Associated Baptist Press - 3/26/2008

Associated Baptist Press
March 26, 2008 (8-32)

IN THIS ISSUE:
New Baptist Covenant leaders OK repeat but no permanent structure
Imprisoned Baptist pastor released in Azerbaijan
ABC gives $100K grant to CBF Katrina relief
Churches, with gas ‘buy-downs,’ ease neighbors’ pain at pumps
Church plant models peace in Brooklyn neighborhood
Opinion: Are we there yet?

New Baptist Covenant leaders OK repeat but no permanent structure
By Robert Marus

ATLANTA (ABP) -- Organizers of the recent New Baptist Covenant celebration are recommending a repeat of the historic pan-Baptist event in 2011 but not a new denomination or other permanent organization.

The event drew an estimated 15,000 Baptists from across denominational, ethnic and ideological lines to Atlanta Jan. 30-Feb. 1 for fellowship, worship and discussion about cooperation on evangelism and other areas about which they can agree.

The meeting was spearheaded by Jimmy Carter and endorsed by the other living Baptist ex-president, Bill Clinton. Critics alleged it was a thinly veiled attempt to stir up Baptist support for Democratic candidates in an election year, the event largely avoided partisan overtones and included prominent Republican speakers.

Carter, Mercer University President Bill Underwood and other event planners released a statement March 19 from a follow-up meeting held the previous week at Atlanta’s Carter Center. The document said that about 70 Baptist leaders from the groups represented at the meeting decided to repeat the event in three years “in the historic Baptist pattern of triennial meetings.”

The leaders also vowed to “be as active as possible during the intervening years.” They said they would expand the Covenant’s steering committee from its original five members to “about a dozen” in an effort to engage a more diverse set of Baptists, including more young people and women.

The statement mentioned the possibility of convening several regional New Baptist Covenant events next year, but did not say the decision was final.

The organizers and other invited leaders “reconfirmed” their earlier decision not to form a separate permanent organization or denominational group under the aegis of the New Baptist Covenant.

The statement said the organizers will seek expert advice on “how we can assist actively in such major social issues as global warming, health care, poverty, criminal justice, human rights, religious liberty, elimination of nuclear weapons, and peace in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

The document also included a list of suggestions for specific action items and projects compiled from feedback by participants in the celebration. It encouraged local congregations to work with other Baptist churches and organizations involved in the celebration as they felt led.

The suggested projects included enhanced giving to the cooperating denominations’ mission agencies, finding ways to minister to prisoners, working for fair tax policies, having regular joint worship opportunities with local churches of differing ethnic groups, working toward reducing the abortion rate, and making churches more environmentally responsible.

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Imprisoned Baptist pastor released in Azerbaijan
By Robert Marus

BAKU, Azerbaijan (ABP) -- An Azerbaijani Baptist pastor imprisoned on what his supporters have called trumped-up charges has been released, according to the Baptist World Alliance.

Zaur Balaev was freed from a prison in Baku, the former Soviet republic’s capital, March 19 after a pardon from Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev.

According to BWA, a worldwide umbrella organization for national and regional Baptist denominations, that organization, the European Baptist Federation and former president Jimmy Carter all lobbied Aliyev for the pastor’s release.

“Baptists from all over the world rejoice in God’s answer to our prayers for the release of our brother, Zaur Balaev,” BWA General Secretary Neville Callam said, in a statement. “His patience in suffering and courage in the midst of trial has provided for us a splendid example of discipleship in the modern world. We look forward to giving him a platform to talk to Baptists about his faith and his experience.”

Balaev was arrested in May 2007 after police raided his church in the remote northwestern town of Aliabad. He was charged with assaulting five policemen and damaging a police car in the process, but both members of his church -- made up of ethnic Georgians -- and other non-Christian locals said Balaev did not resist the arrest.

Ilya Zenchenko, president of the Baptist Union of Azerbaijan, was quoted by the Forum 18 news service as rejoicing in his colleague’s release, but saying that “there is a lot more work still to be done to defend religious freedom in Azerbaijan.”

