NOTES that the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Indianapolis in June 2004 voted to approve a recommendation from its Executive Committee to withdraw from the family of the Baptist World Alliance;
ACKNOWLEDGES with gratitude the enormous contribution made by the Southern Baptist Convention in the formation of the Baptist World Alliance 100 years ago and in the continued development and effectiveness of the Baptist World Alliance since its inception;
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Seoul, South Korea, July 28-31, 2004:
COMMENDS the Micah network (Micah 6.8) in their desire to strengthen the capacity of aid and development agencies such as Baptist World Aid to make a biblically-shaped response to the needs of the poor and oppressed in line with the World Evangelical Alliance resolution of 2001 to support the UN initiative to halve current levels of world poverty by 2015;
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Nassau, the Bahamas, July 1988:
Reaffirms its resolution dealing with apartheid adopted at its meeting in Los Angeles in 1985, and
Urges the Baptist Union and the Baptist Convention of Southern Africa to challenge the evil of apartheid by their own example of reconciliation and full equality within their own churches and the extended Christian family as well as their society.
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Amman, Jordan, July 5-12, 1987, l) welcomes the encouraging report of the Baptist Friendship Tour to China in 1986;
2) warmly supports the decision to plan further visits and contacts for learning and sharing with Chinese Christians; and,
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance:
1. Gives full support to the General Assembly of the United Nations in its proclaiming 1981 as the International Year of Disabled Persons with the keynote theme, “full participation and equality,” whose aim is to encourage the rehabilitation of an estimated 450 million people who suffer from some form of physical or mental impairment.
WHEREAS, The Baptist World Alliance in 1934, 1939 and 1947 condemned racial discrimination;
WHEREAS, The question of race relations is world-wide in scope and is one of the most serious and baffling problems confronting mankind today;
We who have the privilege and joy of attending the Twelfth Congress of the Baptist World Alliance at Tokyo greet you, the members of churches in fellowship with the Alliance. In this written message we cannot convey the wonder of the inspiration felt in worship, prayer, and fellowship with so large a gathering of representatives from so many countries, meeting for the first time in Asia.
WE REAFFIRM our faith that the gospel of God’s free salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, is for all men, without distinction, and that today as in previous generations it speaks to man’s every need, convicting, redeeming, transforming, guarding the human spirit and requiring the ending of exploitation and tyranny, and the provision of full opportunities for its free acceptance and for worship, witness, and service.
Since the wrong we have committed only God can correct; since the peace and universal brotherhood we seek and long for, only God can bring; since the unity we desire, only God can bring it to pass; since every commission that has reported acknowledges that prayer is the key and the solution of the problems in its area and that at home and abroad souls are hungry for a better understanding of each other and a close walk with God, regardless of race, color, social, economic or cultural level;
“Race relations is one of the perplexing problems which the Christian Church must face in the world to- day. There are many conditions and attitudes which strain and impair human relations and cause great concern; but we cannot solve the problem unless we face it forthrightly as Christians.