The Family Gathering (Annual Meeting) of the Northwest Baptist Convention is in Spokane on Nov. 15-16. Our theme for the meeting is “Jesus, Our Peace.” The report below will be included in our book of reports.
“For He is our peace” (Eph. 2:14a).
Every human being yearns for peace. Peace of mind and heart. Peace in relationships. Peace in the home. But few find such rest.
Those who know Jesus Christ and the teaching of the Scriptures understand why peace is often absent. Peace and joy are blessings available only to those whose faith rests in Jesus Christ and live in obedience to Him.
Historians will not use the term “peace” when describing America in the year 2016. We have experienced the most discouraging and divisive presidential election campaign since the 19th Century. The topics and language of the campaigns were unedifying, morally corrosive and corrupting. Bitterness, contempt and cynicism bloomed fully. Friendships have been damaged or destroyed, even among Christians, over this year’s election. The witness of the Church, and of many believers, has been damaged as well.
Added to this, 2016 was a year of protests over police shootings, the assassination of police officers, and vicious acts of terrorism. In 2015 the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage a constitutional right, and in 2016 the Obama administration interpreted federal civil rights law (Title IX) to mean that federally funded schools must not discriminate against transgender students and therefore must allow them to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their chosen gender identity. Some businesses and other organizations have quickly adopted the federal government’s approach, resulting in the boycotting of states that oppose the new policy.
Shakespeare would have loved to write about all of this! But perhaps Solomon described it best when he said of mankind, “madness is in their hearts while they live” (Eccl. 9:3).
What is the believer and the church to do when “madness” fills the heart and “contempt” inhabits the space between neighbors? We must do what God’s people have always done: trust Jesus Christ to enable us to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The shed blood of Jesus Christ applied to the sinner’s heart brings us near to God and near to others, creating peace.
When Jesus saved the chief persecutor the Church, Saul, he gave him peace with God, peace with his enemies, and enabled him to help others find peace through Christ. These included his jailer in Philippi and some of Emperor Nero’s own household in Rome. Though the Early Church lived under persecution which was often intense, peace with God brought the certainty of eternal life, and it enabled the Church to love its enemies, sometimes loving them into repentance and faith.
Our neighbors must see and experience peace from Northwest Baptists. Through our love for God, our love and respect for each other, and our love for people that embrace values and lifestyles totally opposed to biblical teaching, our neighbors will witness a “peace that surpasses understanding.” Recently I was speaking with an elderly man who called himself an agnostic. When he asked me what I did for a living, and I told him that I was a pastor, he said, “You won’t like me!” I said, “Now why wouldn’t I like you?” That led to a respectful conversation in which I think he saw that disagreement does not have to equal dislike, and Christians need not draw lines of friendship and respect that negate those who disagree with us.
As you read this annual report of the NWBC, I pray it represents faithfulness to Jesus and communicates the peace that is found in Him. The front-line work of disciple-making, baptizing and teaching believers to obey Christ is the work of each local church. But we believe that only by working together as a network of churches can we effectively carry out the Great Commission and Great Commandment of Jesus Christ. Starting churches among dozens of language groups, training servant leaders, sending missionaries, doing disaster relief and college ministry and developing evangelism tools and strategies, are best done as we collaborate.
Perhaps no work of NWBC churches in 2016 illustrates this better than our mission trip to serve 1,100 IMB missionaries and children serving in Asia. Thirty-two of our churches sent 163 persons to Thailand in order to serve our missionaries during a 10-day retreat in August. We provided all of the teaching and care for 450 children, provided tech support, medical professionals, and preaching and worship leading for the missionaries themselves. Eight of our churches sent one person, eight sent two, and sixteen sent three or more. Other churches sent their VBS offering to help pay for the trip. Still others prayed for those who went.
The man who leads all of these missionaries said that 500 missionaries completed an evaluation form, giving our team the highest marks in all aspects of our work. We have already been invited to return for their next big retreat. No convention or association of churches has ever done this, making the NWBC the first. I love it! And the reason I so love it is because we modelled our claim that we can do more together. And this isn’t the only way we ministered to our IMB missionaries this year. Many churches have sent teams to work alongside our missionaries where they serve. As they served missionaries over there, God blessed these same churches here.
I am grateful that as we gather for our annual meeting in Spokane, November 15-16, we celebrate a significant increase in baptisms (an increase of more than 15 percent, or 326 persons and 2,006 total baptisms), an increase in church attendance (our combined attendance is over 30,000 in our churches each week), and an increase in Cooperative Program (CP) mission giving (3.16 percent increase over the first nine months). Through the first nine months we have also seen 19 new church planting teams begin their work. These include a church for the Somi people in Portland (the pastor is from India), African people in Seattle (the pastor is from Zimbabwe), Mandarin Chinese in Federal Way, a college church in Eugene, and others in Spokane, Olympia, and Hamilton, WA, among other peoples and places.
This year we also trained more than 300 people, from about 70 churches, in how to share Christ through Story Witnessing, or Listening Evangelism, as it is sometimes called. Many of our churches also used the MY316 Evangelism Resources, which are available through the NWBC at no cost as your CP giving has paid for these resources (some of this material is available in Korean and Spanish).
As I consider where we are as a nation, and what we are trying to accomplish as Northwest Baptists, the truth that Jesus is our peace has warmed my heart and settled my soul many times over the past year. I look forward to developing this theme more fully in my oral report on Wednesday morning, Nov. 16. Who we are in Christ, and the spiritual work He has done in us, precedes what we do in His Kingdom. Those in whom the peace and joy of Christ are present will serve Him best “in times like these.”
It is a good day to serve the Lord in the Northwest!
Comments