Baptist World Congress opens with celebration

BRISBANE—With “Living the Good News” as their theme, more than 3,000 Baptists from around the world gathered in Brisbane for an opening celebration launching the 23rd Baptist World Congress.

The evening began with the drone of a didgeridoo and a tribute to Australia’s Aboriginal people. It continued with a parade of banners signifying the 135 nations represented in the hall and worship in song.

The celebration concluded with a call for Baptists to pray for God to launch an “Acts 2 movement” among them.

Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, challenged Baptists internationally to pray for “global revival in every language, neighborhood and nation.”

“We believe our mundane can become God’s miraculous. Our simple can become God’s supernatural. Our ordinary can be God’s extraordinary,” Brown said.

Christians look to 2033 as the “greatest anniversary in the history of the world,” he said—the 2,000th anniversary of the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, marking the birth of the church.

BWA is challenging Baptists globally to mark that anniversary by committing to follow principles demonstrated in Acts 2.

“The church at her birth was the church at her best,” Brown said. “It begins with the Holy Spirit.”

Brown called Baptists around the world to pray for and pursue “an unprecedented Holy Spirit-filled collaborative global mission.”

“The wounds of this world are too deep and the people are too weary for us to do anything less than to work together in shared presence. Let the old structures of power and separation give way to missional collaboration,” he said.

By 2033, the BWA is encouraging Baptists globally to join in an “Acts 2 movement,” believing just as God poured out his Spirit at Pentecost to empower the church, the Lord will “do it again,” he said.

Path to an Acts 2 movement

Based on Acts 2, Brown presented a five-fold path to engage Baptists in the movement:

• Witness path.

If every Baptist in the world shared his or her Christian testimony with one person once a year for the next nine years, it would result in 450 million people hearing a personal testimony of Christ’s transforming power.

“Every Baptist is a missionary,” Brown said.

• Bible path.

Currently, 1,159 language groups still do not have access to the Scripture in their heart language. BWA is challenging Baptists globally to create 1,159 prayer groups to intercede for Bible translators.

Baptist churches also are challenged to take financial responsibility for funding Bible translations in 120 languages—roughly 10 percent of the remaining language groups.

At a personal level, BWA is urging every Baptist in the world to read at least one chapter from the Bible daily.

• Care path.

If every Baptist purposefully helped three people in Christ’s name each year between now and 2033, it would result in 1 billion intentional acts of service. By meeting needs and walking alongside hurting people, Baptists can be the presence of Christ to people who need to see him.

“We believe the wounds of Jesus are deep enough to heal the wounds of this world,” Brown said.

• Freedom and justice path.

“Our contention is not for mere toleration but for religious liberty,” Brown said. “Our contention is not just for ourselves but for all people.”

BWA is asking 1 million Baptists around the world to sign a covenant of religious freedom for all people of all faiths or no faith.

“Faith can only flourish when it is not tied to nationalism—including Christian nationalism,” he said. “Let us stand with those who face persecution.”

• Neighbor path.

BWA is seeking to enlist 500,000 individuals who will serve as neighborhood lay chaplains.

These chaplains will commit to know their neighbors by name, pray for their neighbors and “respond as the Holy Spirit leads,” Brown explained.

“God is calling us to an Acts 2 movement,” he concluded. “Pour out your hearts in prayer for global revival.”