Baptist Assembly Report 2011

Your Kingdom come was the bold theme for this year’s assembly. The Kingdom that God is building constantly changes our thinking about the church and His mission to the world.

Programme overview.
The programme was a full one with Friday being a welcome session and an opening celebration.
The mornings consisted of joint meetings comprising , bible study, plenary sessions which included B.U.G.B and B.M.S. annual general meetings and updates and worship. Running at the same time as the main meeting was one called Prism, which explored the same theme of ‘Your Kingdom Come’ but in an interactive and more alternative way.
The afternoon programme was a choice of main seminars until 3.30pm and focus groups until 5.00pm.
The evening programme was a joint celebration until 9.15pm with an after hours meeting until 10.30pm for those still on their feet.
Worship was led by Andy Scarcliffe, Mission Advisor, B.U.of Scotland . and an excellent group of musicians and singers.

THE ASSEMBLY
Friday 29th April
As this was our first assembly, we attended the welcome event for first timers. A very relaxed and encouraging time together. Time was spent getting to know other people and an overview was given on the purposes and worship principles of the assembly and what it means to be a delegate, finishing with a few survival tips and a question and answer session. Very encouraging.

The opening evening celebration, hosted by Jonathan Edwards (Gen.Sec. of BUGB) and David Kerrigan (Gen. Dir. BMS World Mission), saw the inauguration of Pat Took as president of the B.U for 2011 – 2012.
She spoke on the ‘Kingdom to come’ the theme of the conference.
A Kingdom that knows no exclusions, where barriers come down, a world of us, no me.

On Palm Sunday when Jesus cleared the temple, all exclusions were ended and He reclaimed the temple for all humanity. The ‘Kingdom of God’ is NOT a mirror image of the Kingdom on earth, but is a genuinely inclusive community and a foretaste of when ALL knees shall bow to Him.
God’s sacrifice in Jesus was because He ‘so loved the world’ not just for me. The gospel is not Good News if nothing changes. The Kingdom will come as the victory has been won, but the cost of the Kingdom is giving up things that we hold dear if they get in the way of the Kingdom.

Saturday 30th April
Morning 1 (Bible study)
Entitled ‘A Kingdom Prayer’ with Wale Hudson-Roberts, focused on the Lord’s Prayer. The session opened with the prayer spoken in Arabic then Welsh and finally sung by the male singer of the worship group in an amazing tenor voice.
The Kingdom, now,today and future, to bring into birth the realm of God on earth.
One Father, a realm of inclusion, inclusivity and justice.
A recurring theme throughout the assembly was this word, inclusion. There is a need to continue to protest against injustice especially inclusion of the ‘have nots’.
Heaven (God) comes down to earth (us) through action and prayer. Prayer undergirding activity.

Morning 2 (Plenary session)
This session opened with the annual general meetings of both the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the BMS Word Mission.
Annual revues with treasurer’s reports were given and voted upon. (Copy of revues available if interested.)
A video of operation ‘Agri’ showing the history of it over the last 50 years was shown.
The current position regarding the B.U. ministers pension revue was given, which will be brought to the church meeting in due course.

Afternoon (Main Seminar Programme session 1 followed by focus groups session 1)
In order to get as much from the assembly as possible, Barbara and I attended different seminars and focus groups.
Mick. The power of creative, Kingdom leadership – Jeff Lucas
The theme was ‘What does it mean to build Kingdom rather than just church’?
Jeff Lucas has a unique approach to speaking, an amazingly funny presentation with a serious message. Kingdom building is about encouragement and creativity. He covered six main points:
1. See the bigger picture – having a vision.
2. Community building, teamwork. Too much I and my, not enough we and our.
3. We are tour guides not travel agents. Tour guides go on the journey with you and tell the truth, travel agents don’t go but simply give the instructions.
4. Problem presenters, not just fixers. See the problems, support and inspire.
5. Balance
6. Reflection and not reaction. Think before we act and be hopefully and heavenly minded.

