The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Centenary Congress is due to commence on Wednesday 27th July. While tens of thousand of Baptists from 112 countries head to Birmingham for the Congress, being held in the International Conference Centre (ICC), it is announced that web streaming for main sessions will be available for those who are not able to attend the Congress.
The exclusive line-up of guest speakers and the times they will join the Congress has been confirmed. Jimmy Carter, who was President of the United States from 1976-1980, will arrive on Saturday 30th July. He will be a guest speaker at a Friends of the BWA lunch on Saturday afternoon and will present a BWA Human Rights Award in the Saturday evening celebrations at the National Indoor Arena (NIA).
On Sunday 31st July at 9:30am Carter will lead a bible study in the NIA. Carter has for many years been a bible study leader at Maratha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
During an interview with the Baptist Times, Carter said, "I have a weekly commitment to my own home church to teach the Bible and the Baptist World Congress will give me a very good expanded forum to pursue that same goal."
"I hope that I will be able to deal succinctly with the teachings of the Christian faith with the current considerations of the general populous in the secular world."
Each day of the Congress will start with a Bible study session in the morning. For Thursday and Friday mornings, there will seven bible study options in English and four in different languages (Spanish, Russian, German and Korean) in the ICC with one bible study outside in Centenary Square.
On Saturday, there will be a single bible study in the NIA led by Neville Callam, Pastor of the Tarrant-Balmagie Circuit of Baptist Churches in Kingston, Jamaica.
Each afternoon of the Congress will be devoted to workshops or focus groups in order to discuss some worldwide issues in-depth. On the Thursday and Friday afternoons there will be focus groups on poverty, AIDS, human trafficking and prostitution.
The famous evangelical educator Tony Campolo from America will spend a special afternoon with Baptists on Thursday 29th July. As a sociology professor and Baptist minister, Campolo will explore how Christians can address problems of poverty, war and injustice.
