Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 30
About 4,000 members of the Baptist World Alliance from 85 nations converged at the Hawai’i Convention Center for the 20th Baptist World Congress which began July 28 in Honolulu. According to reliable sources the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) is participating with over 30 delegates including a choir. The Naga choir is expected to perform today. It was also informed that Mrs Alongla Aier, Associate Professor, Oriental Theological Seminary, Bade Dimapur is one of the plenary speakers. She will be speaking on Friday night. Forum for Naga Reconciliation Convenor Rev Dr Wati Aier who is also a member of the Peace and Justice Commission will take part at a press conference on July 30. Sources informed that he will be highlighting the work of the FNR and the reconciliation process to the Baptist of the world. A source speaking on condition of anonymity pointed out that the support of the Baptist bodies towards Naga reconciliation is “overwhelming”.
The BWA Congress is expected to be a colorful and ethnically diverse event. Song, dance and cultural expressions of worship from around the world will be featured. The Baptist World Alliance is a fellowship of 216 Baptist organizations with a membership of more than 37 million. The alliance, formed in London in 1905, consists of unions from Asian-Pacific countries, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and Latin America, according to www.bwacongress2010.org. The Baptist World Congress is held once every five years.
Another unique aspect of this gathering will be the effort made to use each afternoon to get attendees out of the building and into the streets to work alongside local Baptists to serve Oahu.
They will be involved in homeless ministry, graffiti cleanup, feeding at local shelters and more. Daily forums will focus on such issues as human trafficking, the ethics of tourism, faith and culture, Christian-Muslim relations, genetic engineering, persecution and cross-cultural mentoring of young leaders.
Earlier, British Baptist leader David Coffey spoke on the opening session of the Baptist World Congress July 28 in Honolulu. Coffey, who completes his five-year term as president of the Baptist World Alliance at the quinquennial gathering, challenged Baptists from around the world to hear and heed the Holy Spirit.
“We can be a purpose-driven church. We can be seeker-sensitive church. We can be emergent and creative church. We can be justice-and-peace church. We can be a conservative Calvinist church. But if we fail to hear the Holy Spirit of the living God, then all our serving will be futile and fruitless,” he said. Baptists run the risk of having “the appointing without the anointing,” he warned.
When Baptists choose to follow their own methods and timing rather than God’s, they fail to follow in the footsteps of their forebears, Coffey noted. He cited the example of early English Baptists John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, missionary Lottie Moon and civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
