American Baptists Begin 2005 Biennial Assembly
The American Baptist Church USA begins its 2005 biennial assembly today in Denver, Colorado. Delegates from churches across the nation are expected to join the top denominational leaders for worship, rest and business.
The American Baptist Church USA begins its 2005 biennial assembly today in Denver, Colorado. Delegates from churches across the nation are expected to join the top denominational leaders for worship, rest and business.
This year, a special emphasis will be placed on understanding the mission and ministry of the denomination. Delegates will hear reports from a task force that undertook a six-month-long project called “Seek It: Finding God’s Way for a New Day.”
The project, based on prayer and conversations with thousands of American Baptists, brought to focus the denomination’s ongoing mission and outreach efforts.
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Earlier this week, ABC’s General Board voted to affirm “Key Ministry Areas” to complement the denomination’s mission statement. The Key Ministry Areas, which grew out of the work of the “Seek It” process, identifies ways to impact evangelism-related fields such as: church planting, healthy missional congregations, leadership, radical discipleship and youth.
The General Board also affirmed a “Declaration of Importance for American Baptists on the Issue of Children in Poverty.” The declaration calls on American Baptists to minister to children in poverty through prayer, advocacy and stewardship.
"American Baptists believe that God has called us to minister in love to children,” the statement reads. "We call upon the American Baptist Churches USA and its constituent
partners to make the issue of Children in Poverty a priority of prayer, advocacy, ministry and stewardship. Let it occupy us in our sanctuaries, our fellowship halls, our communities, and especially the halls of power.”
The American Baptist Church is a major Baptist denomination in the U.S., with roots stretching back nearly 100 years. As of 2001, the ABC-USA claimed 1.4 million members in all fifty states.
