BWA General Council Resolution 1983.1

From the beginning of our history Baptists have been a missionary people. We are grateful to God for the sacrifice and commitment of many missionaries. A new day is dawning in world evangelization. The former receiving churches are becoming sending churches. The task of world evangelization is now for every Baptist convention and union.

We are grateful for the renewed spirit of evangelism that we see developing in Baptist conventions around the world. A ground swell of Baptist opinion is developing which is challenging us to become even more involved in a strategy for world evangelization. We rejoice in the many resolutions which call upon Baptist conventions and unions and foreign mission societies and boards to cooperate in evangelism. One such resolution is from the first World Baptist Congress on Urban Evangelism held in Niteroi, Brazil (June 26-July 3, 1983). We commend the resolution and message of this Congress to Baptist bodies around the world. Furthermore, we are grateful for the strategy workgroups on evangelization that the Division of Evangelism and Education has set up. We encourage Baptist conventions and mission agencies to seriously study their guidelines which form the basis of a call for Baptist cooperation in world and national evangelization.

We would encourage Baptist bodies around the world to renew their efforts in evangelism, and to accept the challenge of the evangelization of the world in our generation. Never before has the church been confronted with such vast resources of mass media and literature. We call upon Baptists to share their resources for the glory of God and the extension of the Kingdom of Christ for He is the only hope of the world.

Grateful for the report of the World Evangelism Strategy Workgroup, we urge specifically that the Division of Evangelism and Education of the Baptist World Alliance continue to prepare a draft strategy for world evangelization to be submitted to the next General Council meeting in Berlin. This to include an

analysis of the problem facing us in terms of present missionary effort with its opportunities and limitations and an adequate statistical analysis of the spiritual needs of our world. In addition to a draft strategy, we ask for a program of action and implementation.

Citations

Original Source Bibliography: Claas, Gerhard, editor. Baptist World Alliance 1983 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory. Washington, DC: Baptist World Alliance, 1983.

Original Source Footnote/Endnote: Gerhard Claas, ed., Baptist World Alliance 1983 Yearbook: Minutes of the General Council Meeting and Directory (Washington, DC: Baptist World Alliance, 1983), p. 61.

Online Document Full Citation: BWA General Council Resolution 1983.1 World Evangelism; https://baptistworld.org/resolutions.

In-text Online Document Citation: (BWA General Council Resolution 1983.1).