Visitors to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, will search in vain for the eight rivers that some may imagine account for the town's name. It is believed that the 16th century Spanish colonists called the place Los Chorreras, (The Waterfalls), from which the name Ocho Rios is derived. Whether this is so or not, what those attending BWA events in the town will experience, during the last days of June and the first week of July, is an unforgettable tome of Christian fellowship and enrichment.
 
The 8th Baptist International Conference on Theological Education (BICTE) will precede the Gathering. BICTE will focus on Perspectives on Pneumatology within the Worldwide Baptist Family. Baptist theologians and biblical scholars have not produced an extensive literary corpus dealing with the nature and ministry of the Holy Spirit. A fine array of thinkers at the conference on theological education will contribute to our understanding the relation of the Holy Spirit and the life of faith in the triune God.
 
From July 1-6, hundreds of persons serving on the BWA General Council, commissions and committees, together with other Baptists with a global consciousness will meet at BWA's Annual Gathering. Participants will be hard pressed to decide on which of the available sessions they should attend.

Papers will be presented on a wide range of issues of concern to Baptist Christians worldwide. Elizabeth Newman will read a paper on Baptist Ecclesiology; Timothy George will reflect on the 2012 Synod of Bishops and the New Evangelization, and Tony Peck and David Kerrigan will share reflections on The Israel-Palestine Question.
 
An Evangelism Roundtable will consider The Church's Mission and the Current Evangelistic Situation. It will feature Tim Lee, Graham Hill, Denis Peters and Gary Nelson. Joel Gregory will lead a panel in analyzing Global Baptist Preaching and Liberty in the Spirit.
 
In special joint sessions led by BWA commissions, we will celebrate the contribution of two outstanding Baptists, Duke McCall and J. Deotis Roberts Jr. In the session on McCall, who sadly passed away recently, McCall's contribution to theological education will be analyzed. The joint session on Roberts will feature a panel discussing "J. Deotis Roberts Jr.: Theologian of Reconciliation."
 
Since the event is taking place in Jamaica, it is not surprising that several special sessions will deal with issues related to the religious history of the host country.
 
A number of Jamaican scholars will make presentations. For example, Glenroy Lalor will discuss the history of Jamaica Baptists and Devon Dick will analyze the state of religious freedom in the country.
 
Leaders from the Bible Society of the West Indies, the organization that undertook the project to translate the New Testament into Jamaican, will share reflections on their experience.
 
Since that great African American, George Liele, was the person who introduced Baptist witness in Jamaica, a special forum will be dedicated to discussing the book, George Liele's Life and Legacy: An Unsung Hero (Mercer Press, 2013), edited by David Shannon, Sr., Julia Frazier White and Deborah van Broekhoven. Among the contributors to the book who will address the forum are distinguished church executive leader, Carlisle Driggers, and Horace Russell and Noel Erskine, Jamaican church historian and theologian, respectively. It is hoped that, among those present at this meeting will be Jamaica Baptist church historian, Clement Gayle, whose pioneer work, George Liele: Pioneer Missionary to Jamaica (Kingston: Jamaica Baptist Union, 1982 and Nashville: Bethlehem Book Publishers Inc., 2002), inspired efforts to engage in interest in Liele's contribution as a man on Christian mission.
 
One of Jamaica's national heroes, Samuel Sharpe, is a former Baptist deacon about whose life and work a lively debate has developed especially over the last two decades. The pioneer study on Sharpe was authored by Jamaica Baptist Union scholar and former BWA Vice President Clarence Reid whose Sam Sharpe: From Slave to National Hero (Kingston: Bustamante Institute of Public and International Affairs) appeared in 1988. Papers dealing with issues related to Sam Sharpe will be presented at a Freedom and Justice Roundtable by renowned Baptist theologian Paul Fiddes, and by Delroy Reid-Salmon and Garnet Roper, two Jamaican theologians.
 
In addition to all of the sessions mentioned, there will be a forum introducing the report of the most recent round of dialogue between Baptists and Roman Catholics on The Word of God in the Life of the Churches. With its convergence statements on Mary and on the ministry of oversight in the church, it is expected that the report will generate much interest and discussion. We recommend serious engagement with the report in Baptist circles worldwide. It will be a waste of resources if our churches and groups do not harvest from this report those insights that will strengthen our appreciation of the spiritual treasures that are available to us and that can help transform our relations with other Christian World Communions.
 
Another forum will be devoted to a discussion of principles and guidelines that have been proposed for the enrichment of the life together of persons who travel from around the world to participate in BWA events. The set of values being advocated are worth applying to cross-cultural situations in which people engage in deliberations that are meant to be marked by Christian values. It is unlikely that any other document prepared within the BWA will appear in as many languages as the Principles and Guidelines.
 
