Global challenges require a global Baptist family

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Since their last in-person meeting, the Baptist World Alliance and its member bodies have responded to a global pandemic, religious persecution, civil unrest and war, the international fellowship’s CEO said.

The challenges Baptists across the globe encounter “are too big for any one of us to face alone,” General Secretary Elijah Brown told the BWA annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

“Global challenges require a global church,” he said.

According to a vulnerability index BWA developed, one of four Baptists worldwide face persecution, war, violence and hunger, Brown said in his report to the assembly.

About 13.5 million Baptists live and minister in the most vulnerable contexts, he noted.

Responding to global pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 meeting marked the first in-person BWA annual meeting in three years. This year’s meeting in Birmingham drew 400 in-person attendees and about 100 registrants who participated online.

COVID-19 claimed the lives of at least 1,411 Baptist pastors, and Africa accounted for more deaths than any other region, Brown noted.

A survey of BWA members revealed more than half (53 percent of respondents) said one of the greatest challenges their churches faced was restrictions in gathering, and nearly half (48 percent) named financial challenges.

In terms of needs in their nations and local communities, 57 percent listed joblessness, 42 cited depression and mental health issues, and 37 cited social tensions the pandemic brought to the surface.

Crisis prompts creativity and innovation

In spite of the challenges the pandemic presented, churches and Baptist unions ministered in innovative ways, Brown noted.

“God uses crises as a crucible for Holy Spirit creativity,” he said.

The 22nd Baptist World Congress, which became a virtual event due to the pandemic, drew 4,600 registrants from three-fourths of the nations in the world and at least one participant from every BWA member body.

“It was the most globally diverse gathering in the history of BWA,” Brown said, adding it likely was the most diverse assembly in the 400-year history of Baptists.

The BWA World Congress featured 100 hours of virtual content provided by 350 contributors from 70 countries, Brown said.

A century after BWA provided its first emergency grants in response to what was then called the Spanish Flu, the alliance distributed 132 emergency aid grants to 82 countries, Brown reported.

In 2021, Baptist World Aid distributed $521,780 for 47 projects in 29 countries, making a difference in the lives of more than 219,000 people, he said.

Coup in Myanmar, war in Ukraine

In terms of social unrest, Brown particularly noted the February 2021 coup in Myanmar that led to extreme religious persecution and the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Vernette Myint Myint San, a Baptist physician, presented a devotional at a worship service prior to the session when Brown delivered his report. She described how the coup led to “crimes against humanity,” including torture, indiscriminate killing and the destruction of entire villages by the military.

She described the need to hold accountable those who commit atrocities, but to do so with the goal of restorative—rather than punitive—justice.

“The cross is the model and the framework for restorative justice” that “makes room for the recognition of wrongdoing, for repentance and for reconciliation,” she said.

Igor Bandura, a leader of the Ukrainian Baptist Union, said at least 400 Baptist churches in Ukraine are in what is now territory occupied by Russian forces, where there is no real religious liberty.

While he praised the Ukrainian soldiers who are fighting to protect their homeland and preserve freedom, he said the church’s role is to “fight spiritual battles.”

“We must keep our hearts from being hardened by hatred,” he said. “We don’t want to become like our enemies.”

Brown reported the global Baptist family contributed $4 million for relief within Ukraine and for ministry to refugees who have fled their homeland. One million displaced Ukrainians have been served by BWA member bodies and their churches, he said.

Alan Donaldson, general secretary of the European Baptist Federation, said when the invasion of Ukraine occurred, “The church awoke from its COVID slumber.”

Baptist church members in countries surrounding Ukraine who had been practicing social distancing for two years greeted refugees “with hugs, tears and smiles of unmasked faces,” Donaldson said.

During the BWA annual meeting, which ends July 15, the BWA general council will consider resolutions related to Myanmar and Ukraine, as well as racial justice and reparations for chattel slavery.