Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
June 15, 2009
The Annual Gathering of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) to be held in Ede , Netherlands , from July 27 to August 1, will include the participation of several leading Baptist scholars in historical theology and church history.
These scholars will lead discussions on the history of Baptist witness in different regions of the world as part of the 400th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Baptist movement.
These Baptist scholars include Timothy George, a specialist in historical theology and dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Alabama in the United States, who will speak on the history of the Baptist movement in North America; Horace Russell, former president of the United Theological College of the West Indies in Jamaica and retired professor of historical theology at Palmer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in the United States, who will reflect on Baptist history in the Caribbean; and Dinorah Mendez, Mexican church historian, who will assess the progress of Baptist work in Latin America .
Also leading discussions will be Peter Morden of Spurgeon’s College in London, England, who will assess the development of Baptist witness in Europe; Solomon Ishola, General Secretary of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, who will examine the growth and development of Baptist work in Africa; and Ken Manley, former principal at Whitley College of the University of Melbourne in Australia, who will appraise the history of Baptist life in Asia and the Pacific.
An analysis of the Baptist contribution to social transformation will be presented by William Brackney, Director of the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies, a cooperative project between the Acadia Divinity College and the Acadia University Library in Nova Scotia , Canada .
A final forum will focus on efforts at peacemaking in which Baptists have played a significant part. This forum will be led by Karen Bullock, Director of the PhD program at B.H. Carroll Theological Institute in Texas in the United States and chair of the BWA Commission on Baptist Heritage and Identity.
For full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1097
June 4, 2009
Rest: Necessary for Effective Ministry
By Craig Vernall
Greetings everyone. It's long overdue for me to make a contribution. Please forgive me for my lack of participation. Maybe as you'll read on you'll understand my tardiness.
The BWA Annual Gathering last year in Prague was another exciting and valuable time for all of us. The opportunity to reconnect was a privilege that I find so rewarding. What some of you aren't aware of is that in the period of time leading up to the Prague conference I'd been hospitalized with some problems that were essentially related to being too busy – stress related really.
Upon my return, the leadership in the church where I pastor encouraged me to take some long term leave. So with my wife Michaela and our 14 year old son, I travelled to stay at Lake Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand. Our two older daughters were both living overseas last year. The instructions we were given by our leadership team was to have nothing to do with any level of contact or responsibility that we'd been involved with. This was very difficult. Yet this was put in place to give us rest and allow us the opportunity to be restored. In the beginning we were concerned that we'd be needed but God in his grace allowed others to fill in the gaps and we were very happy with the results.
For me it was a time to unwind and allow the smoke to clear in my life and get my health restored. The area around Lake Wanaka is very beautiful and mountainous and I enjoyed spending many hours a day walking the hills and enjoying Gods creation. The church gave us nearly four months away and then were willing to embrace us upon our return and celebrate that we were back able to lead with new energy. It has been wonderful to experience this grace and to know that many hundreds of people were praying for us. During the time away we had many precious times with the Lord and with each other. Our girls returned from overseas to have Christmas with us. Our eldest daughter announced that she is getting married in October. I felt very old when a very nice young Christian man asked me if he could marry our daughter. We will be blessed to have Karl (from Australia) in our family after October this year.
Since our return we have been resuming our normal work yet being careful not to take on too much. I am once again involved in our union’s leadership as the Chairman of our Assembly Council. This year we're restructuring the leadership and direction of the New Zealand Baptist Union. This is a work I really enjoy and find myself in a good place to make a valuable contribution.
I am looking forward to meeting with everyone again and hearing the stories of God’s grace upon your lives and how he wishes to use us to bring Christ to this hurting world. I trust that you are each doing well and can see the fruitfulness of God upon your lives.
Last year the New Zealand Baptists enjoyed having Teddy and Diddy Oprenov speaking at our pastors’ annual retreat in May. In November, Rachel Tan was the key note speaker at our Annual Assembly. What a blessing it has been to have such wonderful friends ministering in our nation. These are the stories that we have to share with each other as the fruit of our times together. We are very blessed to have each other.
