wfn.org | American Baptists Hold Prison Cell Prayer Service

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS SERVICE
Office of Communication
American Baptist Churches USA
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director
E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

PRISON CELL PRAYER SERVICE HELD

  A prayer service focusing on prison ministries and the need for prison
reform was held today in a space designed as a prison cell in the Hall of
Ministries at the Biennial Meeting.  The service focused attention on the
variety of ministries through which American Baptists care for and about
prisoners, their families and those
who are employed by the prison system.

“We are convicted by the love of Jesus Christ to not allow the
structures of society…to separate anyone from their humanity,”
said National Ministries Executive Director Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III.
“We are here today to pray for the oneness only found in the heart of
God, who hears the groans of the prisoners.”

Delegates and visitors to the Biennial are encouraged to visit the prison
cell throughout the Biennial Meeting period and to leave written prayers as
an expression of their commitment to bringing the Gospel to all who are
touched by the U.S. criminal justice system.

KIM ADDRESS AT INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES LUNCHEON

The Rev. Dr. Billy Kim, president of the Baptist World Alliance, told
attendees at the International Ministries luncheon here to pray for North
Korea--where nearly two out of three children are malnourished--and
maintained that evangelism and renewal were “simply God’s
plan” for this generation.

Kim, who is pastor of the 15,000-member Central Baptist Church in Suwon,
South Korea, has encouraged a closer relationship between American Baptists
and Baptists in South Korea, especially as prayer partners for the desperate
situation in North Korea.  Kim was accompanied by the Far East Broadcasting
Company Korea Children’s Choir from Seoul.

Comparing Christian mission to contemporary corporate promotion, he said,
“We have no vision, no motto, no strategy for the tasting of the
living water of Jesus Christ.  And we have a responsibility to have the
world taste that living water.”

“Why evangelism?  Why revival?  Simply because this is God’s
plan for this generation,” he noted.

Referring to the affluent United States, Kim said that in spite of all its
blessings such critical problems as crime, drug addiction, divorce and
decreasing church attendance had made it a ripe field for mission and
renewal.  “Sin is at hand everywhere,” he said.  “We need
to evangelize this great nation…. We need people with the
determination to evangelize and to seek revival in their churches.”

· QUOTABLE:

“God’s providence is a process—there is something God
releases now that we live with for a lifetime.  God’s providence has
already provided for generations that have not yet been conceived.  When
Christ came to the earth he touched our yesterday, today and our
tomorrow….  God expects us to live by faith; it tells God that we
understand who God is.”
—the Dr. Rev. Bernadette Glover-Williams, assistant  pastor, Second
Baptist Church, Perth Amboy, N.J., during Bible study (June 24)

“Remember how much mercy God has shown you and show a little bit of
that mercy to others around you….  Christianity is not a set of
doctrines, a
denomination…it is a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. “
-–the Rev. Jenny Quey, senior pastor, Community Baptist Church, San
Mateo, Calif., Sunday morning preacher (June 24)

  “More than two million people now are behind bars, but overwhelming
evidence shows that rather than prevent crime, in many cases the U.S. prison
system creates more crime. As the wealthiest nation in the world we need to
choose a path that is compassionate and humane in dealing with the problems
that affect all of us.  We can learn from countries like Rwanda, which is
dealing with the effect of genocide and learning how to heal, to bring
reconciliation and rebuild community.”
-- Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project in Washington,
D.C., at National Ministries’ Prophetic Advocacy Dinner (June 23)

  “God asks us two questions: ‘Where are you?’ and
‘Where is your brother?’ Our prison facilities are filled with
human beings who hurt and cry and have hopes and fears just like us. Taking
up our cross and following Christ means to choose to enter into someone
else’s loneliness, suffering and pain – and to make a
difference.”
--the Rev. Janice Thompson, Protestant chaplain at the Rhode Island Adult
Correction Institution in Newport, at National Ministries’ Caring
Ministries Breakfast (June 24)