys of my ministry role in the Baptist World

Alliance and the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation (APBF) is to witness how Baptists come together beyond a local level. Whilst Baptist associations are ministering together in the local church and amongst our neighboring Baptist churches, it is much more than that.

Association for us crosses such boundaries into state, national

and international cooperation and service together. For example, in my visits to Nagaland, India, I saw Baptists ministering together at a state level in a powerful way, whether it be church development, education or social services. In Fiji, a recent Pacific Nations Baptist forum was held with delegates participating from across the Pacific nations as, together, we took positive steps to do more together in church development, theological education, mission and the like.

Baptists working together beyond the local level is not a new

thing. When the church in Jerusalem was suffering, other churches “made a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem” (Romans 15:25-28). Paul Beasley-Murray notes “Paul’s injunction to the Galatians to ‘do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers’ (Galatians 6:10) could not be restricted to any particular locality.” 1

Since our beginnings, Baptists have continued in this

spirit. There has been a commitment to “interdependence” or “associationalism” as a practical expression of the “catholicity” of the Baptist church. Baptist historians such as Ken Manley point to numerous Baptist Confessions in support, including the 1677 Confession: XXVI. 14. As each church, and all the members of it are bound to pray continually, for the good and prosperity of all the Churches of Christ, in all places . . . so the

Participants at BWA Youth Conference One of the tasks for the church today is to name the false unities

that easily determine our lives. In the United States, for example, Christians are often more united by political party than they are by their shared worship of the Triune God. In many places, race unites in a way that membership in the Body of Christ does not. National identity can trump Christian identity such that Christians are willing to kill one another in the name of their nation. The Baptist World Alliance gathers Baptists from around the

The BWA gathers Baptists from around the world.

and I am in you. . . .” (John 17:21). Christ gives this communion to the church. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ . . . for all of you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:27, 28). The use of the present tense is significant. Unity is a present reality because it is first and foremost a gift from God. Though clouded by our sinfulness and slowness of heart and mind, unity nonetheless is present through God’s own abundance: the Son’s self-giving in the Spirit. Our task is to allow this unity to become more fully present through the way we “look upon each other, articulate [our] faith, carry out [our] worship, and act in the world.”1

world to worship the triune God and to participate, through the Spirit, in ministry to the world. As we continue to participate in God’s mission, may we see more fully how unity is integral to the mission of the church. As Jesus prayed to the Father, may they “become completely one, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).

Elizabeth Newman is the Eula Mae and John Baugh Professor of Theology and Ethics at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia, in the United States.

1. Daley, Brian E., “Rebuilding the Structure of Love: The Quest for

Visible Unity among the Churches,” in The Ecumenical Future, eds. Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004) 74.

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Churches (when planted by the providence of God so as they may enjoy opportunity and advantage for it) ought to hold communion among themselves for their peace, increase of love, and mutual edification.2

Stephen Holmes concurs, “Baptists have, virtually from their foundation, held that true churches have a duty to unite together for support and structure.”3 In a theological proposal for “Re-Envisioning Baptist Identity:

A Manifesto for Baptist Communities in North America,” it was expressed this way: We affirm a free common life in Christ in gathered, reforming communities rather than withdrawn, self- chosen or authoritarian ones. We believe that, along with other Christians, the Holy Spirit gathers us from the nations (Isa. 56:7; Mark 11.17; Rev. 5.9-10) and empowers us to share in the gift of God’s freedom so that in our bodies the Lord’s mission of reconciling the world might continue (1 Cor. 6.19-20; 2 Cor. 5.18.).4 Over the years the benefits of regional and global association have been numerous, including world aid, the support of wider Baptist witness in mission and evangelism, mutual encouragement and support, promoting relationships and understanding with other denominations, learning together in conferences, expressing a united voice on moral and social issues, advocacy and promoting and disseminating information about Baptists. Servant governance structures and servant leadership oversee our associational life. Baptist ecumenism does not imply a “uniformity of practice”

or “organizational principles.” Churches and regions will develop in their cultural contexts a variety of models of leadership and government. However, as Paul Beasley-Murray states:

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