Baptists from around the world were reminded of the power of love within the Christian community.
Donald Ndichafah, vice president of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship and former general secretary of the Cameroon Baptist Convention, was speaking during the 21st Baptist World Congress being held in Durban, South Africa.
This love, according to Ndichafa, has several characteristics. He said this love begins with opening up oneself to and giving oneself to God. “A person must come to a point in life that he senses an emptiness that cannot be satisfied by any human agency or material thing,” he told the several thousand Baptists gathered at the International Convention Center in Durban.
The opening of oneself to God comes by repentance, which is “to consciously reject our wrong ways and consciously embrace God’s way as being the best.” Repentance signifies that “we come to God on His terms, not ours.”
Christian love is selfless and unselfish, even to the point of being sacrificial, according to the Cameroon Baptist leader. He warned that Christians should guard against focusing more on self than on ministry. “You have not known love until you begin to give, and to give sacrificially.” This sacrificial love was exemplified by God who gave sacrificially through Jesus Christ, the Son.
Experiencing the love of Christ is an imperative to share that love with others. “When the love of God begins to overflow in your life, it is time to become a bridge which connects others to Jesus Christ, the Door to God’s love,” Ndichafa declared.
Having encountered and experienced Gods’ love in Christ, it is the believer’s responsibility to expand that love among others.
Video of the plenary worship service may be viewed on the BWA website at www.bwanet.org.
The congress, which has as its theme, “Jesus Christ, the Door,” continues from July 22 to 26 at the International Convention Center in Durban.
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© July 26, 2015