ATLANTA, GA (ABNS 01/31/08) - "This is the most momentous event of my religious life," said former President Jimmy Carter in his opening message in the first session on Wednesday evening of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant gathering in Atlanta.
The gathering, running from January 30 to February 1, brings together participants from all the major Baptist groups in Canada, the United States and Mexico that are member bodies of the North American Baptist Fellowship, one of the six continental federations of the Baptist World Alliance.
Carter reiterated the main theme of unity, which he spoke about at an earlier Press Conference, and challenged the more than 10,000 attendees gathered saying, "We convene with prayer and humility, with no criticism of others and no exclusion of others who call themselves Christians."
During his keynote address on opening night of the Celebration, Rev. Dr. William Shaw, pastor of the White Rock Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa., and president of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., raised the question, "How do we disagree with Jesus in the name of Jesus?" Shaw also called for unity among Christians.
Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, ABCUSA General Secretary, said, "This was a powerful beginning in calling us together around the commitments we embraced, and to which Christ has called us. I am very excited also, because this is a good follow-up to our Biennial Meeting last year in Washington, DC, as an expanded form of our coming together with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention."
Other American Baptist have spoken out about the Celebration for a New Baptist Covenant on a specially-created blog saying, "For over fifty years I had been hoping something like this would happen!" and "Perhaps this is the beginning of a new wave of Baptist witness to the grace of God in Christ."
For those unable to travel to Atlanta, plenary sessions by Carter, American Baptist author and educator Tony Campolo, Children's Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edleman, Nobel prize-winner Al Gore and others can also be viewed online.
Several sessions are being held during the three days of meetings at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Topics to be discussed include "Race as a continuing challenge," "Sexual exploitation," "Faith and public policy," and "The HIV/AIDS pandemic," among other topics.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/