Our top five:
What we loved about the Baptist Assembly!
From General Director Kang-San Tan to our fabulous presenter Megan Chester, we asked the BMS World Mission team what their standout Baptist Assembly moment was — and how you can catch up if you missed out!
From Kang-San Tan – celebrating at the BMS session!
“My favourite moment was announcing to the Baptist family that we have transformed more than 1.3 million lives over the course of our five-year strategy. It was so great to give praise to God but also to thank our generous supporters and to say that we did it together!”
If a picture says a thousand words, this one probably sums up how we’re feeling about our goal of transforming one million lives! It was so wonderful to be able to share with you everything that your prayer, support and giving has achieved over the last five years — and give you a taster of what’s to come in the next five!
From Ben Drabble – the joy of sharing fellowship together
“My favourite part was being part of such a large gathering of UK Baptists, and the sense of unity in the body of Christ that came from that. I’d love to say thank to everyone who gave so generously to help our partners in Nepal and south east Asia. You raised over £190,000 for people in real need right now. We’ll be providing further updates of how your generous donations are helping those suffering from the effects of Coronavirus, so please keep your eye out for those.”
From Sarah Anthony – being inspired to seek justice
“I loved the chance to gather together, reflect on the year and be renewed afresh by Shane’s powerful words. And what a privilege to have the chance to hear his responses to our questions. I was moved by his challenge to seek out those in the ditch, in the places Jesus would have walked and I’ve been praying into that for myself.”
Keynote speaker Shane Claiborne was definitely the standout from the weekend for many of us. It was great to hear him draw from his experiences of serving in low-income neighbourhoods in Philadelphia, and he presented us with the great challenge to let injustice “interrupt” our everyday lives. You can watch the two amazing talks he gave, and his Q&A seminar session, right here.
From Mark Greenwood – a challenging seminar programme
“The ‘Walking with Jesus through a Changing Climate’ seminar really taught me so much, even though I facilitated it! Because of their vast experience, each of the speakers offered some perspectives I hadn’t considered before. It was also fantastic to have so many people joining us live, and watching afterwards.”
Wasn’t this year’s seminar programme just fantastic?! Whether you were being challenged by how you and your church can help in the fight for climate justice, or by discussing white privilege and how we can tackle racism in our communities, it was great to be able to discuss crucial issues facing Christians today. And whether you want to deep dive into those discussions, or look back on other talks around building back better in our churches and children’s work, all the seminars are available to watch here.
From Megan Chester – singing praises!
“I loved being led in musical worship by groups from all over the world and by people of all different ages. It reminded me how wonderful it feels to praise God! The choir from University Community Church in Gulu especially brought me a lot of joy — the tunes were stuck in my head for the rest of the day and I couldn’t help but sing!”
In a year where we’ve been cut off from many of our brothers and sisters across the world, it was such a joy to worship with the choir from University Community Church. And you can share that joy with your congregation! You can find both of the worship sessions from the Baptist Assembly right here.
What was your standout moment from this year’s Baptist Assembly? Was there anything that challenged you particularly? Join the conversation on our Facebook and Twitter pages, where you can leave a comment or drop us a message any time! And if you missed any of the sessions from this year, or just want to relive them again, all the recordings are available on the Baptist Assembly website.
Words by Laura Durrant.