**Craig Vernall is a Baptist pastor in New Zealand and was recognized by the BWA as an emerging leader in 2007.
Greetings everyone. It's long overdue for me to make a contribution. Please forgive me for my lack of participation. Maybe as you'll read on you'll understand my tardiness.
The BWA Annual Gathering last year in Prague was another exciting and valuable time for all of us. The opportunity to reconnect was a privilege that I find so rewarding. What some of you aren't aware of is that in the period of time leading up to the Prague conference I'd been hospitalized with some problems that were essentially related to being too busy – stress related really.
Upon my return, the leadership in the church where I pastor encouraged me to take some long term leave. So with my wife Michaela and our 14 year old son, I travelled to stay at Lake Wanaka in the South Island of New Zealand. Our two older daughters were both living overseas last year. The instructions we were given by our leadership team was to have nothing to do with any level of contact or responsibility that we'd been involved with. This was very difficult. Yet this was put in place to give us rest and allow us the opportunity to be restored. In the beginning we were concerned that we'd be needed but God in his grace allowed others to fill in the gaps and we were very happy with the results.
For me it was a time to unwind and allow the smoke to clear in my life and get my health restored. The area around Lake Wanaka is very beautiful and mountainous and I enjoyed spending many hours a day walking the hills and enjoying Gods creation. The church gave us nearly four months away and then were willing to embrace us upon our return and celebrate that we were back able to lead with new energy. It has been wonderful to experience this grace and to know that many hundreds of people were praying for us. During the time away we had many precious times with the Lord and with each other. Our girls returned from overseas to have Christmas with us. Our eldest daughter announced that she is getting married in October. I felt very old when a very nice young Christian man asked me if he could marry our daughter. We will be blessed to have Karl (from Australia) in our family after October this year.
Since our return we have been resuming our normal work yet being careful not to take on too much. I am once again involved in our union’s leadership as the Chairman of our Assembly Council. This year we're restructuring the leadership and direction of the New Zealand Baptist Union. This is a work I really enjoy and find myself in a good place to make a valuable contribution.
I am looking forward to meeting with everyone again and hearing the stories of God’s grace upon your lives and how he wishes to use us to bring Christ to this hurting world. I trust that you are each doing well and can see the fruitfulness of God upon your lives.
Last year the New Zealand Baptists enjoyed having Teddy and Diddy Oprenov speaking at our pastors’ annual retreat in May. In November, Rachel Tan was the key note speaker at our Annual Assembly. What a blessing it has been to have such wonderful friends ministering in our nation. These are the stories that we have to share with each other as the fruit of our times together. We are very blessed to have each other.
**Craig Vernall is a Baptist pastor in New Zealand and was recognized by the BWA as an emerging leader in 2007.
June 3, 2009
BWAid Assists Cyclone Victims in Bangladesh and India
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
May 28, 2009
Baptist World Aid (BWAid), the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), has sent grants totaling US$12,000 for cyclone emergency relief to Bangladesh and India .
Cyclone Aila affected southern Bangladesh and eastern India on Monday, May 25, and has claimed almost 200 lives, a death toll that is expected to rise as rescuers reach remote villages cut off by flood waters.
“Our team visited the area and found the present need is drinking water and dry food,” said Leor Sarkar, general secretary of the Bangladesh Baptist Fellowship. “All the water wells are under water or are mixed with saline water and there is no source of sweet water as the salt water covered the whole area,” Sarkar reported. “We’re now distributing drinking water and food to save their lives.” A number of persons, he said, are living on boats.
Sarkar, who is a member of the BWA Commission on Church Leadership and the Promotion and Development Committee, informed the BWA that 27 Baptist churches “in Khulna , Bagherhat, Satkhira, Noakhali and Laxmipur districts have been affected by this disaster.”
A portion of the money sent by BWAid will be used to purchase food items for approximately 2,000 families in Bagherhat, Khulna and Potuakhali districts.
The same general area was affected by Cyclone Sidr in 2007, killing approximately 3,500 persons.
