"Living the Good News" - 23rd Congress of the Baptist World Alliance

Currently, the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) unites 53 million people from 134 countries, 266 Baptist unions operating in almost every corner of the planet and represents 178 thousand Baptist churches around the world.

Turning to the history of the BWA, one can recall the names of Russian ministers I.S. Prokhanov and V.G. Pavlov, who took part in the first World Baptist Convention held in London in 1905, at which on July 17 (exactly 120 years ago!) the Baptist World Alliance was founded.

Since then, the Alliance Congresses have been held every five years in different cities around the world.

The theme of the 23rd Baptist World Congress was “Living the Good News,” with the key passage being Luke 4:18-19.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

During the week of the congress the following issues were considered:

• How to live the Good News in the modern world?
• How can we effectively proclaim the Good News to the poor, freedom to the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind?
• How can we free the oppressed and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord?
• How can we work together to achieve all of the above?

These issues were addressed in presentations, Bible studies, focus groups, and seminars.

Today, approximately 1.5 billion people do not have access to the full text of the Bible in their native language, and there are hundreds of languages into which the full Gospel has not yet been translated. The participants in the congress prayed that every person would have the Bible in their own language, so that all people, in all corners of the planet, would hear the Good News.

A call to missionary service was given. The wish was expressed that every Baptist would regularly share the Good News with family, friends, neighbors, and that each year he could bring at least one person to God. This would be a good gift for the Lord for the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection of Christ, which will be celebrated in 2033.

It is also important for everyone to read the Scriptures daily, to care for their church and their neighbors. To live by Christ, to live by the Good News!

Beautiful psalms were sung, good seminars were held, where participants from different parts of the world shared their experiences, challenges, problems. Special experiences and prayers concerned persecuted Christians. After all, today churches in many countries are under pressure, especially in countries with a Muslim majority.

The Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB) was represented at the congress by President Peter Mitskevich, who arrived in Brisbane with his wife Tatyana.

Mitskevich was elected to the evangelism committee “Acts-2” (Acts 2), one of the tasks of which is to prepare for the celebration of the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection of Christ in 2033.

Mitskevich had many meetings, including with pastor and writer, founder of the megachurch " Saddleback " Rick Warren and with the General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance Elijah Brown.

“It is important to participate in such events, where mutually reinforcing connections are built, and we must also remember that Russia is part of a larger global evangelical movement,” said Mitskevich, assessing his participation in the congress.

Mitskevich also met with representatives of the Russian-speaking diaspora who arrived in Australia from the Soviet Union, and later from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and other countries – former republics of the USSR. They came to the congress from different regions of Australia to help organize the event. Warm fellowship and prayers took place. What a blessing for all involved!