A priestly ministry? Reflections on Romans 15:16 – John Colwell
Contemporary Baptists tend not to think in priestly terms when they reflect on the nature of Christian ministry. How then, might the apostle’s use of priestly language here challenge and shape the renewal of our understanding of ordained ministry?
This was held in a local Methodist church, quote ‘ a 10 minute walk from the assembly’. 10 minutes if you are Paula Radcliff or Linford Christie.
Though not stated, this session was mainly aimed at ministers. The speaker, though eloquent, spoke in the language of the seminary, being an ex Spurgeons lecturer, and I personally found the subject, though interesting, not in keeping with the theme of the assembly, as it had nothing to do with the Kingdom, or inclusivity. In fact I felt it spoke more of an exclusivity.

Barbara. The Middle East, Critical days – David Kerrigan, Graham Sparkes & others.
 A history of the Middle East was the theme of the first session, the main thrust of this was how there had always been turmoil in this area. Overheads were shown of various areas and who the occupying forces had been from 1800 B.C – 2005 A.D.
Covered in a second session was ‘SAT 7’ – a Christian T.V. reaching the Middle East and a talk given by an ex Muslim Christian believer who had to leave his land. This was a more personal reflection of life today for believers from a Muslim background and outlined the pressures regarding the whole family, especially the children.
The overall emphasis was on a need for ‘Holy listening’ and ‘careful listening’ to history as well as modern day situations in the area.

  Evening celebration
The evening opened with worship led by Andy and the group. This was followed by the valediction of mission personnel being sent out to, Albania, Peru, Nepal, Kosovo, Uganda, Chad, China, Thailand, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Many were young couples with small children, but among them was a couple of a mature age, proving that no-one is too old for working in the Kingdom of God.
The speaker was Jeff Lucas, who again injected his own humour into the subject ’Commissioning a Kingdom Builder’ a message for all, but a subject that will have spoke directly to those setting out for the mission field.
He related the story of Jesus and the miraculous catch of fish from John 21, and how Peter is reinstated and commissioned.
The challenge was to sort out four things in order to open our eyes to a Kingdom vision.
1. Establishing priorities. Faith or fish v15, catch of their lives – catching men.
2. Resolving of regrets. At the fireside v9, love of Christ is bigger than the shame any of us has to shoulder.
3. Moving beyond pettiness. Jesus loves us all individually, yet we can be bothered by irrelevant things. Don’t be bothered by trivialities.
4. Receiving a prophetic news flash. Giving God now. Peter has to accept forgiveness (for the denial) will we follow even now in the place we currently find ourselves, open our eyes to a Kingdom vision, in the now will we follow Him?

Sunday 1st May
Morning 1 – Worship and Communion
 Worship took an alternative approach being led by the Prism music group which fused ancient and modern in a jazz format which could be said to be radically different to that which we are more used to. The worship reflected on the role of children within a communion service. A young boy and girl acted out parts questioning what communion is from a child’s point of view, before they served communion to the leaders and those who would serve the assembly. Communion was then celebrated.
The message given was, ‘are we listening?’ The disciples wanted the children to leave, but Jesus was indignant with them. Where they had rebuked the people, so Jesus rebuked them. Jesus felt they had missed the point, the children were / are included. The children represent all who are excluded from the Kingdom. Don’t be a ‘bouncer’, let the people come and don’t be hungry for power and status, but be open handed and open hearted to receive.

Morning 2 – (plenary session)
The session was presented in a magazine format featuring stories of what God is doing in the U.K. and around the world. These included interviews with a prison chaplain, again not excluding anyone from hearing about the Kingdom and the chaplains of Manchester United and a local team in Tunisia.
A video was shown of work within a Peruvian prison and a team of young people spoke of their work in Thailand.
Jonathan Woodhouse, a Baptist minister serving in the army, was commissioned by the assembly as he becomes the Chaplain General of the British Army this year. Effectively in charge of all chaplains within all three armed services.

