Baptist Churches Call to Prayer as Nomination for Next Leader Begins

On Sunday 26th June, all the Baptist Churches across the UK will be devoted to a day of prayer to pray for the new appointment of a general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) next year, according to the Baptist Times.

The request for prayer is called by the nominating group set up by the Baptist Union Council to seek the new general secretary of the BUGB. In a recent letter sent to all Baptist-based Associations, Colleges, ministers, church secretaries and other UK Unions, the group urged to pray "wisdom and openness in the seeking and selection process".

The letter is signed by the Revd Roy Searle, BUGB president, and by the Revd Lynn Green, pastor of Wokingham Baptist Church, Berkshire, and moderator of the nominating group.

The group also eagerly wishes to pray for "an openness, willingness and courage on behalf of potential candidates and the nominating group to explore and discern the will of God", and "an embodiment of servant leadership that will lead the Union, with others, forward into a new era."

The nominating group is now ready to receive nominations of potential candidates for the position of general secretary of the BUGB as well.

The current General Secretary of the BUGB, Revd David Coffey, who have been serving the Union for 15 years, will retire in November 2006. However, he will be installed as the president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) at the upcoming BWA Centenary Congress in Birmingham, England, in July.

Moderator of the nominating group, Revd Lynn Green, said to the Baptist Times that the group wants to involve as many churches as possible in the process of seeking a new general secretary, especially in terms of prayers.

"This is a significant appointment in the life of the Union and our prayers are vital as we seek God, exercise discernment, and offer a call to serve," she said, "We want everyone to feel involved in this process and for prayer to be central right from the outset."

Green also explained the importance of the position of the general secretary by quoting the job description which will be circulated to those interested in applying. It says the general secretary is "to serve the Union by offering spiritual leadership within the context of the Word and prayer, to exercise leadership gifts in the shaping and delivering of Union strategy, ethos and policies," and to communicate these to Baptists and more widely.

In a biblical sense, Green said that through the Bible, people should be able to see how God calls leaders to facilitate His mission and purposes. She testified, "David Coffey has been instrumental in challenging us to work out what it means to be a missionary people in our contemporary world and now we need to build on this for a new generation."

"We are seeking to discern the person who God is calling to play a key role in shaping, delivering and communicating the life of our Union for the next chapter of our journey," Green declared.

In addition, Green has highlighted some of the challenges the next general secretary will have to face, such as keeping focused on the priority of mission as engaging with different cultural context, multi-faith context, legislation, changing moral values and attitudes, and the impact of a global community.

The nomination period starts from now and will end in mid-August. A name will be taken by the nominating group to the Council meeting in March 2006, and put on to vote during the Baptist Assembly in April 2006.

The Baptist movement was first born in the 16th Century. Today, there are in total some 2150 Baptist churches across the UK and a total membership of almost 140,000.