News

 

The Book of Galatians recounts the Apostle Paul’s meeting with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Paul wrote that “they only asked us to remember the poor – the very thing I also was eager to do.” Last summer the General Assembly meeting in Washington asked the CBF Coordinating Council “to investigate the feasibility and means by which the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship might be involved in acting with other bodies to reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.” Like Paul, the Coordinating Council and the staff of CBF have found this call to support the Millennium Development Goals the very thing that we are eager to do. These goals focus on the very things that matter to a people who seek to be the presence of Christ among the most neglected. Caring for the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the oppressed is consistent with the ministry and teaching of Jesus. It is a part of the missional DNA of our fellowship movement.

 

What are these goals adopted by the world’s nations? They are:

1.      Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

2.      Achieve universal primary education.

3.      Promote gender equality and empower women.

4.      Reduce child mortality.

5.      Improve maternal health.

6.      Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and other diseases.

7.      Ensure environmental sustainability.

8.      Create a global partnership for development.

 

Moderator Harriett Harral asked me to work with Coordinating Council members Suzii Paynter and Debbie Ferrier to lead the Council’s response to the General Assembly motion. We recommended that the first step was for the Coordinating Council to add CBF’s name alongside other faith based groups supporting the Millennium Development Goals. At our first meeting of the year in October, the Council enjoyed a time of education about the MDGs provided by our partners from Bread for the World. At the meeting the Council voted without dissent for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to support the Millennium Development Goals.

 

I have been pleased to see the energy and commitment of Council members toward addressing the Millennium Development Goals. In our strategic prioritizing process every conversation with the Council, with young leaders in Current, with State and Regional Coordinators, with staff, with religious educators, and others has showed that CBF is focused on ministry related to the MDGs. I expect that your involvement in the discernment process at this General Assembly will only add to our conviction that these ministries are indeed our priority.

 

Our next step was to take an inventory to determine how CBF is addressing the MDG’s through its current and planned ministries. It is encouraging to see how CBF is involved in ministry that strategically addresses each of the eight goals. Our field personnel are involved in more than 100 projects that collectively address each of the eight Millennium Development Goals. One of CBF’s newest initiatives is Water for Hope, introduced at this General Assembly, which builds on the assets of communities and on partnerships with churches and other groups to overcome the water crisis in places like Ethiopia, Southeast Asia, Thailand and Uganda.

 

This brochure, “Our Fellowship at Work,” which you should have received on your way in this morning, shows the wide extent of CBF’s work toward the accomplishment of these goals.

 

We are also pleased to report that at the meeting of the Coordinating Council yesterday here in Memphis, the Global Missions Initiative Team informed us that we have entered into a two-year partnership with the Micah Challenge, USA. This joins CBF with other evangelical groups in America who support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and want to assist congregations in their own awareness and support of the goals. The Coordinating Council also embraced the Micah Call – a commitment of Christian people to urge leaders to work for the attainment of the MDGs and that calls “on Christians everywhere to be agents of hope for and with the poor.”

 

Micah Challenge has produced a wonderful resource called “The Prayer Station Guide,” which you also should have received on your way into the hall this morning. It is a helpful guide on praying for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

 

The CBF Foundation is now focusing its response to the MDG’s by creating a Micro Enterprise Fund which will make small loans to those without access to financing. Our Coordinating Council wants CBF to lead by example in investing in sustainable economic development that will make a difference in reducing poverty. There will soon be the first investment of CBF funds in this micro enterprise fund. In the near future the CBF Foundation Board will be ready to assist churches and individuals who want to practice investing as responsible Christians in ways that support sustainable economic development.

 

Every initiative team in the Fellowship is working in creative and significant ways to address the Millennium Development Goals. Our missions education resources in April of 2009 will focus on the MDGs. And, state and regional organizations in our CBF movement have either endorsed the Millennium Development Goals themselves or found ways to do ministry that helps in the attainment of the goals.

 

In the future, we want CBF to be a learning community where field personnel, staff and congregations all share ideas and best practices of ministries that address the Millennium Development Goals. We look forward to the benefits of partnership with Bread for the World, the BWA and Micah Challenge. We are delighted that this General Assembly offers us the opportunity to partner with Bread for the World in receiving an Offering of Letters. We want to assist churches in educating and involving their members in ministries that address the goals. And, we want churches to share with us their unique and creative ways to engage in ministry related to the MDGs. This is the right path for missional churches to travel.

 

On behalf of your Coordinating Council I want to thank you for the opportunity you gave us last year. Our focus on the Millennium Development Goals has been helpful in energizing us about the impact of present ministries and giving us clear focus for what God is calling us to do in our future. Indeed, you have asked us do the very thing that we are eager to do in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.