For the full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1093
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
May 28, 2009
Baptist World Aid (BWAid), the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), has sent grants totaling US$12,000 for cyclone emergency relief to Bangladesh and India .
Cyclone Aila affected southern Bangladesh and eastern India on Monday, May 25, and has claimed almost 200 lives, a death toll that is expected to rise as rescuers reach remote villages cut off by flood waters.
“Our team visited the area and found the present need is drinking water and dry food,” said Leor Sarkar, general secretary of the Bangladesh Baptist Fellowship. “All the water wells are under water or are mixed with saline water and there is no source of sweet water as the salt water covered the whole area,” Sarkar reported. “We’re now distributing drinking water and food to save their lives.” A number of persons, he said, are living on boats.
Sarkar, who is a member of the BWA Commission on Church Leadership and the Promotion and Development Committee, informed the BWA that 27 Baptist churches “in Khulna , Bagherhat, Satkhira, Noakhali and Laxmipur districts have been affected by this disaster.”
A portion of the money sent by BWAid will be used to purchase food items for approximately 2,000 families in Bagherhat, Khulna and Potuakhali districts.
The same general area was affected by Cyclone Sidr in 2007, killing approximately 3,500 persons.
For the full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1093
May 19, 2009
Baptists Visit Displaced Camp in Sri Lanka
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
May 19, 2009
Baptist leaders of Sri Lankan Baptist Sangamaya (SLBS) visited a refugee camp in the South Asian country in the wake of the war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tigers.
The visit to temporary shelters in Vavuniya, a town in Northern Province , occurred on May 11 and 12, and included the distribution of supplies to approximately 500 families by the SLBS. These supplies, which included water, milk and footwear, were purchased with a grant of US$5,000 from Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance.
E.K.Yasaratne, General Secretary of SLBS, who joined other religious leaders on the tour of the camp, informed the BWA that the relief coordinator for the refugee camp requested additional supplies such as gripe water, soap, towels, disinfectors, milk bottles and mosquito nets that are “useful for baby care, as many children were handicapped.” An attempt is being made “to find a mechanism to supply the above items requested by the coordinating officer” as soon as possible to be sent to the camp, he said, and appeals are being made to “churches and well-wishers” for further assistance.
An estimated 250,000 refugees, mainly Tamil, are in camps in Northern Province following the escalation of the civil war in the country between the LTTE and the government over the past few months. The civil war first erupted in 1983 as the Tamils, who accuse the Sinhalese government of discrimination, fought for an independent state in the north and east of the island. Since the beginning of the conflict, approximately 70,000 persons have been killed. An estimated 7,000 civilians have been killed and approximately 17,000 have been wounded since January 2009.
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
May 19, 2009
Baptist leaders of Sri Lankan Baptist Sangamaya (SLBS) visited a refugee camp in the South Asian country in the wake of the war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tigers.
The visit to temporary shelters in Vavuniya, a town in Northern Province , occurred on May 11 and 12, and included the distribution of supplies to approximately 500 families by the SLBS. These supplies, which included water, milk and footwear, were purchased with a grant of US$5,000 from Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance.
E.K.Yasaratne, General Secretary of SLBS, who joined other religious leaders on the tour of the camp, informed the BWA that the relief coordinator for the refugee camp requested additional supplies such as gripe water, soap, towels, disinfectors, milk bottles and mosquito nets that are “useful for baby care, as many children were handicapped.” An attempt is being made “to find a mechanism to supply the above items requested by the coordinating officer” as soon as possible to be sent to the camp, he said, and appeals are being made to “churches and well-wishers” for further assistance.
An estimated 250,000 refugees, mainly Tamil, are in camps in Northern Province following the escalation of the civil war in the country between the LTTE and the government over the past few months. The civil war first erupted in 1983 as the Tamils, who accuse the Sinhalese government of discrimination, fought for an independent state in the north and east of the island. Since the beginning of the conflict, approximately 70,000 persons have been killed. An estimated 7,000 civilians have been killed and approximately 17,000 have been wounded since January 2009.
