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Vibrancy and diversity left wonderful memories for delegates at the 21st Baptist World Congress held in Durban, South Africa.
Jesus is the gateway
Keith Jobberns
Over 2,500 delegates from more than 80 countries came together for the 21st Baptist World Congress in Durban, South Africa in July. African Baptists hosted and welcomed the delegates and the induction of Rev. Paul Msiza from South Africa as the President of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) added to the African flavour of the first BWA Congress held on the continent. Over 30 Australians attended the Congress and participated in the four day program. Each day commenced with a worship service followed by Bible Study sessions conducted in five major languages. The theme of the Congress was ‘Jesus the Door’ and the final session was presented by Rev. Dr Joel Gregory, Professor of Preaching at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary in Texas. His sermon underscored
the quality of the preaching. The sermon can viewed on the BWA website. Forums covered topics including human rights, evangelism, peace building, gender violence, relief and development, preaching with imagination. These topics provided a glimpse of the breadth and depth of the world Baptist movement and its engagement in the contemporary world. A meeting of the General Council was also held during the Congress. The Council affirmed the appointment of members of the BWA Commissions and Committees for the next five years. Australian Baptist Miyoh Chung was nominated for the role of Vice-President.
Other Australian Baptists that are members of Committees and Commissions included John Beasy, Rod Benson, Bill Brown, Ross Clifford, Heather Coleman, Ken Edmonds, Brian Harris, John Hickey, Keith Jobberns, Sue Peters, Frank Rees, Mark Wilson and Stephen Vose. The 22nd Baptist World Congress will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2020. However, regionally all eyes are now focused on the Asia Pacific Baptist Conference to be held in Yogjakarta, Indonesia in 2017. The overarching experience of any BWA Congress is to participate in a worshipping community that stretches us beyond our own local experience of being a follower of Jesus. To share a series of worship events with fellow believers from a variety of different languages and ethnicity is a foretaste of the eschatological event highlighted by the apostle John, ‘… a great multitude which no one could
count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”’ [Revelation 7:9-10] Preceding the BWA Congress a group of Australian Baptist leaders had the opportunity to visit Malawi. While the need for community transformation was most overwhelming, the group reported coming away from the Malawi visit with a deep sense of gratitude of the contribution the Australian Baptist movement is making, through the support for Baptist World Aid Australia and Global Interaction in the lives of Malawian villagers in bringing hope through the love of Jesus. More about the visit can be read on page 4. To view Baptist World Congress videos, visit www.bwanet.org
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