Apart from the many discussion groups already mentioned, there will be the actual Executive Committee and General Council meetings -- the entire program finding its center in daily corporate worship opportunities.  
In addition, there will be the usual multiple opportunities for fellowship and networking with people from diverse backgrounds who yet have so much in common. Those who will gather for the BWA Ocho Rios events profess the lordship of Jesus Christ, affirm a common belonging to the Christian family and celebrate with gratitude the gift of a shared heritage as Baptists.
 
With the many offerings available for the thoughtful Baptist leader, few would want to pass up the opportunity to gather in sunny Ocho Rios for this year's BICTE and the BWA Annual Gathering.

Why do thousands of children and young people attend Baptist Youth World Conferences? Since the first of these conferences, BWA records reveal that 57,000 persons have attended and, no doubt, many have been enriched by the multiple opportunities to listen to narratives of faith shared by Baptist youth from places they never knew existed. Many have had their faith in God strengthened and some have discovered their own spiritual vocation at these meetings.
 
In July 2013, when young people from around the world gather in Singapore for the 16th Baptist Youth World Conference, they will be continuing a tradition that reaches back more than 82 years. The formation of the World Baptist Young People's Union in Stockholm, Sweden, at the 3rd Baptist World Congress, and the naming of the BWA Young People's Committee during the 4th Congress in Toronto, Canada, in 1928, led to the First Baptist Youth World Conference (BYWC), August 1- 4, 1931, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, (now the Czech Republic). Since that time, thousands of children and youth from the Baptist world family have met in Zurich, Switzerland, 1937; Stockholm, Sweden, 1949; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1953; and Toronto, Canada, 1958.
 
Beirut, Lebanon, was the conference venue in 1963; Berne, Switzerland, in 1968; and Portland, Oregon, USA, in 1974. These were followed by youth conferences in Manila, Philippines, 1978; Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1984; and Glasgow, Scotland, 1988.
 
In 1993, Africa hosted its first BYWC in Harare, Zimbabwe. After this, it was the turn of the USA when the 13th conference took place in Houston, Texas, 1998. Then, it was back to Asia for the 14th conference in Hong Kong, China.
 
After the most recent BYWC in Leipzig, Germany in 2008, Baptist youth meet again in Asia for the 16th conference in Singapore in July.
 
According to Tony Cupit, the 1993 BYWC in Harare, Zimbabwe, had a profound impact on Leena Levanya of Andhra Pradesh, India, who was to become, in Cupit's words, "a Baptist Mother Teresa from India." It was a workshop she attended, led by American Baptist leader Tony Compolo that made the greatest impact on Leena - then a young woman in her mid-20s. Compolo pointed out that, while young people sing, "All to Jesus I surrender," in reality they surrender very little." Leena determined that, from then on, she would serve Christ and his neediest children in India.
 
Cupit reports that a visitor to a location where Leena serves the poor said this: "Even if the Harare Youth Conference had only inspired this one ministry, it would have been worth it, for many lives have been touched with both the practical love and the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ."
 
There are many reasons why our children and young people should be encouraged to experience a BYWC. Denton Lotz, BWA General Secretary Emeritus, was on target when he told the General Council meeting in Vancouver, Canada, in 1997, "Youth ministries in our conventions and unions cannot be treated as orphans. A high profile commitment to youth must be exhibited in the highest echelons of Baptist leadership." Lotz added a passionate invitation for support of the scholarship fund to enable young leaders from parts of the Majority World to attend the youth conference.
 
After they return home from the conference in Singapore, let us ask the young people to share with us their reflections on the experience. Of course, for this to be possible, we need to offer them the opportunity the upcoming youth conference presents! Help them go to Singapore, July 17-21, 2013, for a possible life-transforming encounter with Christ. Then, enlist them in the program to evangelize the world that so badly needs the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some Baptists have claimed to be "a people of the book." Often, this self-designation is meant to highlight the value we place on the Bible. In We Baptists, published by the BWA in 1999, the priority Baptists assign to the Bible is reflected in a number of ways. Take the following affirmation, for example:

Baptists believe that the Bible is both the true record of God's revelation to our world and the supreme written guide for our faith and practice today. Because it leads us to Jesus Christ the living Word, we speak of it as "the Word of God," and believe it was inspired by God's Spirit. [Baptists regard the Bible as] totally sufficient; that is, all teaching must be in harmony with the Scriptures, and all teaching must be tested by the Scriptures only.

