Here is some more about how the ABC is wrestling.
We unapologetically celebrate our identity as American Baptist Churches USA. As a people yearning to be centered in Christ, we are eager to move forward with the exciting mission that God has given to us. While we lament and grieve the splintering that has occurred within our denomination, we must not yield to a loss of vision, mutually destructive attitudes and actions, and an increasing threat of division.
In 1992, the General Board adopted the following statement: “The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” In 1993, the General Board called for continuing dialogue on issues of human sexuality, and recognized that there is an ongoing difference of opinion among American Baptists on the issue of homosexuality. Today we have deep divisions around our understanding of biblical interpretation, human sinfulness, and the potential of ministering together. We further acknowledge that not all churches consider this issue to be central to mission and ministry.
During a 24-hour period of reflection and discernment on June 8-9, 2005, approximately 50 members of the American Baptist family came together from a wide geographical and theological spectrum. We celebrated our denominational priority of mission and ministry. We affirmed the vision drafted at the Seek It! Summit of June 2004, trusting in the wisdom of the gathered community under the guidance of the Spirit:
The heart of the gospel is God’s redemptive love. In our life together, the world will see the power of forgiveness to overcome alienation, the strength of love to transform hate, the power of grace to break the bonds of guilt, the triumph of hope over despair, and the victory of faith over doubt.
We affirm the new horizon that God set before us when we called Dr. A. Roy Medley to a pastoral and prophetic ministry as our General Secretary in 2001. We share his vision that American Baptists can be instruments of reconciliation through the cross of Christ that creates a new humanity in a world of increasingly hostile divides (2 Cor 5:17ff). We are grateful for the momentum in mission and ministry that God has brought among us through new churches, baptisms, nurturing of ministerial leadership, strengthened partnerships in global mission, and revitalized and transformed congregations.
We give thanks for our historical biblical commitment to congregational freedom in Christ to wrestle with challenging issues of ministry in our contemporary world. Within the local church, believers work together to discern faithfully the biblical witness on the issues that divide us. This congregational principle should always be linked to striving for the unity of the whole Body of Christ. We understand our mission as articulated by the statement of the Seek It! Summit:
Through the cross of Christ we embrace the world as neighbor. Our vision for mission energizes a multitude of servant ministries of evangelism, discipleship, leadership, new church development, social justice, healing, peacemaking, economic development and education. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we work together in mutual trust, humility, love, and giving that the gospel might be preached and lived in all the world.
We urge all members of our Baptist family to find a more excellent way through:
• Deliberate personal and communal prayer
• Careful Bible study
• Respectful discourse and dissent
• Commitment to maintain the bonds of love and the unity of the Spirit
• Repentance from our alienation from one another and from God
• Moving forward in mission and ministry
Let us together commit our lives in service and hope to radical discipleship in Christ Jesus.
May the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and participation in the Holy Spirit be with us all (2 Cor 13-14).
June 2005
Posted by tripp at June 16, 2005 02:48 PM