September 29, 2008

Reflections on BWA Experience in Prague

By Samson and Adebola Fatokun

The Prague experience ---

How great it was to be in Prague gathering again with brethren from the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) and the Baptist community from all over the world. What a refreshing moment of reunion it was!

Just like in Accra, the previous year, the Emerging Leaders’ programme started ahead of the General Session. David Coffey’s teaching on Leadership Qualities was not only remarkable but challenged me to go back and have a noticeable impact on my community. There and then, I received a new vision for a new ministry, which I am henceforth committed to. God used that moment to talk to me loud and clear. As David said, “If you do not take any action in the next three months after leaving this place, you are not likely to take any action at all”; the vision has been shared with my mentor, my church pastor and the General Secretary of the Nigerian Baptist Convention. The vision is so big that it can only be God’s project and the zeal of the Lord will fulfill the vision.

As we meet next year in Amsterdam, at the third meeting of the ELN, you will be informed on how far the Lord has moved in fulfilling the vision he gave me in Prague.

As you remember Prague ---

As in Ghana where emotions in our hearts rose at the slave house memorial and reconciliation service, in Prague the short film on Jan Hus who stood by the authority of the Scripture against threats from the Roman Catholic authorities even to the point of being burnt at the stake also strongly touched my spirit and humbled me. What a level of commitment that was!

During the city tour organized by the Emerging Leaders Network, I noticed through many statues and ancient church buildings the strong traces of Christianity in the history of the Czech people. But today, almost the entire population of the Czech Republic does not know God. I felt very sad.

But rather than being discouraged, three of us in the ELN, were encouraged by the spirit of commitment of Jan Hus and we embarked on a Prayer walk through the city of Prague interceding for the Czech Republic and earnestly praying for a revival that will turn the hearts of the Czech people to the living God.

And as you remember Prague, do not only remember the beautiful city but also remember the major negative shift in belief in that city and join us in interceding for a revival in the land.

** Many thanks to Samson and Adebola Fatokun who are from Nigeria and are members of the BWA Emerging Leaders Network. Samson and Adebola are both employed within the airline industry and active within their local congregation.

September 26, 2008

Our Prayers - For Those Caught in the Path of Hurricanes

I recently saw on the news that this week for the first time 45,000 people will be allowed to return to their homes on the coast of Texas following the devastation of Hurricane Ike. Hurricane Ike followed on the heels of Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna that have collectively adversely affected Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, the United States, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. According to a recent BWA report, one pastor in Cuba reported that Gustav damaged or destroyed some 86,000 houses and that ‘all three hurricanes have caused hundreds of deaths and left tens of thousands homeless.’ (See the full BWA report at: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=907)

For those of you who have been caught in the path of these and other recent natural disasters we want you to know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and know that the journey for recovery will be long and difficult.

For those of you caught in the middle what has this experience been like for you and what are some of your prayer requests?

September 25, 2008

Welcome

Welcome to the Emerging Leaders Network Blog of the Baptist World Alliance! This is a forum for Baptist young leaders in the more than 100 countries represented within the BWA to connect with one another. We welcome your feedback as more than anything else this is a point of conversation. All are welcome.

Throughout August as I watched the 2008 Olympics my thoughts kept drifting to the meaning of the often repeated phrase, ‘global community.’ What does it mean to live in global community?

Among other things it surely implies interdependence. Beyond nations, geographies and ethnicities there stretches a more fundamental thread that weaves us together. As the author of Genesis stated, ‘The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’ (2:7)

Hopefully interdependence implies more than a vague connection to one another. As in the African ethic of Ubuntu: a person is a person only through other persons. Without you I cannot be me. Without you our community is incomplete. We need the culture you represent, the language you speak, the communal traditions that shape your background, the gifts you possess. Though rooted into our own specific contexts we are interdependent and we should be guided by an ethic to stretch out our hands to fellow sisters and brothers around the world in truth, transparency, equality, love and when requested, acts of solidarity. As one poem states:

‘I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see.
I sought my God, but my God eluded me.
I sought my brother, and I found all three.’

As you have questions or concerns; reports, pictures and events in your region of the world; ideas related to ministry and personal discipleship; or any other comments please feel free to pass them on. (Please note the Blog Guidelines. Care will be taken when sharing sensitive information.)

Stretched around the world we are a global community of emerging leaders bound by the common breath of our humanity, enriched by backgrounds of diversity, committed to the holistic advancement of the kingdom of God. We are interdependent.

What does living in ‘global community’ mean to you?