I knew that the New Baptist Covenant meetings I attended last month
would be historic but I did not recognize how spiritually stirring
they would be.

I nearly passed on the opportunity of attending these meetings
convened by President Jimmy Carter not believing that there could be
any hope of unity around issues of justice, respect, and diversity,
especially when I learned that GLBT affirming Baptist groups were to
be excluded, but I was pleasantly surprised by what transpired.

Over 15,000 Baptists of many stripes gathered at the convention
center in Atlanta and were both challenged and inspired.

Dr. William Shaw of the National Baptist Convention stated, "Jesus
came not with charity – he came to change. Justice says we need to
change the structures of victimization."

Children's Defense Fund director Marian Wright Edelman proclaimed
that the church has the power to transform our nation and our world
if "the church would be the locomotive and not the caboose, speaking
up for poor and neglected children in our country."

American Baptist Pastor Tony Campolo asked us which Jesus we should
preach. Should we preach the Jesus of scripture or the Jesus we have
created who is an incarnation of our consumerist culture?

Author John Grisham spoke of inclusion saying, "Who are we kidding
when we try to exclude? God loves all of us equally and expects us
to love and respect each other without regard to race, gender, sexual
orientation, biblical interpretation or denomination."

And President Bill Clinton spoke from the heart saying that unity was
impossible unless we approach these conversations with
humility. "The reason we have to love each other is that all of us
might be wrong. We all see through a glass darkly."

The question asked at the end of the meeting was, "Will this meeting
be just a moment or will it be the beginning of a movement."

President Carter stated both at the beginning and the end of the
meeting that one of the guiding principles must be that there be no
criticism of others. "Now or in the future there will be no
criticism for exclusion of any Christians who wish to join this
movement."

I pray that this would be a movement which will ignite a spirit of
unity around common beliefs and commitments. The covenant reads as
follows:
• We covenant to create an authentic and prophetic Baptist
voice for these complex times,
• Emphasize traditional Baptist values, including sharing the
gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private
morality, and

• Promote peace and justice, feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
shelter the homeless, care for the sick and marginalized, welcome the
strangers among us, and promote religious liberty and respect for
religious diversity.

As I mentioned earlier, two groups were notably absent from the
event's official roster: the Association of Welcoming and Affirming
Baptists and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America. Both
organizations accept homosexuals and advocate for gay rights within
Baptist life. As Associated Baptist Press reported, in July 2007 Alan
Stanford, the general secretary of the North American Baptist
Fellowship, forbade both gay-friendly groups from participating in
the Covenant celebration in an official capacity. He said the
decision was made out of concern that their presence would "change
the terms of the meeting [and] that might cause an already fragile
coalition to unravel."

It is interesting to note that both groups were present and visible
albeit in an informal capacity and yet the sky did not fall down upon
us and the coalition remained intact.

What I discovered in conversations is that this group of Baptists
were more aware of and committed to Baptist principles such as
religious liberty and soul freedom than many recent gatherings within
the ABC-USA. If this moment does become a movement it is my hope
that the New Covenant will err on the side of inclusion in future
events and not resort to the top-down exclusionary actions which
spawned the desire for a New Covenant in the first place.

To view the videos go to www.newbaptistcelebration.org

Blessings, Alan Newton