Samuel Sharpe, Prophet and Liberator

Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance

He was hailed as a prophet during morning worship, and declared as a liberator in the afternoon.

Samuel Sharpe, an educated Jamaican slave and Baptist deacon, led a rebellion that some scholars say hastened the end of chattel slavery in the British colonies in the Caribbean in 1838. The rebellion, which began as a sit-down strike in December 1831, quickly turned violent, against Sharpe's wishes. In the end, more than 600 slaves, including Sharpe, were hanged by the British colonizers by the time the rebellion was put down in May 1832.

On the morning of Wednesday, July 29, the Baptist World Alliance, during its Annual Gathering in Ede, Netherlands, recognized Sharpe as a Baptist prophet, along with British missionary and anti-slavery crusader, William Knibb, and Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader in the United States.

Before his execution, Sharpe declared, "We must be content to die for the benefit of the rest. I, for one, am ready to die, in order that the rest may be free.... I depend for salvation upon the Redeemer, who shed his blood upon Calvary for sinners."

For the full release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1133

Baptists and Transformation

Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance

Baptists have had a long history in transforming lives and society.

William Brackney, Director of the Acadia Centre for Baptist and Anabaptist Studies in Nova Scotia, Canada, recounted the transformative work of Baptists over the past 400 years, beginning with Baptist pioneers John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, the founders of the first Baptist church in Amsterdam in the Netherlands in 1609, and their quest for the liberty of conscience and worship.

Baptist missionaries such as Adoniram Judson to Burma, William Carey to India, Johann Gerhard Oncken to continental Europe, Lott Carey to Liberia, and others, have helped to transform lives and these societies in profound ways, oftentimes in the face of great challenges, such as the 17-month imprisonment of Judson by the Burmese.

Transformative work has also been done by Baptists in opposition to slavery by their involvement in the emancipation and abolitionist movements.

Brackney, who was speaking at a forum on Tuesday, July 28, during the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering being held in Ede, Netherlands, said Baptists need to do more to counter a modern-day scourge - human trafficking. Stating that more than 12 million people are believed to be victims of the commerce of human beings for the sex trade, forced labor, and other activities, Brackney declared that this is one problem the Baptist family needs to give its attention to.

For the complete release: http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1132

BWA Annual Gathering Blog

News and photos from the Amsterdam 400 celebration are available on the BWA blog, www.bwagathering2009.blogspot.com.

Major Baptist Celebrations Last Week in Amsterdam

Last week both the European Baptist Federation (EBF) and the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) celebrated the 400th Anniversary of the founding of the Baptist movement.

The EBF hosted Amsterdam 400 from July 24-26 an event that included various activities to mark the significant occassion including the participation of BWA General Secretary Neville Callam, BWA President David Coffey, multiple workshops and seminars, and other speakers and choirs from around Europe.

The BWA Annual Gathering was held in Ede, which is 38 miles or 62 kilometers from Amsterdam, from July 27 to August 1. The Gathering focused on the 400th year of Baptist witness in worship, forums, study groups and workshops. A special quadricentennial service was held on Thursday, July 20, at the United Mennnonite Church in Amsterdam. The liturgy for the quadricentennial service is now available from the BWA website (www.bwanet.org) for use by Baptist congregations around the world in their own 400th anniversary celebrations.

Callam Calls on European Baptists to Commit to Evangelism

Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
July 24, 2009

Remembering the past is important to nourishing "individual and communal identity," said Baptist World Alliance (BWA) General Secretary Neville Callam during the Opening Celebration of Amsterdam 400 on Friday, July 24.

The Amsterdam 400 event is being held to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Baptist movement. The first Baptist church was formed in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, in 1609 by British exiles fleeing religious persecution in their country.

Callam said that "memory forms our sense of self and our understanding of community," and "creates the sacred space where human beings encounter their maker."

Citing verses from Exodus chapter 8, which state that the Jews should "take care that you do not forget the Lord your God.... If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods... you shall surely perish," the BWA leader told the gathering of largely European Baptists, "Our penchant for not remembering puts us at great risk. The selective memories that we harbor may mislead us and contribute to our malformation. We must remember and we must remember aright." Callam told European Baptists that a commitment to evangelism is part of that memory. Noting that the 400th anniversary of the Baptist faith also coincides with the 125th anniversary of the death of Johann Gerhard Oncken, Callam urged Baptists of Europe to adopt Oncken's famous declaration, "Every Baptist a missioner."