What spurred me to consider again the disputable tag "a people of the book" was a fresh look at one of the many books published in 2009 when Baptists were marking their quadricentennial, the 400th anniversary of Baptist witness. In the introduction to The Acts of the Apostles: Four Centuries of Baptist Interpretation (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2009), the editors make a bold claim that should be taken seriously. This is what they say:

Baptists for the most part have shown little interest in recovering Baptist interpretation of Scripture. There are several reasons for this. For one, Baptists have historically spent more time debating the authority of Scripture than engaged in dialogue about what the Bible says, much less what our forebears said it says. For another, Baptists belong to a larger movement of Christians committed to restoring the New Testament church, an endeavor that leaves little room for sustained interest in the intervening and subsequent history of biblical interpretation.

If we believe the accusation is valid -- and it seems that way to me -- we may acknowledge that our churches need to pay more attention to the massive literary output of those who are committed to recovering interpretations of the biblical text, not least those who gave committed service as interpreters of the Bible over the past four centuries of Baptist history -- which is what the Baylor text attempts to do with respect to the Acts of the Apostles. Reading the book, we may be surprised at the wide diversity of hermeneutical approaches used by Baptists and the different conclusions they have drawn from reading a particular section of the Bible.

If we wish to extend this quest beyond Baptist boundaries and go back to the first few centuries of the church's life, much exist to aid this quest. See, for example, a brief and very accessible book, Reading the Gospels with the Early Church: A Guide (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2013), prepared by Tamara Grdzelidze and her colleagues in the Faith and Order movement of the World Council of Churches. In six short sections, passages from the New Testament are accompanied by brief comments offered respectively by John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, Ephrem the Syrian, Origen, Pseudo-Macarius and Hippolytus. In each section, the biblical text and commentary are followed by a brief note about the commentators, recommendations for group work and a prayer.

This new guidebook reflects how, during the first 450 years of the church's life, significant biblical interpreters shared the conviction that the biblical text is "a revelation of the truth through the Holy Spirit in the Church." This does not mean, however, that the literary output of these interpreters did not manifest diversity and creativity resulting partly from the interpretive methods employed. While taking the Bible seriously, the interpreters were free to discover horizons of meaning and to develop perspectives on the text of Scripture that provided a rich tapestry that is as diverse as it is enriching.

Perhaps the ancient interpreters of the New Testament model for us how to agree on the essential biblical message while setting forth distinct, though not inconsistent, understandings of particular texts of Scripture. We should be able to do this without having to bear the pejorative labels some contemporary believers love to use to discredit others

We should reasonably expect that Christians reading the Bible in the context of their communities of faith will continue to search for, and find, "more light and truth" from God's Word!

Christians everywhere should analyze carefully the study on "The Global Religious Landscape" recently released by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The report is available at:

http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Religious_Affiliation/globalReligion-full.pdf                                                     

The study is based on data from censuses and other demographic sources, collected from 232 countries and territories and reflecting people's self-identification. It reveals that eight in 10 people in the world identify themselves with a religious group -- a sign that people are still engaged in the search for meaning in life.

The 2.2 billion people who self-identify as Christians comprise 31.5 percent of the world's population. Christianity continues to be the faith group with the largest number of adherents, with Muslims at 23.2 percent.

According to the study, in 2010, 26 percent of Christians lived in Europe, down from 66 percent in 1910, with 24 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 24 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, 13 percent in Asia and the Pacific, and 12 percent in North America. It is noteworthy that almost one in four Christians alive today resides in sub-Saharan Africa, where the 21st Baptist World Congress will be held in 2015.  

The 1.1 billion Catholics make up 48 percent of those who self-identify as Christians -- up from an estimated 291 million in 1910. Thirty-seven percent of the Christian population is Protestant and 12 percent comprise people of Greek and Russian Orthodox persuasion. Christians, the report states, have a median age of 30 years.

Significantly, 16 percent of the population -- 1.1 billion people -- declare themselves unaffiliated with any religion and they make up the third largest group, coming behind Christians and Muslims. Seventy five per cent of these persons reside in Asia -- 700 million in China and 72 million in Japan -- and 50 million are United States residents.

The large number of the so-called "nones" suggests that believers in Christ have a major challenge, but also a great opportunity. We need to share our faith with those who have not yet been incorporated into Christ's body, the church. Notably, some of the 1.1 billion who claim no religious affiliation say that they believe in God or in a higher power. The percentage of unaffiliated groups holding belief in God is, for example, seven percent among Chinese adults, 30 percent among French adults and 68 percent among U.S. adults.

While the Pew study does not examine trends, a comparison of its findings with other available data shows the continuing decline in the number of Christians residing in the Middle East, the birthplace of the faith. What might we do to help change this sad situation?

From the welter of data provided by the Pew Study on "The Global Religious Landscape," there is much to challenge Christians who are deeply committed to fulfilling the mission God has assigned the church. As we are reminded of the many people who have not yet discovered their true identity in Christ, let us make use of every opportunity we have to know Christ Jesus and to make Christ known.

