BWA General Council Resolution 1989.4

Preamble:

38,000 children die each day
100 million children work in hazardous conditions 80 million children live on the streets
10 million children are refugees

Children have been tortured, sentenced to death, recruited into armed service and physically abused.

THEREFORE, this General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, August 1989,

(I) Notes that the UNICEF is inviting international commitment to the protection of children by calling on the governments of the world to ratify the draft convention on “The Rights of the Child” at the General Assembly of the UN in New York in 1989, and

THEREFORE, urges Baptist conventions and unions to encourage their own governments to ratify the convention as soon as possible and without reservation.

(II) Also notes with regret that

(a) In many Baptist churches the mission work among children is delegated to a few people within each local church, and further notes that

(b) Baptist churches are called to demonstrate Christ’s love for children in their own fellowships as well as for children around the world, and notes with approval

BWA General Council Resolution 1989.4

(c) the mission amongst children pursued by the Baptist World Alliance, national and local youth workers.

AND URGES THAT

(1) Baptist conventions and unions make themselves more aware of the harsh and apparently unloving world into which many children are born,

(2) All conventions and unions encourage the total membership of the local churches to seek fully to understand and address the temptations and social pressures under which children grow up in modern cultures, and

(3) All local churches take appropriate action in their worship and educational programs to ensure that children are given their rightful place in family and church life.

Citations

Original Source Bibliography: Lotz, Denton, editor. Baptist World Alliance 1989 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory. McLean, VA: Baptist World Alliance, 1989.

Original Source Footnote/Endnote: Denton Lotz, ed., Baptist World Alliance 1989 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory (McLean, VA: Baptist World Alliance, 1989), p. 63.

Online Document Full Citation: BWA General Council Resolution 1989.4 Children; https://baptistworld.org/resolutions.

In-text Online Document Citation: (BWA General Council Resolution 1989.4).