Upcoming Baptist Union assembly, 16-18 June, Telford UK
Hezekiah
Deckhand, Styx Posts: 33
in All Saints
Ahoy,
The Baptist Union assembly is coming up and I am planning to attend. I've never been to one before (except the zoom ones we did during the pandemic) and I was wondering if anyone has any pre-knowledge about what happens, what your experiences were, what can be said, achieved, voted on, etc etc.
There arent too many details yet about what events are on, although I have heard vague rumours of an emphasis on "mission" and/or "family". Bishop Mike Royal is the main speaker.
The Baptist Union assembly is coming up and I am planning to attend. I've never been to one before (except the zoom ones we did during the pandemic) and I was wondering if anyone has any pre-knowledge about what happens, what your experiences were, what can be said, achieved, voted on, etc etc.
There arent too many details yet about what events are on, although I have heard vague rumours of an emphasis on "mission" and/or "family". Bishop Mike Royal is the main speaker.
Comments
More info here: https://www.baptist.org.uk/Groups/388310/Assembly_2023.aspx
Pentecostal, apparently, but also head of Churches Together in England.
Baptists in Georgia (the country, not the US state) have bishops.
That link provides some helpful info on (Pentecostal) Bishop Mike Royal.
/tangent alert/
Just out of interest, here's a link to the International Baptist Church in Tbilisi, Georgia:
https://www.tbsbaptist.com/
That appears to be an independent church, rather than part of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia.
Oops. I should have googled further - my bad, and thanks for the correction!
That depends on what your definition of "common meaning" is (and what you count as "attacking LGBT" people is)
I would say that family is usually held to be people related by recent common descent or by marriage, most particularly the subset of those forming a single household.
In some evangelical circles "family" is code for a family comprising one man, one woman, and the children born to them both, with the explicit denunciation of families that do not conform to this model. Hence the existence of such groups as the "Family Research Council" which is listed as a hate group by the SPLC.
May I remind everyone that this is All Saints, and can we please be wary of straying into Epiphanies territory, such as definitions of "family", LGBT issues, etc?
Thank you.
Piglet, AS host
Lynn Green, General Secretary of the Baptist Union, is fond of talking about the denomination as "the Baptist family".
Well this is the Baptist Union of GB, so "family" is more likely to be a different kind of code than that.
Blackadder made "The Bishop of Bath and Wells" forever funny.
Particularly as they appointed George Carey to the See not long after the episode was broadcast. Life imitating art.
It's a kind of code for someone who wants to impose their view of close community life on everyone. Not everyone has had a good experience of birth or adopted families: being an only child examples of brothers/sisters are pretty meaningless and beyond my experience.
That would probably do way more good than the usual diet of these events. There's an overwhelming sense of enforced positivity that means there are always some who feel very much on the outside when things are not going the standard so well for them.
I hardly think that can be the case, in the face of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
True, but the statistics quite clearly show that experiences of the alternatives are even worse.
I've noticed that too. However, I am going to refuse to kow tow to such shallowness. If I dont feel a particular way, I am not going to fake it.
Agreed, but it's what some folk would like us to think! Anyway, families have rows.
Oh to be sure. Well, I shall find out in June.
No, they don't.
I'm not so sure given a recent letter from the Gen Sec. Looks like the BU is taking a leaf from the CofE book and kicking at least one can down the road. In the process it's throwing some of us under a bus since the same conversations have been going on since around 2005 when the first Baptist Minister entered a civil partnership.
Sarasa, All Saint Hosts
Its not quite the same though, because of the governmental system of Baptist churches (or more specifically lack of one). The BU has no authority over any of its member churches. It can offer advice, it can make reccomendations, it can give technical support, but in the end each Baptist congregation interprets God's will for itself.
(ETA fixed code, DT, Temporary Hosting)
Yes, I'm afraid they do.
If you'd like to post some evidence for this please feel free to start a thread in an appropriate forum.
If you are referring to the Declaration of Principle, it's important to remember that God's guidance sits at the heart of it
If you are referring to the Declaration of Principle, it's important to remember that God's guidance sits at the heart of it. Any decision that doesn't sit fair and square with scripture is therefore outside the DoP and breaks fellowship with those who do base their decision on the matter, on what scripture teaches.
The Basis of the Baptist Union is:
1. That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy
Scriptures, and that each Church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws.
2. That Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of those who have professed repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who 'died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again the third day'.
3. That it is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world.
@Hezekiah is replying here to @Arethosemyfeet wrt the alternatives to families being worse than families.
Sure will do. Which forum would you consider appropriate?
I think if you're talking about family values and suchlike, then Epiphanies would be most appropriate. Bear in mind the rules of the board when you get there.
Thank you.
Piglet, AS host
Your first interpretation is the correct one, but you put it in a confrontational way. No one in the Baptist family is denying the right of any other congregation to come to its own conclusions about what scripture teaches or what Christ requires. Baptist churches have autonomy, but that cuts both ways. If another congregation, under Christ, believe the authenticity of that interpretation is invalid, they have a perfect right to express that belief.
I wasn't referring to that, as it happens.
Tragically, I cannot post in Epiphanies. I think I'm still suspended for violating the echo chamber restrictions.