Baptists focus on the future at forthcoming Assembly

Baptists from across the country will be travelling to Blackpool this Friday for the Baptist Assembly, the biggest Baptist event of the year.

Over 2,000 people are expected to attend the four-day gathering of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) and BMS World Mission from 2 to 5 May 2008.

The Assembly theme, A hope and a future, will look at world issues including creation care. Sir John Houghton, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Co-Chair of the Scientific Assessment Working Group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will be interviewed and keynote speaker will be Vinoth Ramachandra, a member of the International Council of Reference of Christian environmental charity A Rocha.

A Rocha and BMS World Mission have been working in partnership with the Baptist Unions of Great Britain, Wales and Scotland on new resources on creation care for Baptist churches which will be launched at the Assembly.

John Weaver, Principal of South Wales Baptist College will be inducted as BUGB President on the Friday evening and will be the keynote speaker on the Saturday night plenary session. Other speakers include broadcaster and writer Elaine Storkey, London regional minister David Shosanya, BUGB General Secretary Jonathan Edwards and London Institute of Contemporary Christianity Executive Director Mark Greene.

BMS World Mission General Director Alistair Brown will also be speaking at his last Baptist Assembly before leaving his post to become President of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago, USA. A special farewell is planned during a BMS session.

"The Baptist Assembly has been one of my annual highlights for the last 12 years," said Brown. "It is an important time to celebrate and learn, and to meet each other as a large family of Baptists. It's often made a big difference in my own life, so I will certainly miss it."

New for this year will be an art exhibition of local Christian artists and a family festival on Sunday afternoon in nearby Anchorsholme Park organised by Assembly attendees and Fusion Youth & Community. The festival will be open to all and will include water balloon volleyball, tug of war, welly throwing, puppet theatre, face painting, juggling craft and kids' carpentry. Free doughnuts and drinks are promised as well.