Relationship with the American Baptist Churches is rekindled.

When leaders from the American Baptist Churches (ABC) and the Church of the Brethren met to review a 30-year "associated relationship" between the two denominations, they found plenty of reasons to continue.

The denominations created the relationship in 1973, following conversations between Norman J. Baugher, general secretary of the General Board, and Edwin H. Tuller, his counterpart in the American Baptist Convention. As fruits of that endeavor, today seven congregations are dually affiliated. Each denomination also has sent an "observer/consultant" to the other's general board. Occasionally the Church of the Brethren's Committee on Interchurch Relations has met with the ABC Committee on Christian Unity.

As time has gone by, however, fewer people in each denomination remember that there is an associated relationship and how it began. Both groups began to sense that it was time to review the relationship and to ask whether it was being fulfilled in the best way possible.

Through a day-long meeting in Valley Forge, Pa., where the American Baptist Churches are headquartered, leaders from both churches met to become better acquainted with each other's ministries and to discuss ways to enhance the relationship. The American Baptists were represented by Roy Medley, general secretary, and the ABC executive leadership council. The Church of the Brethren was represented by Stan Noffsinger, general secretary of the General Board, and the General Board's leadership team.

In addition to sharing congregations, the denominations relate through ecumenical involvements in areas such as stewardship and publishing. Participants in the meeting identified additional areas where the churches could learn from each other, including disaster response, peace, new church development, and how to become more multi-cultural. The group recommended that the "observer/consultant" connection move out of the board setting and directly into the ecumenical committees, where it can be more fruitful. The group also plans to invite the counsel of dually affiliated congregations regarding the associated relationship. The two leadership teams will meet again in February 2005.

"I rejoice in this day," said Roy Medley, as he brought the meeting to a close. "I look forward to the way God will bless this relationship."

Source: Newsline 3/05/2004
top