How would you describe the attitude of your church toward people with disabilities?
 
In 2006, the United Nations passed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. To date, this convention has attracted some 157 signatories, but only 127 ratifications. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has fared worse than the convention itself, having attracted less than 100 signatories and just about 75 ratifications. For one reason or another, many countries have still not ratified the convention, which came into effect in 2008.
 
You may recall that, in his report to the 65th Session of the UN General Assembly in July 2010, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon put forward several important recommendations. These were intended to ameliorate the unjust situation that exists concerning the inclusion of people with disabilities in the Millennium Development Goals. There was a call for strategies to improve data collection on people with disability and for the equalization of opportunities and support for the disabled. In addition, the need was canvassed for persons with or without disabilities to enjoy equal access to social protection and programs.
 
Within the Christian community, the question of the church's attitude to people with disability became all the more compelling with the establishment of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN). I regard the publications of EDAN, beginning with its interim statement, "A Church of All and for All" produced in 2003, as required reading for all Christians. But do church leaders take seriously the need to address Christian stewardship responsibility when it comes to the way we treat people with disabilities?
 
When churches plan to expand their buildings, to what extent do they bear in mind the obligation to make provision for the physically disabled? When funds are low and government regulations do not require certain provisions for persons with disability, do people respond negatively to those who insist that building design and construction must not only provide adequate access to people with disabilities, but the seating arrangements must be organized to reflect the respect we have for them.
 
Nor do matters of design and construction alone point to the challenge the church faces in dealing with people with disabilities. When we train ushers for the ministry they are to fulfill, do we prepare them to receive people with a range of disabilities? Do we make provision for people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities to receive the Good News and experience the love of God and fellowship with the people of God?
 
We all need to remember that "disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others," to echo the words of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
 
Churches have a responsibility to show respect for the dignity of all persons, including those with disabilities. They also have an obligation to advocate for these persons who form 10 percent of the world's population. As the EDAN statement states, "It is the role of the church in this new century to face the reality of humanity in the image of a disabled Jesus; the reality of people with disabilities who are rejected and abandoned." Furthermore, "The integration of disabled people within the church gives testimony to God's love as expressed by all His sons and daughters. It can also be an example and an inspiration in those societies in which disabled people suffer from humiliating marginalization."
 
Christians worship the risen Christ who, before the ascension, displayed impaired hands and feet and side. Surely, we do have an understanding of perfection that enables us to welcome and honor people with disabilities!
 
May many more churches make room for persons with disabilities and celebrate their gifts.

make disciples of all nations ... (Matthew 28:18)

A fundamental aspect of our calling as Christians is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. This was the focus of an email I received some two and a half years ago from an educator in New Zealand. He had read an editorial I had written under the caption "Follow God fearlessly" and, in his encouraging response, urged the importance of personal witnessing as a feature of the daily life of each Christian.

The writer said he had been busy helping Christians "grow to become authentic disciples of Christ and then go on to become disciple-makers, thus creating the long lost 'multiplication factor' in evangelism and church growth!" Now in his seventies, this Baptist Christian has spent many years helping to form students, at various stages of their intellectual development, as disciples of Christ.  

I wish to underscore what my correspondent says about the urgent need for the church to intensify its efforts to train followers of Christ to share their faith. This is a part of our vocation to evangelize especially those who have not yet committed their life to our Lord. Christians should enthusiastically desire for others the same gift of eternal life that God has so graciously given to us. This is the greatest gift anyone can receive and we should be glad participants in helping others to share in this gift.

The church should also assign a greater priority to training church members to share their faith with those who have not yet committed their life to Christ. Only so will more Christians become joyful witnesses to Christ.

I encourage all followers of Christ to consider making 2013 a year when their Christian concern, especially for relatives, friends and other associates, leads them to do the following: pray regularly for these persons; provide them with an example of genuine devotion to Christ; and joyfully seek to lead them into a life-transforming encounter with the one who is our God and Savior.

Let us make good use of the opportunity God grants us during this New Year to help others encounter the Christ and experience the change that issues in incomparable enrichment of life.

When the Council of the European Baptist Federation (EBF) met in Rome, Italy, in 2010, one of the resolutions it affirmed dealt with the Christian attitude to strangers. "We believe," the EBF said, "that God commands us in the scriptures to love and to welcome the stranger. We urge all Baptists to show hospitality toward immigrants, refugees and ethnic minority groups and to work for a welcoming attitude in our societies."

According to the EBF, the resolution came against the background of "the fact that a generous openness toward strangers is being threatened through the presence of xenophobic groups in some political parties." The EBF resolution noted that Baptists in Europe "have sometimes known the experience of being oppressed and discriminated against" but have displayed an unwavering commitment to work and pray for "human rights for all people." It cited Deuteronomy 10:17-19 as one reason why the people of God hardly have an option but to show concern for strangers.