The nation, wedged between Russia, Iran, Armenia, Georgia and the Caspian Sea, is overwhelmingly Muslim. However, according to the State Deparment’s 2007 report on international human rights, Azerbaijan’s government controls the registration and operation of its houses of worship.

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ABC gives $100K grant to CBF Katrina relief
By ABP staff

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. (ABP) -- National Ministries of the American Baptist Churches USA has given a $100,000 grant to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to continue building houses for those displaced 2 ½ years ago by Hurricane Katrina.

CBF has been working in several areas affected by the storm. The latest grant will help build homes in Pearlington, Miss., a small town decimated by the storm but often overlooked because it is a few miles inland from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and north and east of New Orleans, whose destruction garnered international headlines.

CBF, in partnership with the Pearlington Recovery Center, has helped rebuild homes and lives in the area since the storm, which made landfall in August 2005. Pearlington still needs at least 70 houses rebuilt, according to CBF disaster-response director Charles Ray.

“There are 70 families that want to come back that still own land but can’t find the money to build a house,” he said, according to a Fellowship news release. “Our mission is to help those with the most need and the least resources, and that’s what we’ll do here.”

With the ABC National Ministries grant, the Fellowship will erect and finish the exteriors of up to 10 houses. After the foundation, exterior walls and roof are completed, the homeowners will work with Pearlington Recovery Center to obtain grant money for completing the interior work.

“I’m very pleased that we are able to continue our partnership in response to Pearlington’s need,” said Kenneth George, ABC National Ministries’ national coordinator for direct human services. “It’s a community that has not received a lot of press attention but has as much of a need as other parts of the Gulf.”

“CBF disaster response is grateful for this gift to our continuing efforts to meet human need in Pearlington,” said CBF Global Missions Coordinator Rob Nash. “This gift represents another step in the ongoing cooperation between American Baptists and Fellowship Baptists that enables us to do far more together than we could ever do separately. People are still reeling from the tragedy of Katrina -- and CBF and ABC are still present together with them even almost 2 ½ years after the hurricane.”

Nearly 2,000 CBF supporters have gone to Pearlington to work since 2005, and continued volunteer labor will be crucial to meeting the grant’s maximum goal, according to CBF officials. “We need people to serve now as much as ever before,” Ray said.

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Churches, with gas ‘buy-downs,’ ease neighbors’ pain at pumps
By Greg Warner

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) – When it comes to ministry in Jesus’ name, relieving “oppression” takes many forms -- including the oppression of today’s gasoline prices.

As gas prices hit record levels across the country, a growing number of churches are sponsoring gas “buy-downs” -- paying part of the cost of each gallon as a way to help their neighbors.

For two hours on a recent Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., Murray Hill Baptist Church did just that. The church covered 50 cents of the cost of each gallon pumped by 175 customers at the Kangaroo Express on Edgewood Avenue.

With gas in Jacksonville selling at $3.26 a gallon -- an all-time high -- 50 cents off wasn’t exactly a steal. Nonetheless, 100 drivers lined up an hour and a half before the 10 a.m. start. When the buy-down was over at noon, the church had spent $1,020, pumped about 2,000 gallons of gas at $2.76 a gallon, and washed a lot of windshields.

Doug Axtell, who has been the congregation’s pastor for six years, said the purpose of the gesture was “to show the community God’s love” and change residents’ image of Murray Hill Baptist.

For a 78-year-old congregation in a part of town that is being revitalized by an influx of younger residents, creating a second opinion of the church is invaluable.

“Three-and-a-half years ago, I was confronted with the reality [that] most of our neighbors wouldn’t care if our church wasn’t here,” Axtell said bluntly.

Since then, the congregation has been looking for ways to become helpful and relevant again. “The church has a problem being outwardly focused,” the pastor said.

The gas buy-down was more about ministry and goodwill than evangelism, he said -- the same reasons the church hosts a food pantry, thrift store and Murray Hill’s only fall festival.

