Baptist World Alliance, BWA News Release

BWA to combine divisional portfolios

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The divisions of Mission, Evangelism and Theological Reflection (METR) and Freedom and Justice (F&J) are to be combined. This was affirmed by the BWA General Council at its meeting in Vancouver, Canada, in early July, after it was first approved by the Executive Committee in March.

“The person elected to succeed the current occupant of the METR director’s position will lead the Division on Mission, Evangelism and Justice (MEJ),” Callam told the General Council.

Current METR Director Fausto Vasconcelos retires at the end of August after holding the position for a little more than 10 years. The F&J director’s position has been vacant since 2014 after Raimundo Barreto resigned to take up a professorship at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey in the United States.

F&J was the newest BWA division after it was formally created in 2008.

Both divisions are being merged for primarily financial reasons when pledged donor funds failed to materialize after the global financial crisis that emerged in 2008. “Both the BWA Budget and Finance and the BWA Human Resources Committees concurred on the fact that funds were not available to enable BWA to call a successor to the first F&J director,” Callam informed the General Council.

It is expected that the MEJ position will be filled after a more detailed study of BWA staffing structure is completed.

Baptist World Alliance®
©July 7, 2016

The Baptist World Alliance, founded in 1905, is a fellowship of 253 conventions and unions in 130 countries and territories comprising 51 million baptized believers in 176,000 churches. For more than 100 years, the Baptist World Alliance has networked the Baptist family to impact the world for Christ with a commitment to strengthen worship, fellowship and unity; lead in mission and evangelism; respond to people in need through aid, relief, and community development; defend religious freedom, human rights, and justice; and advance theological reflection and leadership development.