Baptist Centenary Congress Connects to Web as Leaders Confirm Slots

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.

The Friday 30th July afternoon is also highlighted with a programme called The Church - The Real Health Service with the evangelical from England - Steve Chalke. He will look at the role of the church in building the kingdom of God.

In addition, both Tony Campolo and Steve Chalke will also be leading Bible Study options on the Friday morning.

Rick Warren, best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life will be leading two afternoon workshops and will be the main speaker at the Saturday evening celebration in the NIA. In fact, he has just finished the European Purpose Driven Life Conference in Nottingham, England on 21st July.

Other evening celebration speakers include Billy Kim, the current President of the BWA; Myra Blyth, Chair of the Churches' Commission for Racial Justice in Great Britain; Solomon Ishola, General Secretary of the Nigerian Baptist Convention; and Fausto Vasconcelos (Brazil), President of the Union of Baptists in Latin America and the new BWA director for Evangelism and Education and Study and Research.

Thursday 28th July evening will feature the Festival of the Nations with Assiria, wife of footballing-legend Pele. The Christian music artist from Brazil will perform on the stage outside the ICC in Centenary Square at 17:30.

The Baptist World Congress is held every five years when members of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) meet to worship and share together as Baptist Christians. The BWA aims to unite Baptists worldwide, to lead in evangelism, respond to people in need (through Baptist World Aid) and defend human rights and religious liberty.

This year the BWA commemorate the 100th anniversary since it was first formed in London in July 1905. Initially based in London, America became the home of the BWA headquarters since 1947. Today the BWA is a fellowship of 211 Baptist unions and conventions comprising a membership of more than 34 million baptised believers with a worshipping community of 80 million.

There will be a special birthday party in Victoria Square on Sunday afternoon with international music and people dressed in national costume. This will be followed by a closing celebration in the NIA with worship led by worship leader and songwriter Graham Kendrick. The Congress will end at 18:00 on Sunday 31st July.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) is hosting the Baptist World Congress with the Baptist World Alliance.

The Revd David Coffey, General Secretary of the BUGB, believes the years of organisation for this Congress will be worth it. "It is an enormous privilege to serve as the hosts to 12,000 people from over 100 countries. The Congress will be a visual reminder of the diversity of the global church. I trust that delegates will return home inspired and re-envisioned in their calling to be disciples of Jesus Christ."