VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 10/10/13)—Curtis Ramsey-Lucas, managing director of Resource Development for American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS), has been elected chair of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty’s board of directors.

“This is an exciting time in the life of the Baptist Joint Committee [BJC],” Ramsey-Lucas said. “With the Center for Religious Liberty up and running and a new education and outreach specialist in place, the committee is expanding its reach and engaging a new generation of advocates for religious liberty.”

An education and advocacy organization, the Washington, D.C.-based BJC upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious freedom by fighting for religious liberty for all, including other Christian denominations, as well as Jewish, Muslim and other faith groups. Its foci include church-state issues, Supreme Court cases and outreach to youth.

The BJC’s board is composed of representatives of 15 national, state and regional bodies in the United States. Ramsey-Lucas and other new officers were elected at the organization’s annual meeting on October 7 and 8.

Said BJC Executive Director J. Brent Walker: “Curtis Ramsey-Lucas’ wide experience in American Baptist life, his long labor as an advocate on Capitol Hill and his deep passion for religious liberty make him the ideal person to lead the BJC board for the next two years.”

American Baptist Home Mission Societies—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 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.