“It is an urban neighborhood that is being rebuilt. There is a diversity of people, an interesting mix of people -- older people who have lived here all their lives, urban professionals and tons of twenty-somethings.”

“Because of who is in our neighborhood, they are expecting us to shove the gospel down their throats,” he said. “… Their image of church is so negative. We just wanted them to see that the gospel is about loving people.”

“People come to our church for about six months before they ever let us know they are here.” Axtell continued. “It’s very frustrating for a pastor. … It’s weeks of building relationships with these people, many of them hurt by the church earlier in their lives. But once they are on board, they are activist about their faith.”

Murray Hill Baptist got the idea for the project from a book about servant evangelism, which emphasizes practical ministry as a low-pressure way to create relationships with unchurched people. The buy-down resulted in at least three local families visiting the church for worship the next day, Axtell said.

The pastor advised churches that are considering a gas buy-down to get hints from other congregations that have done it before. Among those churches recently sponsoring buy-downs are ones in Kansas, Missouri and Ohio, representing various denominations.

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Church plant models peace in Brooklyn neighborhood
By Patricia Heys

NEW YORK (ABP) -- In 1991, Crown Heights became infamous. The death of a young African-American child, who was hit by a car driven by a Jewish man, sparked three days of race riots in the Brooklyn neighborhood that made national headlines.

Today, Crown Heights remains racially diverse – African and Caribbean Americans call the district home and its Hasidic Jewish community is one of the largest in the United States. And Hispanic Americans, along with young white couples, are moving in.

But, for a neighborhood known for and scarred by racial tension, peace is still an important message 16 years later.

Greater Restoration Baptist Church in Crown Heights began as a Bible study five years after the riots. Currently, more than 30 members -- representing countries such as Trinidad, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Panama -- attend services each Sunday at the storefront church, located along one of Crown Heights’ main arteries.

“We are a small church but a very diverse church, with people from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds,” said Ken Bogan, pastor of Greater Restoration. “We are trying to figure out how to be a multi-racial church, and we are really committed to racial reconciliation. It’s important to for us to be a positive witness and provide hope to the Crown Heights community.”

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship began partnering with Greater Restoration in 1998 when Ronnie Adams, a CBF missionary in New York, met Bogan. That summer, facilitated by Adams, Fellowship partner churches sent teams to Brooklyn to lead summer camps. Now, an average of 12 churches a year send teams to Crown Heights to work alongside Greater Restoration in its community ministries.

“This is a small, community-based church that really wants to be the presence of Christ in its community,” said Adams, a Texas native. “And they are doing a great job for a church that has limited funds and [whose weekly] attendance is less than 100. They show the hospitality of Christ in a wonderful way.”

Adams and Taisha Rose, who serves in Brooklyn as one of CBF’s field personnel, are involved in the church’s two primary areas of ministry -- peaceful mediation and education.

While racial tensions have eased since 1991, the community is still affected by violence. Recently a young man who was a leader in the church’s summer youth camps and a local high school football player was shot nine times.

The church frequently partners with the Crown Heights Mediation Center, which was founded as a direct result of the 1991 riots. The center provides resources on solving issues without violence and often connects people looking for a church with Greater Restoration.

“The church talks a lot about reconciliation and being peacemakers,” said Rose, of Stone Mountain, Ga. “They stress that peace starts with us. It’s an important concept to teach -- appreciating people for who they are even though they may be different than you, especially when you have such a diverse community.”

With neighborhood schools consistently scoring among the lowest in the state, the church places importance on education. In addition to weekly GED classes, Greater Restoration also provides an after-school program, which includes an hour of tutoring and opportunities for children to learn to sing, play the guitar, piano and drums.

“One day a few of the students told me that their standardized test was interrupted at school because a police officer came in to search everyone for weapons,” said Adams, a native of Dallas. “The students were upset because the timer for the test wasn’t stopped during the search. That was shocking to me. We want to let the children of this area know that they do have a future -- they are people of worth now.”