Afternoon (Main seminar programme session 2)
Mick Lessons from Timberline church, Colorado. – Jeff Lucas.
Again Jeff brought his own unique style of humour and seriousness in speaking about the church he is involved with in America. He changed the title from lessons, to reflections, as he wasn’t teaching anything rather just sharing what worked for them.
His main theme was again one of inclusion as he shared stories of some of the characters who had been made welcome in God’s Kingdom within the church. Of how the church had grown from 350 people to 10,000 in a town of 130,000 inhabitants, requiring seven services. Imagine having to preach the same service four times as three of the services were shown as recorded.
A number of points covered:
Having confidence in who we are and what we do.
Clarity of vision
Welcome and integration. (again the theme of inclusion)
Intentional fun, laughter as a value.
Humanity celebrated, journey is for all
Pro-active encouragement, we can view people as objects, not subjects. Think you rather than I.

Barbara Discerning God’s call
It is a struggle to put into words what we feel like when we do something we are called to do.
God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called and speaks to us in words we can understand.
Find the place where skills, passion and opportunity meet.
Listen to one another – God speaks through His people. Don’t wait until you feel good enough.

Evening celebration
Again the evening opened with worship, then followed a recognition of ministers, in Memoriam.
The address was given by Julie Pennington – Russell entitled ‘The Lunatic Farmer’ which was taken from the Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)
Julie is a senior pastor in the U.S.A and like Jeff Lucas injected humour into her delivery of the message.
Jesus told it to help people understand what the Kingdom of God was like. There will always be problematic people, thorny people (weeds). Leave the weeds alone, how can you be sure which is which when they look alike and roots tangled together. Bad tangled with good. God puts up with the messiness in the world until the time of gathering comes. Not a call for us to be passive about evil, there is still repentance to happen, witness against sewing of evil seeds.
We are part of the impure field too. We are here to grow, with God, all the good we can in an impure world. We must be more patient with each other, but also with ourselves.
God wants to grow what is good from among the bad. Therefore repentance comes in, give it to God, God can transform us.

Monday 2nd May
Morning plenary session – Listening to God
The last morning was a reflection of what God had been saying over the weekend.
During the time of the assembly, two response walls had been set up for people to write down what they felt God was saying to us. At the same time three people had been asked to attend key sessions and talk to attendees in order to gain responses to the assembly theme. The three friends, as they were called, fed back from the responses, their insights on how they fit in with the theme of the assembly. A number of people also shared from the floor personal reflections that fit with the theme.
Three public resolutions were debated during this session.
This Assembly
• Recognises the importance of taxation in poor countries for ensuring sustainable development, finance and building accountability between state and citizen.
• Calls upon BUGB and BMS World Mission to raise with HM Government the concern regarding the negative impacts of tax evasion and avoidance by some companies, which are estimated to cost poor countries $160bn each year.
• Calls upon HM Government to show international leadership in negotiating international tax transparency for all multinational companies and an end to tax haven secrecy.
All three were carried unanimously.
 

Closing celebration
Opened with praise and worship led by the group.
Jonathan Edwards gave the address – Living the Kingdom
Matthew 5:13-16. Jesus says be salt and light, this is the rubber hitting the road. We are small, but we can have an influence beyond our size.
How do we live the Kingdom in the face of apathy? Jesus speaks of the suffering of His followers, we do not suffer persecution, but the challenge is that people are not bothered. Apathy is growing, resulting in a decline in church attendance. The Christian message is not seen as having any relevance in daily life.
How do we live as salt and light in a multi faith society? We need to stand alongside others for the freedom to practice their religion. As we guard their liberty we guard our own liberty to speak of Jesus Christ our Saviour, this is our calling and is not negotiable.
In the face of all the challenges, the mission is to look to God, to seek His blessing in new ways. For the church to look at their prayer life. We need to pray together, Your Kingdom Come!
 A final time of praise and worship followed interspersed with readings and prayers, one prayer being brought by Esther Ruddle.
‘We go and find God in the world where He is waiting for us’,
Final prayer,
J.E ‘I declare the Assembly closed’.

M.L. & B.J.Jowett
Delegates 2011