Oncken, from Germany, died in 1884 and was a pioneer Baptist missionary variously referred to as the "Father of German Baptists" and the "Apostle of European Baptists." He directed and guided the growth of Baptists throughout Germany and across much of Europe for half a century, helping to found 280 Baptist churches, more than 170 of these in Scandinavia and the Slavic states.

"Perhaps, the greatest challenge Christians in Europe face is the evangelization of their continent, and Baptists have an important part to play in this work," Callam announced. The global Baptist leader urged Europeans to adopt "the vocation to evangelize those who do not have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ."

Other speakers during the Amsterdam 400 celebration, taking place July 24-26, include BWA President David Coffey and Raquel Contreras, a BWA vice president, former president of the Union of Baptists in Latin America, and president of the Union of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Chile.

Amsterdam 400 was planned by the European Baptist Federation (EBF), one of six regional fellowships of the BWA. Sessions during the event include meetings of the EBF Council and plenary sessions focused on mission, freedom, community, and discipleship.

Iraqi Churches Targeted and Bombed

By Elijah M. Brown

According to CNN, over this last weekend “at least four people were killed and 32 wounded as six Baghdad-area churches were bombed within 24 hours.” (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/12/iraq.violence/index.html?iref=newssearch)

St. Joseph’s church in western Baghdad was bombed as well as two churches in central Baghdad, two churches in eastern Baghdad, and one church in southern Baghdad.

In addition to the bombings, on Sunday morning, in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk approximately 150 miles north of Baghdad, assailants “using guns with silencers… opened fire on Rizko Aziz Nissan outside his home in central Kirkuk at 8:15 a.m. Nissan was an Iraqi Christian” and a local official.

On Monday morning, in the northern city of Mosul “a car bomb detonated near a church in the al-Faisaliya district [and] wound[ed] three children.” (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/13/iraq.church.bombings/index.html?iref=newssearch)

Eight separate attacks. Three different towns. Three days of violence. And each attack specifically targeted churches or a local Christian official.

In the midst of all of the controversy surrounding the Iraq war, let us remember our Christian brothers and sisters who are suffering in Iraq. Though underreported and often overlooked, in recent years no other community in Iraq has suffered and been affected as much as the Christian community. The estimated one million Christian community has been repeatedly targeted, internally displaced, and forced to flee in fear of their lives.

And the sad truth is that international Christians are more inclined to overlook or simply fail to engage with their persecuted brothers and sisters. There has never been a greater need to pursue international religious freedom and to actively stand in solidarity with those who are at the blunt end of discrimination, persecution and injustice. As we gather in our churches this week, would you hold a time of remembrance for the fallen and persecuted Christian brothers and sisters in Iraq?

Let us remember our brothers and sisters in Iraq.

And then, let us do more than just remember.

President-Elect to be Chosen in Ede

Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
Baptist World Alliance
July 13, 2009

A president-elect will be chosen by the Baptist World Alliance during the Annual Gathering to be held July 27 to August 1, in Ede, Netherlands.

The nominee for president-elect will be presented to the General Council by the BWA Officers Search Committee, chaired by Raul Scialabba of Argentina. The General Council, which convenes during the Annual Gathering, will vote on the recommendation. The 20th Baptist World Congress to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2010, will formally elect the next president of the BWA.

The newly elected president will serve for the period 2010-2015, and will succeed David Coffey of Britain, who was chosen during the Centennial Congress in Birmingham, England, in 2005.

A first vice president-elect of the BWA is also expected to be chosen in Ede, along with 11 other vice president-elects. These 12 persons will become the nominees for BWA vice presidents to be voted on at the Congress in Honolulu. It will be the first time in the history of the BWA that a first vice president will be chosen, if the expected constitutional amendments to effect the change are made during the meetings in the Netherlands.

The General Council will also receive the recommendation of the Personnel Committee on its nomination of Raimundo César Barreto Jr. of Brazil to be the first director of the Division of Freedom and Justice (F&J) for the BWA. The F&J Division was established on September 1, 2008, following the decision of the General Council in July 2008 to create the newest division of the BWA.

http://www.bwanet.org/default.aspx?pid=1124