Baptists, Adventists Meet To Underscore Common Christian Values

[John317]

From Christian B. Schäffler

Date Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:07:43 +0100

[APD] Baptists, Adventists meet to underscore common Christian values

Silver Spring, Maryland/USA, 13.03.2009/ANN/APD Delegates from the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) met with Seventh-day Adventist world church President Jan Paulsen March 11 to affirm their denominations' common values andrecommit to their shared goals of religious freedom.

The meeting, which included other church leaders, took place at Adventist

world church headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland/USA.

"[Adventists and Baptists] share a Christ-centric faith and many of the same

values," said John Graz, director of public affairs and religious liberty

for the Adventist church. "We also share a passion for religious freedom,

and in many countries around the world we cooperate closely to promote and

defend this freedom."

The Jamaican pastor and theologian Neville Callam (58), general secretary of

the Baptist World Alliance since 2007, echoed the common need to work for

religious liberty.

"Part of the genetic makeup of the Baptist community is [the affirmation] of

human dignity," Callam said. He also expressed interest in pursuing "mutual

sharing and collaboration in common causes" in the future. The BWA general

secretary serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alliance. For

15 years, Callam served as a member of the Standing and Plenary Commissions

of the Faith and Order Movement of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and

chaired a number of its study groups.

The Baptist delegation also included Fausto Vasconcelos, director of

evangelism and education for the Baptist World Alliance.

Adventist world church President Jan Paulsen (74) also commended the group

on past collaborations in the area of religious liberty.

"The strength of affirming and protecting religious freedom depends on

participation of many. [Let us] explore opportunities to work together in

the name of Christ and to strengthen our witness for him," Paulsen said.

Paulsen added that the partnership has provided "a fertile spiritual soil to

our faith family." Paulsen is serving as world church president since 1999.

He was re-elected in 2000 and 2005 for two more terms. Paulsen is recognized

as an eminent Adventist scholar in the field of theology.

The Baptist World Alliance, founded in 1905 in London, is a fellowship of

214 Baptist conventions and unions comprising a membership of more than 37

million baptized believers and a community of 105 million, in 119 countries.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a mainstream Protestant church with

approximately 16 million adult members worshipping in more than 121,500

congregations in 202 countries.

>*********************

This article is also available on the Internet at:

>http://www.stanet.ch/APD/news/2110.html

[True-believer]

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a mainstream Protestant church with

approximately 16 million adult members worshipping in more than 121,500

congregations in 202 countries.

[True-believer]

But the Adventist Church has 202 countries......

And the Baptist Church has 119 countries.....

Are they accurate figures???

That doesn't seem right to me???

What are your thoughts???

[Kountzer]

Besides the RCC this church is the most global around.

[Woody]

Thanks John317 for posting this. I am so glad to hear that our church is doing things like this. It is long overdue.

Quote:

From : Acts of the Apostles p. 96

"Christian is to be united with Christian, church with church, the human instrumentality cooperating with the divine, every agency subordinate to the Holy Spirit and all combined in giving to the world the good tidings of the grace of God."

I firmly believe that we should be working together with other Christian churches to reach out to the poor for instance. We have much in common and can unite on these goals without compromising our beliefs.

[GreatLakesGramma]

But the Adventist Church has 202 countries......

And the Baptist Church has 119 countries.....

Are they accurate figures???

That doesn't seem right to me???

What are your thoughts???

What seems wrong to you? Adventists may be in more countries, but there are a lot fewer in any given place than there are Baptists. There are a lot of Baptist mega-churches in our area, but only one large Adventist church, and several small ones.

[GreatLakesGramma]

Actually, I find this interesting, because the Baptist College radio station we listen to won't play any Adventist musicians, because they consider us to be a cult. I guess that isn't a universal Baptist position, though I think it was in the past.

[olger]

Does the Baptist numbers include Anabaptists? Wonder...

[aldona]

Originally Posted By: John317

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a mainstream Protestant church with

approximately 16 million adult members worshipping in more than 121,500

congregations in 202 countries.

