Tag: baptist

Mandarin Spiritual Growth Camp

July 26, 2012, Vancouver — Five churches, including 3 CBWC churches got together to focus on Mandarin-language spiritual growth in late June.

U-Campus Baptist Church and Trinity Baptist Church Vancouver，Emmanuel Baptist Church Victoria，(the 3 CBWC churches) joined with Life Spring Mission，and Oversea Chinese Bible Fellowship to  jointly organize the First Baptist Mandarin Spiritual Growth Camp, held at Summit Pacific College in Abbotsford, BC, 22-24 June 2012.

124 brothers, sisters and children from the five churchesgathered to receive God’s special grace. The guest speaker is Pastor Caleb KD Chang from Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston. The topic was “Stewardship during the end of days”. The message brought encouragement and a deeply felt spiritual presence.  The participants pledged to recognize the situation of the end of time, appreciate the moment in the world, preach the Gospel energetically, and be a good steward for the kingdom of God. The participants promised that they will take good care of their home and the house of God.

At the two-day gathering, participants began as strangers but quickly became brothers and sisters through mutual love and care. They truly experienced the life of the body of Christ. At the end, participants wished they could stay longer for this spiritual growth camp.

The camp was so successful that the same 5 churches are already making plans to hold a second Baptist spiritual camp  in June 2014. The camp not only provides us with the supply of spiritual life, it makes connections among brothers and sisters from different churches so that they know they are in the same body. After this camp, we will continue to cooperate with each other, make connections among different churches and organize different forms of joint activities.

 

Baptist World Alliance Will Meet in Chile

Baptists from across the world are preparing to attend the Baptist World Alliance® (BWA) Annual Gathering in Santiago, Chile, from July 2-7. The CBWC is a member of the BWA.

The gathering includes times for worship, fellowship, theological reflection, and decision making.

The two governing bodies, the General Council and the Executive Committee, will receive reports and consider recommendations and resolutions, including on membership within the organization, program activities, and preparations for the Baptist Youth World Conference to be held in Singapore in July 2013 and the Baptist World Congress in Durban, South Africa, in 2015.

There will be two forums. The first will be on Technology and Ministry and will explore the role of technology in worship, fellowship, and social ministry such as the use and role of the Internet, mobile technologies, and social media.

A second forum will focus on response to disasters and will draw on the experience of Chileans in the aftermath of the deadly 8.8 earthquake and tsunami that affected the South American country on February 27, 2010.

The Denominational Leaders Network will convene along with other affinity groups. Affinity groups are a gathering of persons sharing similar vocations or engaging in similar ministry endeavors. These include Baptists in higher education, pastors, as well as missioners and mission leaders.

Persons from the six regions of the BWA – Africa, Asia Pacific, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and North America – will also come together for times of fellowship, sharing and planning.

Theological papers and discourses will form the bulk of the activities of the commissions of the BWA. Topics to be discussed include The History of Baptists in Chile, Evangelical Hymnody in Latin America, and Mapping a 21st Century Global Baptist Identity. There will also be a discussion titled Issues in Theological Education Around the World, and consideration of The Nature and Mission of the Church, a document produced by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.

BWA General Secretary Neville Callam has praised Chilean Baptist leaders for “the cooperation they have given in the preparations for the Gathering.” He anticipates that “it will be a memorable encounter of world Baptists with Latin American Baptist spirituality.”

More than 260 Baptist leaders and delegates from some 40 countries have registered for the Annual Gathering, which also includes times of worship and fellowship with Baptists in Chile.