A similar desire to adhere to the biblical teaching calling God's people to value the stranger in their midst manifested itself in the Baptist Union of Australia (BUA). The National Council of Australian Baptist Ministries called on Australians to "oppose xenophobia and discrimination on the basis of ... ethnicity, culture and religion, and challenged Australian politicians to demonstrate their moral convictions and to exercise nonpartisan leadership in debates on immigration and refugee policy."

Among other Baptist groups that maintain a firm commitment to loving the stranger is American Baptist Churches, USA, which resolved to maintain its "historical role as an advocate of human rights for immigrants, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers." ABC USA also has pledged to continue its tradition in "resettlement of refugees and in assisting immigrants." The organization identifies the following as the basis for its commitment: "the Biblical mandate that we be a caring and hospitable community, that we love our neighbors, that we establish justice and proclaim liberty; because we have a sense of Christian responsibility to serve human needs; because of our commitment to respect the human rights of all people; and because we are mainly a nation of immigrants."

It should come as no surprise that that the BWA General Council meeting that took place in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2008, resolved to "renounce xenophobia and the misuse of immigration for political repression and division" and called on member bodies to "instill an ethic of love that supersedes ethnic, gender and political boundaries." The BWA resolution also called on churches and individuals to "grow in grace and hospitality through international friendships and relationships" and to renew their commitment "to live in love and justice with refugees and immigrants."

Is it likely that, every Baptist convention, union, federation and fellowship, would strongly support the call to love and to welcome strangers? Let's not forget the reminder in Hebrews 13:2: "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." And because God loves those we may regard as strangers, so, too, should we!

Long will I remember the week in 1997 that I spent in Faverges, a beautiful town in Haute-Savoie in the Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France.

I was attending a conference on baptism where contemporary liturgical scholars were to reflect on what systematic theologians and biblical scholars from different Christian World Communions had written on the subject. These liturgical scholars focused on baptism as practiced by various church communions and how such practices may help in bringing about a convergence in our understanding of the meaning of baptism.

Among the liturgical scholars meeting in Faverges were Gordon Lathrop from the United States, Janet Scott from New Zealand, Jaci Maraschin from Brazil, Merja Merras from Finland and Paul Sheppy. It was Paul - a Baptist scholar from the United Kingdom - who first introduced me to the website associated with the South Yarra Community Baptist Church in Melbourne, Australia.

I anticipated worshipping with the South Yarra Church when I made my first visit to Melbourne, where I was attending the 18th Baptist World Congress in 2000. I abandoned the plan after my trek to a number of libraries in Melbourne searching for the celebrated book, Diakonia: Reinterpreting the Ancient Sources, written by respected Australian biblical scholar John Collins, ended in failure. I thought I might simply concentrate on enjoying the hectic congress program. Would another South Yarra opportunity present itself in the near future?

Over a number of years, I visited the website -  www.laughingbird.net - and was introduced to Nathan Nettleton. As a busy pastor who was committed to attempting to carefully craft materials for weekly worship where I served, I found Nathan's website particularly helpful. This was the case especially on major occasions in the church's life - seasons like Advent, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost - when, year after year, one needed help in crafting creative liturgies that would stimulate the imaginative powers of worshippers. On the printed Order of Service was the oft-recorded notation, "Source: Nathan Nettleton (Australia)" and I kept hoping for an opportunity to visit and worship with the Christians at South Yarra.

On the morning of Sunday, October 14, while on a visit with Baptists of Victoria who were celebrating the 150th anniversary of Baptist work in their state, I preached twice at the NewHope Baptist Church which is served by an outstanding preacher, Alan Demond, one of the featured speakers at the   20th Baptist World Congress in Hawaii in 2010. The approach to worship at NewHope is decidedly contemporary and the church enjoys the services of a gifted team of worship leaders and musicians.

Worshippers at NewHope should expect to share in warm fellowship in a church that has a rich array of ministry opportunities for growth in Christ, fellowship with fellow worshippers, and service to the community. NewHope models an admissible multiculturalism with its membership drawn from 56 countries all worshipping together as a family without segregation into ethnically defined congregations. My experience of worship at NewHope was rich and meaningful.

In the afternoon of October 14, it was time for me to worship with the South Yarra Church - at their invitation! And what a memorable experience it was for me to share firsthand in the rich liturgical life of the church. I was struck by the creative and very meaningful worship space and was inspired by the intelligent use of religious art. Corporate worship featured a high degree of enthusiastic participation by members of the congregation - young and old. It included ample readings from the Bible, songs from around the world, with some created by the pastor of the church and set to music by Australian composers. I delivered the sermon based on the readings appointed for the day and found the time in corporate worship at South Yarra thoroughly nourishing.

