Commendations
From those consulted during the development of the Resolution
While the draft of this resolution originated from Mission Forum, the text as it stands emerged in conversation with a small group of people from across our Baptist family who have demonstrated wisdom and leadership in various expressions of mission. They have kindly all agreed to share a few words commending the resolution to Assembly.
For the last few years I have held the role of Embracing Adventure Rep for Baptists Together and have had the privilege to facilitate the National Mission Forum. We have discussed, prayed and considered the rapidly changing world around us and how we navigate this uncharted territory. I commend this resolution to you, if we are not careful we focus on the things that divide us, but instead let us focus on a shared understanding of mission and being the good news wherever God leads us. May we explicitly choose to agree together to proclaim the hope of salvation while demonstrating the good news through acts of service, justice and creation care, and pray together for the transformation and healing of our world.
Due to illness over the past 8 months I have not had the privilege of being part of the process of liaising, discussing and listening with a wide spectrum of our Baptist family as this resolution was formed, for that reason I am commending this to you while allowing one of my colleagues, who has been more involved in the journey, to propose it.
The Revd Sandra Crawford
Community Minister – Jaywick
Embracing Adventure Rep and Convenor of Baptists Together Mission Forum
BMS’ highest goal is for people to have faith in Christ and experience the abundant life which only He can provide. We give thanks for over two hundred years of Baptist mission partnership in fulfilling God's great plan and purpose among the nations (Ephesians 1:9-10). Today, global migration, rich cultural diversity, interfaith engagements and rise of non Western Christianity bring new challenges and mission opportunities. The future of mission will be dependent upon the synergy of mutuality, reciprocity and transformed relationship whereby Christians in Post Christian West reframe our shared responsibilities for mission from everyone to everywhere with Post Western Christianity. My prayer is for God to use this resolution to revive and refocus our common passion for God’s missions locally as well as everywhere where Jesus' life and love is yet to be experienced.
Kang-San Tan
General Director, BMS World Mission
What does following Jesus and becoming more like him look like where you are?
It’s a genuine question. It may be a little different to my own patch, but it will have the same DNA – after all, we are brothers and sisters in Christ – family. How are we living the Kingdom story in our spaces, and how are we inviting others to join in with God’s best for them? Are we praying for and encouraging other family members, wherever they are in the world, to do the same? ‘Talking the talk’ isn’t the full story. ‘Doing the doings’ isn’t the full story. What are the prophetic words of hope and justice that our communities need? What are the relationships and interactions our communities need for healing, compassion and the practicalities of life? Yours may be different to mine, and different to those in other cultures, but it is always the Kingdom story, always our family DNA.
Will we commit to keeping our eyes, hearts and ears open to recognise what God is wanting for his world and commit to joining in? Will we commit to loving him with all our hearts and souls and minds, so that we can love our neighbours as ourselves? That’s what this resolution calls us to, and I wholeheartedly commend it to my Baptist family.
The Revd Shayla Waugh
BUGB Trustee
Past chair of the Resolutions Committee of the European Baptist Federation
I welcome this resolution that embraces both word and deed as vital aspects of the invitation to share in God’s mission of reconciliation to the world in Jesus. It expresses a holistic approach to mission that resonates with the work of the Baptist Union Environmental Network (BUEN) in inspiring the Baptist Together family to engage more deeply and widely in environmental mission.
BUEN has sought to share the gospel through engaging with creation; through the 'God Saw That It Was Good' films and highlighting pioneering expressions of Forest Church and Messy Church Goes Wild, for example at recent 'Everyone, Everywhere' evangelism and church planting conference. And we have encouraged local churches to practically reduce their impact upon the environment, together with sharing in national and global campaigns that both raise awareness and contribute to climate justice for people and creation globally.
The evangelical theologian, Christopher Wright in his book 'The Mission of God' suggests that ‘truly Christian environmental action is … evangelistically fruitful, not because it is any kind of cover for real mission but … because it declares … that all things in heaven and earth … [are] … reconciled through the blood of the cross.’ In an age of climate change, we need a discipleship that is shaped by such a view of the gospel for both the sake of people and the planet, responding to Jesus’ commission to his followers to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)
The Revd Dr Dave Gregory
Former Baptist Union President
Convenor of BUEN – The Baptist Union Environment Network
What models of mission do we need today in 21st Century Britain? This question is prompted by various conversations, but more importantly by the pan-crisis (multiple crisis) and permacrisis (prolonged crisis) that society is facing at the moment. We have ongoing crisis of war, crisis of migration and crisis of values just to name three. In this context, what is Baptists understanding of mission? This draft resolution is not written to answer all of our questions around mission, but rather to help us map our shared understanding of mission, and also challenge us to be prophetic in our public witness. Mission ultimately is not something that we do, but rather it is an invitation to participate in the mission of the triune God who calls us to demonstrate his Kingdom in the present reality so that the future reality of the kingdom might realised.
The Revd Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana (PhD)
Director, Centre For Mission from the Majority World
Director, One People Commission Evangelical Alliance
Accredited Baptist Minister