BWA General Council Resolution 1989.5

WHEREAS the family remains the God-ordained mainstay of society, as well as the center of intimacy and commitment for significant, ongoing relationships, and

WHEREAS many alternative lifestyles are replacing traditional family structures and roles in numerous cultures throughout the world, and

WHEREAS the biblical teachings are clear and explicit on the requirements of chastity, marital fidelity and parent-child relationships, and

WHEREAS these biblical family values are under attack from materialism, permissive attitudes toward premarital and extramarital sex, substance abuse and casual commitment or none, and

WHEREAS Christian values of family relationships are often ignored or even ridiculed by secular education and the media,

THEREFORE, be it resolved that Baptists throughout the world be encouraged to acknowledge and endorse anew the need for the home and family to be deeply rooted in the Christian faith, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT THE General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meriting in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, August 1989 encourages all Christians to demonstrate Christian love and support for families broken or handicapped by poverty, divorce, loss or trauma, and

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the local church be encouraged to provide biblical instruction for building Christian family relationships, guidance for crisis periods in the home and networks of loving support for broken lives in disruptive families, and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the General Council acknowledges the teaching and healing efforts of pro-family organizations, realizing that the task of protecting moral beliefs and values requires the cooperation of skilled secular and Christian people.

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), pp. 63-64.

Online Document Full Citation: BWA General Council Resolution 1989.5 Families; https://baptistworld.org/resolutions.

In-text Online Document Citation: (BWA General Council Resolution 1989.5).