January 19, 2000

World Baptists work on race
___By Robert O'Brien
___Special Correspondent
___MELBOURNE, Australia (ABP)--Baptists worldwide declared a "Decade of Racial Justice" and a new emphasis on evangelism amid color and pageantry at the 18th Baptist World Congress, Jan. 5-9.
___A resolution on racial justice at the gathering in Melbourne, Australia, called on Baptists everywhere to seek "inter-racial and inter-ethnic harmony to achieve authentic justice for all persons without regard to race."
___In other business, Baptist leaders voted to establish a summit over the next five years to

BANNERS DENOTING conventions of Baptists from nations around the world are displayed in an opening celebration of the 18th Baptist World Congress in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 5-9. (BWA photo by Jim Veneman)

consider the challenge of evangelization in the 21st century. Emphasis will be given to newer churches in Africa and Asia and an estimated 1.3 billion people living in portions of the globe that are largely untouched by the gospel.
___Congress delegates elected South Korean pastor and broadcaster Billy Kim to a five-year term as 19th president of the Baptist World Alliance. Kim, 64, is pastor of the 13,000-member Central Baptist Church in Suwon, South Korea. He will succeed Brazilian pastor Nilson Fanini as president in July at a meeting of the BWA General Council in Cuba.
___Some 6,100 delegates from six continents--representing about 80 percent of the world's Baptists--examined the congress theme: "Jesus Christ Forever. Yes." They also launched initiatives to minister to the poor and hungry, emphasize prayer, encourage strife-torn people and promote social justice.
___"The gospel of Jesus is an invitation" both to salvation and to a moral vision to minister to the needs of suffering people, African-American pastor H. Beecher Hicks Jr., told 7,000 people on opening night.
___"We're not here for a theological tea party," said Hicks, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. "Say 'yes' to the invitation," he admonished, eliciting a litany response of "yes" repeated several times in more than a dozen languages.
___In other business, the world's Baptist community honored a Burmese man known simply as "Rev. Simon" with an award. He was a college professor who voluntarily became a refugee in 1985 to join his fellow Karen people as a minister and teacher after the Burmese military drove them into Thailand.
___He received the second BWA Human Rights Award in absentia. He was unable to attend because the governments of Burma (now called Myanmar) and Thailand refused him visas despite pleas by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, winner of the first award.
___Congress participants also passed resolutions calling for action on human rights and social justice, faith and hope for the new millennium and Christian renewal, growth, evangelism and mission.
___Formed in 1905, the Baptist World Alliance consists of 196 member bodies, representing 43 million Baptists in 160,000 churches. The organization holds a congress every five years.
___In elections in satellite meetings, Audrey Morikawa of Canada succeeded Mercy Jeyarajarao of India as president of the BWA Women's Department, and Samson Ola Olaniyan of Nigeria succeeded Angel Baez of Paraguay as Men's Department president.
___Baptists of all stripes found unity in worship, fellowship and colorful pageantry throughout the congress. The pageantry ranged from an opening parade of flags and dramatization by Australian aborigines to an international festival of music, movement, food and testimony outside the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
___Speakers and group leaders emphasized multiculturalism in urging Baptists "to seek the mind of Christ" and minister to spiritual and physical needs.
___"Real light is the most effective in the dark places (of the world), and the church is at its best when it recognizes the link between salvation and liberation" from oppression and suffering, said group session leader Frederick Haynes, pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas.
___Sessions also addressed hunger, disease and poverty as dramatic issues facing the 21st century.
___"The world's 358 billionaires are wealthier than the combined annual income of countries with 45 percent of the world's population," said Tim Costello, president of the Baptist Union of Australia. "This is in a world where thousands of kids die each week from preventable diseases."
___Jesus is the Lord of new beginnings, so he is the Lord for the new millennium, Anne Graham Lotz told 8,000 persons at the closing session.
___"God's vision for the future is Jesus," said Lotz, noted Bible, teacher, preacher and author from Raleigh, N.C. She is daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and sister-in-law of Denton Lotz.
___Both Fanini and Kim, known for their evangelistic preaching, said if they had it to do over they would do more praying.
___"Lack of prayer is one of the evidences of lack of spiritual power in our lives," Kim said. "There should be no 'day off' when it comes to prayer."
___"Much prayer, much power," Fanini said in addressing one solution to complex problems.
___"Little prayer, little power."
___The prayer and presence of world Baptists brought comfort to congress delegates from parts of the world in deadly conflict, such as Indonesia and Lebanon.
___Ingrid Subagyo of Indonesia sought prayers of support from members of the Asian Baptist Federation at a luncheon. She said that while Baptist and other churches are still being burned in Indonesia, "the Lord has called us to this life at this time and all Baptists to stand with us."
___Subagyo said militants have burned down some 700 churches in Indonesia, and shot believers in front of their churches. She also said militants destroyed a Christian seminary in Jakarta.
___Through it all, she said, Indonesian Baptists have continued to witness for Jesus Christ and to work with Baptist refugees who were forced to flee from their homes in East Timor, a three-day boat trip from Jakarta.
___Lebanese Baptist pastor Charles Costa of the Ras Beirut Baptist Church attended the opening congress session feeling alone and grief-stricken that he could not return home to perform a Jan. 5 funeral service for two of his church members killed in civil war.
___Muslim militants reportedly shot and mutilated Selwa Raad and her pregnant daughter, Sarah Yazbeck, and wounded Sarah's husband, Jean Yazbeck, on Jan. 3.
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