For the full report: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1090
April 22, 2009
School in Refugee Camp Celebrates 25 Years
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
April 22, 2009
The Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Bible School and College (KKBBSC) in the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand celebrated its 25th anniversary from March 25-29.
The school was founded by Saw Simon, the recipient of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Human Rights Award in 2000, and offers general education to refugees and training to church leaders.
Simon and his family fled across the Thai border after the school, which was originally located in Rangoon (Yangon), the former capital of Myanmar , was destroyed. He later restarted it at the Mae La camp. Mae La houses an estimated 50,000 persons and is one of the largest of several refugee camps for displaced persons from Myanmar who fled conflicts in the South Asian country. The school restarted with 32 students and has since grown in enrollment to more than 300.
Included in the celebration were the 23rd graduation exercises of the KKBBSC, where 39 students graduated, and the 25th Annual Mass Meeting of the Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Churches (KKBC), comprising the more than 240 churches that were founded in the refugee camps.
“We are really grateful to God for what He has done for us, is doing for us, and will be doing for us,” a release from the school said. “We also thank our brothers and sisters around the world for supporting us and praying for us.”
For the full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1074
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
April 22, 2009
The Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Bible School and College (KKBBSC) in the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand celebrated its 25th anniversary from March 25-29.
The school was founded by Saw Simon, the recipient of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Human Rights Award in 2000, and offers general education to refugees and training to church leaders.
Simon and his family fled across the Thai border after the school, which was originally located in Rangoon (Yangon), the former capital of Myanmar , was destroyed. He later restarted it at the Mae La camp. Mae La houses an estimated 50,000 persons and is one of the largest of several refugee camps for displaced persons from Myanmar who fled conflicts in the South Asian country. The school restarted with 32 students and has since grown in enrollment to more than 300.
Included in the celebration were the 23rd graduation exercises of the KKBBSC, where 39 students graduated, and the 25th Annual Mass Meeting of the Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Churches (KKBC), comprising the more than 240 churches that were founded in the refugee camps.
“We are really grateful to God for what He has done for us, is doing for us, and will be doing for us,” a release from the school said. “We also thank our brothers and sisters around the world for supporting us and praying for us.”
For the full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1074
South African Baptist union urges South Africans to vote, pray
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
The Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) is urging its members to vote in national and provincial elections set for April 22 in South Africa .
“Every citizen of South Africa is given an opportunity to vote for the party of their choice to become the government. If good people do not vote, only bad people will vote, and the results will be disastrous,” the Christian Citizenship Committee of BUSA said in its voting guidelines to Baptist churches in South Africa .
“Many good people are disillusioned and discouraged...they feel politics is so hopelessly corrupt, it is useless becoming involved in it,” the BUSA guidelines said, “but we must seek the peace and prosperity of the city and state in which God has placed us.”
“We want competent leaders to lead our land,” the guidelines read, even if these leaders are not religious. “Some of the finest political leaders in history have not necessarily been deeply religious or spiritual people…. In His common grace, God has given certain skills to particular people.”
Even while urging Baptists to vote, the Baptist union called on Baptists to “pray that South Africa ’s democracy may be strengthened,” and for “more men and women to be elected who have a real desire to serve the nation and not just their own interests.”
The elections on April 22 will elect a new national assembly as well as the provincial legislature for each province. The national assembly will select the person to become president of the Republic of South Africa.
For the full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1068
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
The Baptist Union of Southern Africa (BUSA) is urging its members to vote in national and provincial elections set for April 22 in South Africa .
“Every citizen of South Africa is given an opportunity to vote for the party of their choice to become the government. If good people do not vote, only bad people will vote, and the results will be disastrous,” the Christian Citizenship Committee of BUSA said in its voting guidelines to Baptist churches in South Africa .
“Many good people are disillusioned and discouraged...they feel politics is so hopelessly corrupt, it is useless becoming involved in it,” the BUSA guidelines said, “but we must seek the peace and prosperity of the city and state in which God has placed us.”
“We want competent leaders to lead our land,” the guidelines read, even if these leaders are not religious. “Some of the finest political leaders in history have not necessarily been deeply religious or spiritual people…. In His common grace, God has given certain skills to particular people.”