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Opinion: Are we there yet?
By Beth Newman

If you’ve ever traveled with children, you will inevitably hear these four words. When my children ask, “Are we there yet?” I usually try to give a response vague enough to distract them so that won’t repeat the question. Of course, when we travel the long distance to Alabama to see my husband’s family, there are only so many distractions.

If I spoke the truth, I’d have to say something like: “No we’re not there yet. We have about nine more hours to go, and it’s going to be long and very boring.” The truth is, as my husband and I well know, Smalltown, Ala., isn’t even on the radar. And if it were, it would remind us that we’re nowhere near our destination. The road sign would point to something absent: “Smalltown, Ala., 450 miles.”

Not all signs work like this, though. A sign may point not to something toward which we travel, but to something that is moving toward us. Those beautiful pastels in the morning sky – the pinks and oranges – are the signs of the coming of a light so overwhelming that we can only stare in awe.

It is in this second sense that we ought to understand scriptural signs such as those recorded in the book of Acts. Peter reads from the prophet Joel: “God declares … I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams” (2:17). Later, “awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common….” (Acts 2:43-44) Visions, dreams, wonders -- all signs, not of a far-off place but of something close at hand. The light is on the horizon. This Jesus, whom you crucified, God has raised up.

And those gathered, when they see these signs, do not ask, “Are we there yet?” Instead, they are cut to the heart. The signs point to a reality that is coming to them. Their question is not, “Are we there yet?” but “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) The world has been turned upside down. Should we build buildings? Look for solutions to the world’s problems? Start programs? Set up committees? Raise money? Make money?

The answer they receive doesn’t seem particularly earth-shattering. Devote yourselves to the apostles’ teachings. Fellowship with one another. Baptize. Break bread. Pray.

The Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh, and this is all you do? Dunk people in water, eat together, close your eyes and mouth words to someone you can’t see? Such acts seem trivial against the backdrop of the world’s suffering: war, poverty, hunger, loneliness, financial anxieties, illness, etc.

“What shall we do?” When we ask this question today, it’s more out of anxiety than anticipation. “What shall we do?” Our church is not growing. We need more money. We’re having problems in our families, with our co-workers, with people in the church.

Perhaps we’re tempted to romanticize the early Christians and therefore more easily write them off. They lived in simpler times, after all. They didn’t have the problems we have today. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was more available to them than it is to us.

And yet, as the Christian calendar reminds us, we are now living in the time of the birth of the church. It is often observed that when Jews celebrate Passover, they are not simply remembering an event from the distant past. Rather they are participating in the redemptive work of God, as much a reality in their lives now as it was when God led the Hebrews from slavery to the Promised Land. So also with us. We live these 50 days of Easter in the confidence that God is still creating the church through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If this is true, we too should be cut to the heart. We too should be so overwhelmed that we do as those early Christians did: baptize, pray, share the Lord’s Supper, devote ourselves to the apostles’ teachings. All signs not of a distant reality but of God’s presence among us.

There is yet a third way to understand a sign: as something that brings about or causes certain realities. “I pronounce you husband and wife.” Six simple words. And yet a whole reality comes into being when a minister utters them. “I condemn you to 20 years in prison.” A simple statement, and yet imagine being a family member of one so condemned.

The words and deeds of the church seem small and insignificant when measured against the seemingly insurmountable problems in our lives and in the world. And yet, baptism is participation in the life and death of Christ. Breaking of bread is communion with Christ and the body of Christ. Devotion to the apostles’ teaching sustains the oneness of the body of Christ across space and time. And prayer is the practice through which we allow Christ to pray in us and through us on behalf of the world. Such actions are ways that God in Christ creates the church so that the church itself becomes a sign for the world.

The church is ever being born anew through the Holy Spirit. If we’re looking for signs about a distant future, we may well miss how God is now creating the church “through water and the Word.”

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-- Beth Newman is professor of theology and ethics at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. bnewman@btsr.edu