VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 5/6/13)—American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) announces its activities slated for before, during and after the American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) Mission Summit/Biennial, June 21-23, 2013, in Overland Park/Kansas City, Kan.
Visit ABHMS and Judson Press bookstore in their first shared exhibit
ABHMS and Judson Press will share exhibit space, so visitors can conveniently learn about home mission and shop for Judson Press-published books at the same time. In addition, American Baptist Personnel Services Profiles can be updated, and visitors can receive personal placement consultations. A daily afternoon “coffeehouse” will feature refreshments and music, followed by a Kindle giveaway at 4:30 p.m. Video and staff presentations will share stories of ABHMS ministries. Visitors will have a mission opportunity to write letters and cards of encouragement to military service personnel overseas and those across the country who are incarcerated or recuperating in hospitals and nursing homes. “JP Talks”—modeled after TED Talks—by authors of Judson Press’ “Living Church” book series will be presented live at 2:30 and 4 p.m. daily. A Judson Press multiple-author book signing will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 22.
Learn about the heritage of justice ministries at ABHMS Breakfast
From 7:30 to 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 22, ABHMS’ breakfast will feature “A Church Stands With Its People,” a video about American Baptist ministry to Japanese Americans unjustly imprisoned in U.S. internment camps during World War II, along with an interview with Yosh Nakagawa, a past vice president of American Baptist Churches USA and lifelong member of Seattle’s Japanese Baptist Church. In observation of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, a letter from Abraham Lincoln to ABHMS will be read dramatically by the Rev. Al Staggs.
Learn about present-day justice ministries at ABHMS Luncheon
Dr. Yam Kho Pau, general secretary of the Myanmar Baptist Convention, and several other Burma convention general secretaries are expected at ABHMS’ Luncheon from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 23, for the commissioning of the Rev. Saw Ler Htoo and Pastor Ronald Charles Nunuk as home missionaries to serve immigrants from Burma. A newly produced documentary about the Burma diaspora community in the United States today will be featured along with a discussion about the Judson legacy to Burma and ABHMS’ ongoing ministry with the diaspora community.
Participate in mission through volunteer opportunities
ABHMS has planned opportunities for mission before and after the Biennial/Mission Summit with The Community Food Network, Bethel Neighborhood Center and more.
Young adults encouraged to attend activities tailored to them
ABHMS has designed a series of opportunities for youth to reconnect, renew and re-envision ministry and mission in the 21st century by engaging in worship, study and conversation with one another and American Baptist young adult leaders Thursday and Friday, June 20 and 21. Young adults will participate in Mission Summit conversations, host various ABHMS events and be available at the ABHMS/Judson Press booth.
Chaplains and pastoral counselors invited to specially planned Pre-Mission Summit events
ABCUSA chaplains and pastoral counselors endorsed through ABHMS will travel to Topeka Women’s Correctional Facility, where they will partner with inmates and the facility’s No Strings Attached outreach ministry to create tie-quilts that will be donated to a local women’s shelter. A training event—“Moral Injury and Pastoral Care to Individuals in Crisis”—will be presented by the Rev. John P. Oliver, D.Min., chief of Chaplain Service and supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education at Durham (N.C.) Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors Merit Awards Banquet will be held from 5 to 6:45 p.m. on Friday, June 21; in addition to chaplains and pastoral counselors, all others are welcome to purchase tickets to attend.
Visit www.abhms.org —click on “ABHMS at Mission Summit”—for more details and registration links.
ABHMS—the domestic mission arm of American Baptist Churches USA—ministers as the caring heart and serving hands of Jesus Christ across the United States and Puerto Rico through a multitude of initiatives that focus on discipleship, community and justice.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.