One potentially beneficial feature of Baptist worship is the variety of styles of worship and of music that one may encounter. When these styles reflect careful worship planning and are mediated by thoughtful and suitably gifted and trained worship leaders, they are a wonderful source of the admissible diversity that can enrich people who gather for worship.

Decades ago, in her influential book on lying, philosopher Sisela Bok asserted that lying has implications for the morality of the choices we make in both private and public life. In the main, Bok advanced strong arguments for the adoption of the principle of veracity. Is this a principle that we honor in our various relationships?

In large organizations where many participants are volunteers, there is  temptation to engage in lying as a way of life. Some large organizations have developed a culture of flattery.

Isn't it bewildering to hear people offer praise where, were they honest, they would express disgust? Some people believe they ought to flatter their listeners excessively in order to curry their favor. Sometimes flattery is used as a prelude to expressing dissent on a matter under discussion.

The culture of extravagant flattery poses several dangers. First, it tends to have a corrosive effect on those who are steeped in the practice. Flattery finds its origin and support in a spirit of insincerity. Those who practice it often may eventually lose the capacity to bear accurate witness to what they believe. They become so skilled at disguising their true opinion through deliberate and practiced manipulation of words to serve dubious ends that they become numb to the morality of the means they employ. Abraham Lincoln was not wrong when he characterized flattery and knavery as "blood relations."

Second, flattery has negative effects on those with whom the flatterer has to relate. People come to associate the flatterer with overstatement and they may lose confidence in the reliability of the flatterer's judgment. Over time, whatever the flatterer says is taken with a grain of salt as the untrustworthiness of the person adept at flattery becomes well known. The reason is because, at its base, false praise is a form of deception.

What is surprising is the extent to which persons appear to desire or to enjoy being flattered. They thrive on it even though one supposes they know the aim of the flatterer. It is to win their favor whether using fair means or foul. Could it be they are so desperate to believe the narrative they developed about themselves that, when flattered, they find confirmation of what they already think of themselves? Could it be that  the need for affirmation drives some persons to cherish flattery? A well-known public speaker has advised that "man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up." One should not heed such advice unless "buttering up" refers to laudatory speech that is truthful.

What is at stake in the culture of flattery is not simply Christians' readiness to follow certain rules or laws. What is at stake is the kind of person the Christian is. Those who have mastered the art of flattery need to ponder what story flattery tells about the character of the flatterer. What kind of person is it that indulges in excessive flattery?

No one has to fall in line with the culture of flattery and, while one may have to pay the price, the rejection of that vain culture says something about one's integrity as a Christian.

Speaking the truth lovingly may prove to be costly. Yet it is worth it. Our faithfulness to Christ is at stake in the words we speak!

In the early 1970s, to send a letter to someone, the main avenue available was the mail service. One would craft a letter, edit it, place it in an envelope, take it to the post office, purchase and affix a stamp to the envelope and mail it. What wonderful memories! Then, a new means of communication - electronic mail or email - burst on the scene.

Wikipedia traces the advent of emails to the Arpanet. Proposals for encoding email messages emerged in 1973. With the advent of the Internet, the use of emails to exchange digital messages increased greatly. Furthermore, when in 1981 the American company, IBM, launched the first personal computer, electronic mail was to emerge as a preferred mode of written communication.

In the early 1980s, the extent to which emails would revolutionize communications might not have been clear to everyone. As it turned out, the speed of email communication spurred the demand for immediate answers. Emails radically altered people's expectations. 

When some people send an email, they expect the addressee to receive it in minutes or even seconds, and often they anticipate receiving a prompt response. Sometimes, if that response is not forthcoming, another email follows asking whether the original email did not come to the attention of the addressee and seeking word on when a response might be expected. The impatient email sender does not realize that, sending the second email so soon after the first only contributes to an overload of the recipient's email box, with the likelihood that this could further delay the expected swift response. The on demand approach in email communication is astounding.

The problem is exacerbated by those who like to send a single email to several persons who, in turn, dispatch their response to all the recipients of the original email. Then, there are others who address an email to a particular person and copy the email to additional persons whom they surprisingly expect to respond to the emails that are not addressed, but only copied, to them. 

Today, pressure is on email users to find time to read numerous emails, quickly formulate a response, and send it right away to the correspondent. Hardly is there time to craft a reply, edit it, and then, with the click of a button, send it on to its way to its intended destination. 

Once we click the send button, we should not assume the email we have sent is always swiftly delivered. An email may get lost in cyberspace or, especially if the recipient's computer is connected to an office network that does not work efficiently, delivery of an email at the intended endpoint may not be achieved. Consequently, discerning email users refrain from assuming their emails are actually delivered. Nor do they quickly surmise that the absence of a response is due to the tardiness, inefficiency or unresponsiveness of the persons to whom they wrote.

