In 1609 in Amsterdam, John Smyth baptized himself and then Thomas Helwys and others to form the first Baptist congregation of the modern period. It was a difficult period of history for these dissidents who, after reading scripture, came to the firm conviction that Believer's Baptism was the proper mode of initiation into the Christian Church. Many were persecuted for their faith. From this small movement of early Baptist believers, the worldwide movement of Baptists has grown so that today we are one of the largest Christian groups in the world.
The Baptist World Alliance wants to properly celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement in July 2009 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Along with the Baptist World Alliance, the European Baptist Federation will hold a mini-Congress to also celebrate this great occasion for European Baptists and Baptists worldwide. Tony Peck, the General Secretary of the European Baptist Federation, and Emmett Dunn and I recently visited Amsterdam to check out a site where we can properly invite many Baptists to celebrate this great occasion.The European Baptists will have a mini-Congress in conjunction with the General Council of the Baptist World Alliance. We pray that this great occasion will be an opportunity for Baptists worldwide to meditate upon and re-consider the great Baptist principles that have united us over the years, namely: believer's baptism, a regenerate church membership, separation of church and state, soul competency, religious liberty, the priesthood of all believers, the blessed community of born-again believers, and no creeds by Scripture. These aspects of Baptist life, of course, are shared by many other Christians, but together they uniquely describe our Baptist movement.
We pray that this celebration in July 2009 (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) will be another opportunity for Baptists to re-dedicate themselves to the task of world evangelization and the call of Christ to be peacemakers in a world torn by war and terrorism. As further plans are made by the BWA Commission on Baptist Heritage, we will communicate them to you. Please pray with us that this will be a great occasion for uniting Baptists worldwide.
Denton Lotz
BWA General Secretary
