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Richard W. Schramm, Director
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GENERAL BOARD/BIENNIAL MEETING UPDATE: June 25, 1999

NEWS FROM THE GENERAL BOARD/PROGRAM BOARDS
Des Moines, Ia. / June 18-21, 1999
ADDRESSES

  In an opening night sermon focusing on the theme,
the Rev. W. Pongsing Konyak, who has served as general
secretary of the Nagaland Baptist Church Council, described
that theme as "a profound and appropriate subject for a
gathering like this."
  Konyak traced the history of his people who grew "from
headhunters to soul hunters" beginning in 1872, when the
Gospel was introduced to them by American Baptist
missionaries.
  Using the contexts of reconciliation and release
recorded in Leviticus 25 and Isaiah 61, Konyak maintained
that "Turning to Jesus brings deliverance, restoration and
transformation, and mission."
  Considering the spiritual journey of the Naga people
he said, "The proclamation of the Gospel delivered the Nagas
from sin."   The dramatic growth of the church in Nagaland--
which now is largely Christian and largely Baptist--has been
supported over more than 125 years by American Baptists.
When India forced foreign missionaries to leave the area in
1956, "we became orphans spiritually."  But, because the
missionaries had "built up the native leaders," Naga
Baptists took up the responsibility to be "self-governing,
self-perpetuating and self-supporting."
  "We are what we are today because of what your
missionaries have brought to the Nagas over 125 years," he
told delegates and visitors.  "God not only delivered us but
restored and transformed us...by bringing modern education, a
better way of living, and development."
  That work of God among the Nagas--and all people--
requires a commitment to mission, he said.
   "If we are to follow in the Savior's footsteps, we must
serve the downtrodden, the forsaken in society."
  Konyak noted the need to rely on God as the source and
strength of our mission.  "We depend more on technologies
than on the power of God.  We need to rediscover the power
of God."
  Konyak detailed how Naga Baptists have taken the
mission mandate as a call to share the Gospel in other
countries as well as their own, including Thailand, Japan
and other parts of southeast Asia.
  He closed by charging American Baptists with
"rekindling the zeal for mission," maintaining that
'renewal in the local church" is the way "for world mission
to be accomplished."

  The Rev. Liliana DaValle told delegates and
visitors to the American Baptist Biennial Meeting June 23
that in the midst of differences, "We go to Jesus Christ for
answers and we go to the Bible for answers; perhaps the
answer is we are a family, and we need to put to rest our
controversies.'
  "Perhaps we're being confused, mistaking our brother
or sister who confesses Jesus Christ as our enemy," she
said.  DaValle, an area minister with the American Baptist
Churches of Massachusetts, addressed the meeting theme
"Turning to Jesus: Renewed for Mission" and the evening's
focus, "Sitting at the Feet of Jesus."  She drew attention
to the story of Jesus' visit with Mary and Martha (John
12:1-3; Luke 10:38-42), especially Mary's anointing of
Christ and Martha's preoccupation with the mundane aspects
of hospitality.
  "Mary was ready to receive, expecting that in the
presence of the Lord something happens.  Her life was going
to be changed; her humanity was going to be transformed.
The spirit of God was going to be revealed and she wanted to
take a part of that."
  In her sermon DaValle stressed the need to "put to
rest our humanity...our controversies [in order] to open the
door to spirituality that God brings into our lives."
  Referring to the Scripture passages, she noted, "When Mary
sat at the feet of Jesus Martha didn't have anyone to fight
with.  If we American Baptists put away our controversies we
will have no one to fight with."
  Just as Martha's attention was drawn to the
"tradition" of hospitality, "Sometimes in our churches
tradition is more important because we're not aware that
Christ is there," DaValle said.  She cautioned against
"trading off the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in
the midst of the way in which we do things...conduct business,
the way we worship."
  "When Jesus came the Pharisees were trying to keep
'continuity,'" she said.  "Jesus said 'I'm going to make a
new thing.'"
  "Jesus is here," she said.  "We can be transformed,
for church, for community...for new life."

  In a message June 24 drawing upon the truths
contained in the story of Jesus' healing of the paralytic
man in Luke 5, Dr. Carolyn A. Knight, assistant professor of
Homiletics at the Interdenominational Theological
Center/Morehouse School of Religion in Atlanta, Ga.,
emphasized, "There are those who will not get to
Jesus...except by the fastidious faith of others."
  Noting the extraordinary efforts of the friends of the
paralyzed man to place him in the presence of Christ, Knight
reminded participants, "Somewhere, sometime, somebody took
you to church, prayed for you, took the time--that's why
you' sitting here tonight."  Like the man described in
Luke 5, many people "are in a state of paralysis, by
unresolved conflict, unconfessed sin...looks, race--
circumstances [that have] conspired to keep them out of the
game of life."
  "We all know somebody who had to lift us because we
could not lift ourselves," she said.  And we, in return,
"must make it our business to help somebody to get to
Jesus...to bring them to a place where they hear the Word of
God."
  "For some people in this nation you are the answer to
their prayers, their model for ministry and service," she
said.  Those people "need more than 'chicken soup for the
soul,'" she maintained.
  "It will be our faith in the new millennium that will
turn this world around; God will use you," she said.  "We
just need to get people to the place where they can be
healed."

  Dr. James B. Johnson, president of American Baptist
Churches USA, emphasized the strengths of family, hope and
joy in a closing night sermon at the Biennial Meeting.
  Applying those strengths to the life and ministry of
the diverse denomination, Johnson noted, "If we can see
there will be disagreements perhaps we can guard against
expecting too much and expecting too little."   As in all
family situations, there must be an acknowledgment of the
need for "continuous negotiation" and the understanding that
there exists "a variety of dispositions in the same place."
  "American Baptists are a diverse denomination in a
world rushing toward diversity," he said, noting that within
one zip code in Flushing, N.Y., there are represented 123
ethnic backgrounds.  Depending on how it is dealt with, the
gift of diversity can either be "an idol or an opportunity,"
he said.
  Hope at its most profound level is "a vital essential
without which we cannot live."  He cited biblical
descriptions of hope ("eternal," "purifying," "blessed") and
applied it to the life of Adoniram Judson, the pioneering
missionary in Burma, who was sustained through countless
challenges by a deeply-felt sense of God's call and
strength.
  With a commitment to family and an acceptance of hope
comes the opportunity to experience "a wonderful sense of
freedom," expressed in the joy of Christian living and the
avenues for ministry available in church and denominational
life, Johnson said.