Originally Posted By: John317

The Baptist World Alliance, founded in 1905 in London, is a fellowship of 214 Baptist conventions and unions comprising a membership of more than 37

million baptized believers and a community of 105 million, in 119 countries.

There are more members in the Baptist Church than the Adventist Church...

Well, Jesus did say, "Narrow is the way that leads to life..."

Something to ponder and discuss??????

If we follow that line of reasoning, then the Quakers are the true church, with only 300,000 members worldwide.

But I'm sure you can find a denomination or sect with an even smaller membership. Does that automatically make them more righteous and pure?

aldona

[aldona]

Actually, I find this interesting, because the Baptist College radio station we listen to won't play any Adventist musicians, because they consider us to be a cult. I guess that isn't a universal Baptist position, though I think it was in the past.

More universal than you think.

I was kicked out of the Medical Christian Fellowship at my medical school as a student, being told that my presence was not welcome because I was a member of a cult. (The person that said this to my face was a Baptist).

And just 3-4 years ago when our church was still meeting in rented premises and looking for a building to worship in, the local Baptist church refused to have anything to do with us because we were a cult.

(The Catholic church was much more welcoming and friendly. It was OUR members who vetoed the idea of meeting in their church.)

Come to think of it, just about every incident I can think of where I have been accused of being a cult member or not a real Christian, has involved one or more Baptists.

aldona

[darlene]

I just spoke in a Filipino Church in the Metro Vancouver, B.C. area last Sabbath. It was their first week for meeting in a Baptist Church they are now renting. It was a nice church and the custodian even ate at the fellowship potluck with us.

[LynnDel]

The Baptist church in Davis, CA, has been most gracious to Adventists. When an Adventist group wanted to start a church in Davis about five years ago, and arranged to rent a Baptist church, the Baptists said that since both groups have the same faith in Christ, they couldn't rightly charge rent to fellow believers. Read that one again! I don't believe I have ever come across such a loving attitude between congregations.

What we need to realize is that the negativity we might sometimes encounter is probably more of an individual opinion than a church-group or denominational point-of-view.

[True-believer]

Actually, I find this interesting, because the Baptist College radio station we listen to won't play any Adventist musicians, because they consider us to be a cult. I guess that isn't a universal Baptist position, though I think it was in the past.

Yes, mostly all mainland Christian Churches see the SDA Churches as CULTS...

I don't know why...

The SDA Churches seem pretty biblical to me.

[Woody]

The Baptist church in Davis, CA, has been most gracious to Adventists. When an Adventist group wanted to start a church in Davis about five years ago, and arranged to rent a Baptist church, the Baptists said that since both groups have the same faith in Christ, they couldn't rightly charge rent to fellow believers. Read that one again! I don't believe I have ever come across such a loving attitude between congregations.

What we need to realize is that the negativity we might sometimes encounter is probably more of an individual opinion than a church-group or denominational point-of-view.

A church that I used to go to had the same experience. We used a Sunday Church for years without having to pay a dime.

[BobRyan]

Originally Posted By: GreatLakesGramma

Actually, I find this interesting, because the Baptist College radio station we listen to won't play any Adventist musicians, because they consider us to be a cult. I guess that isn't a universal Baptist position, though I think it was in the past.

Yes, mostly all mainland Christian Churches see the SDA Churches as CULTS...

I don't know why...

The SDA Churches seem pretty biblical to me.

Walter Martin's book "Kingdom of the Cults" has influenced a lot of non-SDA denominations. It argues effectively that Adventism is not a cult. But it was in direct contradiction to Hoekema's book on the same topic that condemned Adventist doctrine as being that of a cult. It took a few decades for Christianity to sort it out - and allow Walter Martin and Barnhouse's view to win out.

It is very common today to find non-SDA groups that do not consider Adventists to be a cult - but that was not the case 20 or 30 years ago. And even today - you can easily find groups still operating under Hoekema's debunked arguments.

in Christ,

Bob