It is true that the popularity of emails is fading before the amazing new communications technologies that are appearing today. However, those who still use electronic mail as a principal means of communication will want to be careful to note its attendant hazards. They will also seek to develop a fairly sophisticated understanding of the email medium itself. This is one sure way to avoid mistaken conclusions.

Recently, I had the pleasure of reading Graham Hill's book, Salt Light, and a City: Introducing Missional Ecclesiology. I started reading this book a mere two days after the Standing Commission on Faith and Order voted to approve what is expected to be a significant convergence text on the church. This text, which should soon appear in print, is the product of years of serious multilateral theological engagement by the Faith and Order Commission.

It is clear that Hill's book also represents years of serious research and reflection. The book, the first of a planned multiple volume series, probes some of the existing understandings of the nature of the church and its missional activity with a view to developing a coherent vision of its central subject from the perspective of Protestant evangelicalism.

In the first section, Hill offers an overview of understandings of the church reflected in the writings of selected theologians.  Perspectives from the various church traditions are discussed in concise chapters on "twelve important theologians" - Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), Karl Rahner and Hans Kung from the Catholic Church; Thomas Hopko, Vigen Guroian  and John Zizioulas from the Orthodox Church; Letty Russell, Jurgen Moltman and John Webster from the Protestant Church community; and John Yoder, Barry Harvey and Miroslav Volf from the Free Churches.

In the second section, Hill offers a preliminary vision of the missional church that is informed by his "biblical, Reformed evangelical, Christ-centered, Free Church, charismatic, trinitarian, ecumenical, and missional convictions." This vision comes out of a dialogue with the perspectives skillfully summarized in Part 1 of his book.

Hill's is an important work that will be read by Christians who care that the corporate practice of Christian discipleship and mission that they affirm and teach is rooted in a defensible biblical and theological foundation.

Before criticizing Hill for engaging in dialogue with theologians from parts of the world where, he says, "Christianity finds itself now on the margins of a culture in which it once enjoyed a central place", let us carefully note – and eagerly await – his promise of a second volume in which he will focus on theological reflections on the church and its mission as reflected in the writings of theologians from other parts of the world. Those whose theological contribution he intends to discuss include Leonardo Boff,  Jon Sobrino, Juan Segundo, Samuel Escobar, Rene Padilla, Kwame Bediako, John Mbiti, Oliver Onwubiko, Tite Tiénou and Peter Phan, "to name a few."

It will be interesting to see how Hill analyzes the interaction of context/culture/experience and confessional/theological tradition in his assessment of the understandings of the church reflected in the writings of such scholars. Since the same interplay is at work in the ecclesiologies Hill analyzes and proposes in Salt, Light and a City, one waits to see whether there will be similarity in the recognition of the role played by these factors in the formulation of the theological positions analyzed in Hill's upcoming publication.

For the time being, however, it is important for Baptists to read and reflect on the first text in which Hill offers much that justifies the time needed to read his book. Hill offers a window into existing understandings of the church and their implication for mission "from a Euro-American perspective" emerging in western cultures where churches "are mostly experiencing decline, marginality, and liminality." He also engages the creative process of developing a constructive Australian missional theology that is "self-consciously western."

The Faith and Order text, which one expects to reflect contributions and perspectives from the worldwide Christian community, focuses on the church and its unity in the service of its mission. This text is also informed by the ecclesiologies with which Hill engages in conversation – and indeed some of the scholars whose work Hill has accessed and plans to draw upon actually participated in the deliberations of Faith and Order.

By the time we conclude our reading of Hill's Salt, Light and a City and its upcoming companion volume,  which together will harvest what Hill regards as the best fruits of conversations with theologians from the West and from the Majority World, the full sweep of Hills' vision of the missional church will become clear. Only then will we be able to ascertain how Hill's vision compares with that conveyed in the Faith and Order Commission's differently-focused text on the church.

Hill's book is a must read for church leaders and teachers who care about the church and its mission. I welcome Salt, Light and a City and, with the same enthusiasm, await his upcoming volume.

In a recent editorial in BWA Connect, I referred to the text of the official notice that the University of Wittenberg issued on the passing of Martin Luther in 1546. The notice prompted a reflection on "Heaven's Ambassadors" and the virtue we may cultivate of loving and respecting them.

The official notice of Luther's passing suggests another comment. The following is part of the text of the announcement: "During the funeral solemnities, let the scholars reflect on the blessings granted to the Church through this teacher, and give thanks to God for them." This is certainly something we may wish to do as we call to mind the many women and men whose example of Christian discipleship has contributed significantly to our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

Does not the notice also remind us of an important question each of us may need to ask ourselves from time to time? Through the work we do, to what extent are we serving as channels of God's blessings to both church and world? And what kind of legacy are we likely to leave behind?

