Birmingham played host to the first regional gathering of the New Baptist Covenant on Jan. 31 with a standing-room-only crowd as former President Jimmy Carter brought a message of unity.
“The most fundamental belief (of Baptists) is the basic gospel message … we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ,” the 39th U.S. president told the estimated 1,200 people at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. “Under this simple, but profound, banner, we Christians must reach out to each other. … Let us Baptists and all other Christians be bound together in unity.”
The Southeast region’s Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant marked the first time the movement’s advocates have held an event since the inaugural meeting held a year ago in Atlanta. The effort seeks to unite Baptist groups across racial, sexual and gender lines and differences in theology and politics.
Doug Green, a chaplain for Marketplace Chaplains USA in Dothan and former pastor of First Baptist Church, Coffee Springs, attended the meeting in Birmingham.
“This is an important effort to be involved in, because division will kill us,” he said. “The world is getting smaller, and it is uniting whether we like it or not, so it is important that we unite, too. Even though there are theological differences among our Baptist groups, we need to unite on the most important thing that we have in common — sharing the gospel of Christ.”
Of the more than 1,000 registered participants from nine states and the District of Columbia at the meeting, more than 800 were from Alabama, according to New Baptist Covenant officials.
The all-day meeting took place at Sixteenth Street Baptist, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and St. Paul United Methodist Church, all closely located. Those present were led in worship by singer Kate Campbell, as well as the Sixteenth Street Baptist musicians, a combined choir and the Magic City Boys and Girls Choir. Morning and afternoon breakout sessions covered social-issue topics such as poverty, hunger, racism, health care and economic justice.
Wayne Snodgrass, vice president at large of the Progressive National Baptist Convention’s Congress of Christian Education, and Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, also delivered keynote addresses.
“We gather for a great occasion — to witness the birth of a great responsibility and the unity of God’s people,” said Snodgrass, pastor of Progressive Union Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville. “Not a task that will be easy, yet it is one that can be easily accomplished.”
Edelman called attendees to come together to break the cycle of poverty.
“We have come such a long way, but we have such a long way to go,” she said. “We’ve got to become the next great cloud of witnesses. Let’s wake up and speak up, people of faith.”
The event was almost a year in the making with Gary Furr, pastor of Vestavia Hills Baptist Church in Birmingham Baptist Association, and Arthur Price, pastor of Sixteenth Street Baptist, serving as co-chairs of the regional gathering.
“We are very pleased with the attendance and participation,” said Furr, noting there was no set number in mind for attendance.
“We decided to create the (opportunity for) relationships and just see what happened,” he said. “We are in a time when people want to do something, and this is one opportunity within the Baptist family.”
Furr explained that the New Baptist Covenant begins with common worship, which leads to fellowship, new ideas and possibilities of which people have not yet dreamed.
“This is a new day … this is a new time in America and in the world. We (the people of God) want to lead the way. We want to join hands.”
Baptists embracing the New Baptist Covenant philosophy are seeking to step across what has been a “difficult divide over the years,” Furr said, referring to racial issues. “Reconciliation is a thing that needs to happen on many levels, but the greatest area is racially.”
Price pointed out the spirit of unity present at the meeting. “We’re more united than we are divided, and I think this effort is important because people come together who are diverse to partner to work as Christ commanded us to,” he said.
Price also noted the natural partnership between him and Furr to lead the event.
The two were already close friends, working together on various projects and as ministry partners for the past three years because of their association with the Resource Center for Pastoral Excellence at Samford University in Birmingham.
“They (the New Baptist Covenant leaders) noticed our work and wanted us to spearhead this effort,” Price said.
Furr added that their relationship complemented the theme and purpose of the New Baptist Covenant.
“It also made it very easy for us to be co-chairs,” he said.
The next regional gathering has not yet been announced.
For more information, visit newbaptistcovenant.org. (TAB)
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