GENERAL SECRETARY

n GENERAL SECRETARY n GENERAL SECRETARY n GENERAL SECRETARY n GENERAL The Holy Spirit is Central to MISSION

The work and witness of the Holy Spirit is central to the mission of the church, declared Baptist World

Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam. Callam was speaking during

American Baptist International Ministries World Mission Conference in Wisconsin in the United States, in July 2014. The conference was part of the 200th

anniversary celebration

of Baptist mission in the US, beginning with Adoniram and Ann Judson’s trip to Burma in 1814. Callam referred to a

World Council of Churches declaration that states, “The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Mission,” and made the bold claim that “If the church ceases to engage in mission, it ceases to be the church.” The BWA leader asserted that “One great requirement of our times is the renewal of the consciousness of the place and role of the Holy Spirit in the mission of the church.” Guided by the Holy Spirit, the mission of the church “involves

struggle and resistance in the service of justice, peace and reconciliation,” as well as a “readiness to give an account of the hope that we have in Christ.” This, Callam announced, “calls for action toward healing and the wholeness of creation.”

n GERMANY n GERMANY n GERMANY n GERMANY n GERMAN

or that can’t be done.’ Can’t is the language of those who suffer a deficit of courage.”

And even if that claim is a bit exaggerated, there is some truth in it. Naysayers may pose as realists. Faith-starved people may present themselves as practitioners of measured judgment. But sometimes those who, animated by the Holy Spirit, dare to see visions and dream dreams are instruments in the hand of God for the achievement of some grand purpose. They are people who truly understand what it means to say “With God all things are possible.” Let today’s celebration remind us of the power of the possible. In the memorable words of William Carey, let today’s celebration remind us of how to expect great things from God and so to attempt great things for God. On behalf of the Baptist World Alliance, I greet you all and wish for you many more years of fruitful collaboration in which you demonstrate, before the eyes of the world, the undiluted joy of oneness reclaimed and the supreme wonder of the work of reconciliation.

Lobe den Herren, was in mir ist, lobe den Namen. Amen.

Neville Callam Baptist World Alliance Berlin, November 9, 2014

Attendees at the American Baptist International Ministries World Mission Conference in Wisconsin, US, in July 2014

Callam pronounced that “one

aspect of the vocation of the Holy Spirit is to facilitate the process whereby the fullness of life, that is God’s gift to the world, is made available to all.” He noted the 2012 Cape Town Agreement of the Lausanne Movement: “Without the witness of the Spirit of Christ, our witness is futile. Without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, our preaching is in vain. Without the gifts, guidance and power

of the Spirit, our mission

is mere human effort. And without the fruit of the Spirit,

our unattractive lives cannot reflect the beauty of the gospel.” An example of boldness of mission under the leading of

the Holy Spirit was George Liele, who is increasingly being recognized as the first international Baptist missionary. Nearly a decade before William Carey left England for India and 30 years before the Judson’s left the US for Burma, Liele, a former slave, traveled with his family from Savannah, Georgia, in the US, and founded Baptist work on the Caribbean island of Jamaica, beginning in 1783.

“If the church ceases to engage in mission,

IT CEASES TO BE THE CHURCH.”

“George Liele models for us the way in which the Holy Spirit

calls, equips, sends, empowers and sustains those who delight in the service of the Lord and spend their days in deep commitment to the mission of the Triune God.” Callam said Liele was liberated by the Holy Spirit and “understood the comprehensiveness of Christian mission. He not only formed churches, but led them to establish educational ministries for the formation of the enslaved for responsible living as people made in God’s own image.” Liele, “Strengthened by the Holy Spirit, labored tirelessly in

church and world for the sake of the Gospel,” and, “emboldened by the Holy Spirit, served courageously in a situation in which hostile forces threatened his personal physical security.”

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