Is it likely that, at our passing, others will have cause to offer thanks to God for the life we lived, the witness we gave to Jesus Christ, and the contribution we made to the enrichment of people's lives?

Or is it more likely that, without saying a word on the subject, a good number of persons will hail our departure as an exit that will make it considerably more likely for the world to be a better and safer place?

These questions may beneficially be considered by everyone, especially those who have committed their lives to the nurture and service of people who follow Jesus. It is the same with those who contribute to the spiritual and professional formation of women and men who desire to fulfill their vocation through the institutional church. How far do people regard our lives as a genuine source of blessing?

If as Christians we are motivated by the love of the Father, the example of Christ and the enabling of the Holy Spirit, and we commit our lives to truly loving God and serving our neighbors, we will write fresh and bright pages in our biographies. By God's grace, the genuineness of our commitment to Christ Jesus and the sincerity of our zeal for faithful discipleship will encourage others in their pilgrimage of faith.

When we die, may others find it appropriate to "reflect on the blessings granted to the Church" through us. May those who come after us find us faithful!

Recently, I read the book, New Century/New Directions edited by James and Carole Spickelmier. The volume helpfully brings together insights from a number of carefully chosen persons who are committed to the effectiveness of Converge Worldwide, the organization under review. The result is a very useful product! We commend the authors and the Baptist organization they serve for supporting a publication of this kind. They reflect the maturity and openness that are required of all church leaders who affirm their role as servants of Christ. 

While reading New Century/New Directions, I remembered something that Socrates said many years ago. Not everything that Socrates said is worth repeating, but perhaps few persons would challenge one of the sayings attributed to him at his trial for heresy - An unexamined life is not worth living.

This maxim is as applicable to the life of individuals as it is to that of organizations. However much we try to dodge the language of institutions, substituting for it the language of movements, as Hugo Heclo has so expertly explained in his book, Thinking Institutionally, there is no escaping the significant role that institutions play in our lives. We may seriously distrust institutions, but institutions fulfill community-building and community-supporting roles that connect us to purposes that are larger than ourselves. 

To retain vitality in an organization - which, of course, is not identical with an institution, but which is closely related to it - one indispensable requirement is the periodic subjection of the organization's aims and modus operandi to rigorous evaluation. If done fairly and thoroughly, this is likely to help governors, managers and all "stake holders" associated with a particular organization to be aware of the tendency to depart from the lofty, and still reasonable, goals espoused when the organization was born. It will also alert those concerned of the inclination to resort to strategies, methods and approaches that are no longer effective. 

The analysis of what an ecclesial organization does may be undertaken by persons from several fields of study. From the work they do, much can be learned and needed changes may result. In many cases, however, those who are called upon to undertake the task are handicapped by many personal factors that impinge upon their work. Sometimes, personal agendas mar clear vision. Especially when dealing with worldwide organizations, too often, evaluators work with templates from their own residential geographical sphere, believing that these offer great clues that enable them to provide answers to the peculiar challenges that face multi- and cross-cultural organizations with a global reach.

Competent historians, and especially gifted church historians, are among those on whom we depend as we seek clarity on how our church-related organizations are pursuing their mission. These men and women have an important vocation to assist the church and its related organizations in the critical evaluation of their life. Part of the reason for this is the penchant for good historians to take context seriously. The capacity to understand the relationship between context and process enables historians to interpret trends and offer insights that can help advance positive developments and reverse negative trends. 

Ecclesial organizations need church historians who focus on happenings of yesteryear; this is a function the church needs them to perform. We also need historians who are willing to risk analysis of more recent, and also contemporary, situations and to make available to the church community the benefit of their carefully honed research and analytical skills. This is part of the responsible stewardship of church historians.

If the unexamined life is not worth living, the unexamined life of organizations may cause them to be banished to the scrap heap of history. This may be prevented if those whom God has gifted for the task put their hands to the plough and produce material that can help guide those who must make decisions that affect the future of vital organizations. The findings of gifted church historians may not cause accolades to be heaped on their heads. Nevertheless, their contribution could potentially help church organizations, like the Baptist World Alliance, to be more faithful in the way they fulfill the mandate the triune God has given them.

Ever since Constantine adopted a more tolerant attitude toward the church, followers of Christ have been at risk of dancing to the music from the halls of political power and finding ways of justifying edicts coming from the political sphere. In this 400th year of the publication of Thomas Helwys' A Declaration on the Mystery of Iniquity, we reaffirm the danger of pursuing religious ends by seeking proximity to political power.