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TBC Newsletter | |
| January 2008 |
UNITY IN CHRIST - NEW BAPTIST COVENANT |
For three days in early 2008, as many as 20,000 Baptists from throughout North America will look for common ground under the theme “Unity in Christ” as they celebrate a New Baptist Covenant at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
The New Baptist Covenant is an informal alliance of more than 30 racially, geographically, and theologically diverse Baptist organizations from throughout North America that claim more than 20 million members. Representatives of these Baptist organizations have reaffirmed traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality, as well as their obligations as Christians to fulfill the biblical mandate to promote peace with justice, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and the marginalized, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.
Announced at the Carter Center last January, the Celebration will take place Jan. 30–Feb. 1, 2008, and will feature five plenary sessions and 16 special interest sessions. Plenary speakers include:
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Special interest sessions will focus on topics including prophetic preaching, evangelism, faith and public policy, the HIV/ AIDS pandemic, spiritual disciplines, peacemaking, welcoming the stranger, sexual exploitation, responding to disasters and breaking the cycles of poverty.
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The theme for this gathering is taken from the first sermon Jesus delivered, which is recorded in the fourth chapter of Luke’s Gospel. In this sermon - given in his hometown of Nazareth - Jesus described his mission: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
Not since the early 1800s has such an array of American Baptists come together in one place. They will come from the North and the South, the East and the West. There will be black, white and brown Baptists, theologically conservative and theologically progressive Baptists. The assembly will include Democrats, Republicans and Independents. There will be men and women, ministers and lay leaders, and Baptists young and old.
More information on the New Baptist Covenant Celebration is available online at www.newbaptistcelebration.org. Hotel rooms may also be reserved online through the web site or by calling the housing bureau at 866-557-0961.