Timothy George, dean of Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, is helping Baptists and Anglicans better communicate. He was among members of the Baptist delegation in London that began what is expected to be a five-year period of conversations between the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) and the Anglican Consultative Council located in England. The meeting was held at London’s Norwich Cathedral Sept. 21-24.
The Baptist team was led by Tony Cupit, BWA director of study and research. The panel of Baptist leaders addressed such topics as Baptist life in Europe and baptism. The talks are the result of decisions of the BWA General Council and the Anglican’s Lambeth Conference in 1998 to hold such discussions.
The objectives, according to a BWA news release, are:
To enable Anglicans and Baptists to learn from each other and to deepen mutual understanding of the relationships between the communions in the light of their histories.
To share with each other the understandings of the faith and to work toward a common confession of the Apostolic Faith;
To identify issues of doctrine and of the nature of the Church to be explored further in possible future conversations.
“It is clear,” Cupit said, “that Baptists and Anglicans speak a different language. But the whole purpose of these conversations is to see what we have in common and how that can be used to further the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
As the two groups look ahead, the meetings will be held in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the United States and sessions on each continent will feature leading theologians from the area.
(BP)
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