VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS – 7/17/09)—At the Saturday afternoon gathering of the American Baptist Biennial meeting in Pasadena, CA, June 27, delegates overwhelmingly accepted the two Statements of Concern brought to them by the Statements of Concern Committee.
The first Statement is a response to one of the significant challenges of our era: immigrations and internal displacement. “With displacement due to natural disasters, famine, and war, as well as immigration for economic advancement, people are resettling in the United States in ways that both enhance and disrupt established communities,” the Statement acknowledges.
It calls upon American Baptists, as individuals and congregations, to “welcome all people with Christ’s compassion in the expectation that we may be entertaining angels unaware.
The Statement specifically urges American Baptists to “educate and equip ourselves to engage people, who are religiously, culturally and ethnically diverse, through suitable programs for improved mutual understanding,” and to develop and use the gift of hospitality to greet others and to learn from them.
The second Statement calls American Baptists to recommit themselves to working and advocating “for economic justice on the local, state and national level while listening to those who feel their voices are unheard or ignored amidst the clamor of political agendas.”
The Statement also gets personal. It asks American Baptists to look at their personal financial management, to be supportive of those going through tough financial times, and use our budges (family, church, state and national) to “ensure the just treatment of all people.”
A group of delegates also brought a Signature Statement on “The Public Witness of American Baptists” to the floor for discussion.
The delegates asked that, as the denomination continued to consider a new structure, to include “space for the public registration of minority dissent” and make certain that these discussions and debates continue to come before Biennial delegates.
Having received 150 verified delegate signatures, the statement could be discussed without vote. It was then forwarded to the General Board.
Statements of Concern are adopted by delegates to the Biennial Meeting of American Baptist Churches. They seek the opinion of those delegates on moral, spiritual, political, economic, social, denominational and ecumenical matters to American Baptists and to the rest of society and reflects the position of those gathered.
The full statements are available on the ABC website: www.abc-usa.org.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.