wfn.org | ABCUSA: Cooperative and American Baptists Join in Unprecedented Regional Gathering

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 5/18/04)--In an
unprecedented event, regional bodies of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
and the American Baptist Churches USA met in combined session May 7-8 in
Manchester, N.H.  The American Baptist Churches of Vermont and New Hampshire
and the (Cooperative) Baptist Fellowship of the Northeast held a joint annual
convention under the theme "Still Be Our Vision--Today, Tomorrow, Together"
that drew approximately 400 Baptists from New York to Maine.

"This represents a huge step forward in ABC-CBF relations and the Baptist
movement worldwide," said Rev. Dr. Z. Allen Abbott, executive minister for
the ABC of Vermont and New Hampshire.  "It's time that freedom-loving
Baptists from all over the country find strength in our fellowship together. 
Our common roots and current mission propel us to a new Baptist vision
together."

Attendees received a special offering exceeding $10,000 for the Baptist World
Alliance, recently hit by financial crisis and the possible withdrawal of the
Southern Baptist Convention, which protested CBF's admission to the Baptist
World Alliance.  "Giving to the special offering was a unique opportunity for
Cooperative Baptists in the Northeast and American Baptists in Vermont and
New Hampshire to underscore our common commitment to the ministries and
purposes of the BWA," said (Cooperative) Baptist Fellowship of the Northeast
coordinators Ken and Sandy Hale.

Among other points of contact for American Baptists and Cooperative Baptists
are shared church starts in locations across America; combined conferences at
the American Baptist Assembly in Green Lake, Wis.; CBF staff, missionaries
and pastors receiving retirement and health benefits through a joint
partnership utilizing resources from the ABC's Ministers and Missionaries
Benefit Board; a number of dually aligned CBF-ABC congregations; and numerous
joint mission endeavors in the U.S. and overseas.

"We delight in this growing relationship and in the sharing not only of our
common commitment to our Lord but also to our historic Baptist distinctives,"
said American Baptist General Secretary the Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley.  "We
congratulate the Baptist Fellowship of the Northeast and the American Baptist
Churches of Vermont and New Hampshire for modeling this special fellowship."

K/2004ABNS/04ABN65

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org