Even while urging Baptists to vote, the Baptist union called on Baptists to “pray that South Africa ’s democracy may be strengthened,” and for “more men and women to be elected who have a real desire to serve the nation and not just their own interests.”
The elections on April 22 will elect a new national assembly as well as the provincial legislature for each province. The national assembly will select the person to become president of the Republic of South Africa.
For the full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1068
April 2, 2009
Police Raid Baptist Home in Azerbaijan – Again
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
April 2, 2009
Three Baptist women were detained and fined for “illegally spreading Christianity and other faiths” in the South Caucasus country of Azerbaijan on March 25.
The three, who are from Baku , the capital of Azerbaijan , were charged after police raided a Baptist religious gathering in a private home in the central town of Agdash , where children were receiving religious instruction.
According to Forum 18, a religious freedom watchdog group based in Oslo, Norway, “In the afternoon of 25 March, eight men raided the Agdash home of long-standing Baptist Vera Zhuchaeva, who is in her seventies,” and detained the three women, who claimed that “officers insulted them for their faith.”
Forum 18 reported that parents had been invited to send their children to Zhuchaeva’s home to listen to Bible stories during the Novruz spring festival, a holiday celebrating the arrival of spring. Approximately 12 children were present.
A report out of the office of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), one of six regional fellowships of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), stated that the police confiscated more than 500 pieces of Christian literature, 40 CDs, and a CD recorder.
The EBF report also stated that the raid and the detention of the Baptists has had widespread media coverage, which has included the disclosing of the addresses of those detained and fined.
Elnur Jabiyev, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Azerbaijan, described the public disclosure of the addresses of the detainees as dangerous. “Nationalists will know their addresses. The police should not have given journalists this information,” Jabiyev said.
Azerbaijan has come under increasing scrutiny from the international Baptist community in recent times. Two Baptist pastors, Zaur Balaev and Hamid Shabanov, were arrested in 2007 and 2008, respectively, after police raided their house churches. Both were found guilty on what were regarded as trumped up charges. Balaev was released in March 2008 after serving six months of a two-year sentence, while Shabanov, though convicted in February of this year, was not imprisoned as he had spent time in jail and under house arrest before and during his trial.
See: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1046
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
April 2, 2009
Three Baptist women were detained and fined for “illegally spreading Christianity and other faiths” in the South Caucasus country of Azerbaijan on March 25.
The three, who are from Baku , the capital of Azerbaijan , were charged after police raided a Baptist religious gathering in a private home in the central town of Agdash , where children were receiving religious instruction.
According to Forum 18, a religious freedom watchdog group based in Oslo, Norway, “In the afternoon of 25 March, eight men raided the Agdash home of long-standing Baptist Vera Zhuchaeva, who is in her seventies,” and detained the three women, who claimed that “officers insulted them for their faith.”
Forum 18 reported that parents had been invited to send their children to Zhuchaeva’s home to listen to Bible stories during the Novruz spring festival, a holiday celebrating the arrival of spring. Approximately 12 children were present.
A report out of the office of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), one of six regional fellowships of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), stated that the police confiscated more than 500 pieces of Christian literature, 40 CDs, and a CD recorder.
The EBF report also stated that the raid and the detention of the Baptists has had widespread media coverage, which has included the disclosing of the addresses of those detained and fined.
Elnur Jabiyev, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Azerbaijan, described the public disclosure of the addresses of the detainees as dangerous. “Nationalists will know their addresses. The police should not have given journalists this information,” Jabiyev said.
Azerbaijan has come under increasing scrutiny from the international Baptist community in recent times. Two Baptist pastors, Zaur Balaev and Hamid Shabanov, were arrested in 2007 and 2008, respectively, after police raided their house churches. Both were found guilty on what were regarded as trumped up charges. Balaev was released in March 2008 after serving six months of a two-year sentence, while Shabanov, though convicted in February of this year, was not imprisoned as he had spent time in jail and under house arrest before and during his trial.
See: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1046
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