conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

world council of churches address

The ABC General Secretary had something to share at the recent WCC gathering.

“Baptists tend to avoid over-defining themselves with reference to the creedal statements of the historic Christian faith though acknowledging and taking their full place within that tradition. However, the greater majority of Baptists, if not all, would wish to emphasise a firm allegiance to the mandate of the first Apostles and the early Church given them by the Lord of the Church, Jesus Christ. This mandate is understood as a responsibility to take a full share in being and vocalising the Good News…of Jesus Christ with and among all peoples.

“…[Baptists] share with a number of other participants, including the evangelical and Pentecostal constituency, a concern for a more adequately holistic treatment of mission that includes the importance of vocalising the Good News and which does not shy away from addressing this question in the ecumenical setting of a World Conference. They have also wondered at times whether the discourse used with reference to evangelism has tended to over-emphasise the destructive consequences of evangelistic mission. While Baptists recognise these destructive elements in our own mission and that of others, we are convinced that such stories compel us to a renewal of our evangelistic mission practice rather than its abandonment.

“We encourage the Commission, in the future programme of the CWME, to consider how best to reflect this concern and to locate the treatment of appropriately vocalising Christian faith alongside the treatment of social, diaconal, and political dimensions of the mission task of the Church.”

Go here of the article. And thanks to Bryan for the heads up.

Posted by tripp at June 6, 2005 09:35 AM