WHEN ALL GOD’S CHILDREN GET TOGETHER:

A Perspective on the New Baptist Covenant

By Dr. Emmanuel McCall

This article is the last of a three-part series in the run up to the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in 2008.

In May 2007, Mercer University Press released my new book “WHEN ALL GOD’S CHILDREN GET TOGETHER: Memoirs of Baptists and Race.” The title comes from a spiritual often sung in southern African American churches.

In the book I attempt to show the racial progress made by Baptists in the south, as well as the events, organizations and special people God used to make it happen.

While there have been other attempts to overcome the racial and social barriers among Baptists in the south, none are as promising as The New Baptist Covenant. It has the advantage of building on past attempts, learning from past mistakes, having new persons in significant leadership of the various representative bodies; the support of social, educational and political progress; and the desire to see the Church live up to divine expectations. It also has the cooperation and presence of other national and international Baptists bodies. The North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF) of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is a substantive ally of Baptist cooperation in North America. This organization has not been forceful in other years, but since 2003, a valiant attempt has been made to resurrect the potential of the NABF. God is richly blessing those efforts.

What is so different about The New Baptist Covenant?

1. The preceding paragraph notes the inclusion of the other Baptist bodies in North America. The number is now more than 40. The contributions of Canadian Baptists and other Baptists outside the south brings richness and diversity to the conversations.

2. There is a genuine desire to learn from each other, knowing that no one group of Baptists have a corner on God’s revelation and inspiration.

3. Previous efforts of National and Southern Baptists were often on unequal playing fields. The field is now more level. “Big Brother” and paternal approaches are not to be found in the conversations among the leaders of The New Baptist Covenant.

4. With the new persons in leadership positions, the mistakes of the past do not glare as hindrances preventing creative relationships and strategies.

5. We have already confessed our need for each other. No one of the bodies, national or continental, claims to have a handle on the problems or the answers our day demands. We have recognized the hemispheric connectedness that beckons us to cooperative interaction. As Dr. Martin L. King is reported to have said, “We may have come to North America in different ships, but we are in the same boat now.”

6. We feel the compelling urgency of the biblical mandates, the obedience to the Holy Spirit, and the desire to join God in doing what God has called the Church to do, — TO LOVE THIS WORLD BACK TO GOD.

So forceful is the urgency, and so motivating is the Holy Spirit, so clear is the Word of God, that we are compelled to respond in grateful haste. God’s creation seems to be soccered by demonic powers. We have not been given the spirit of fear, but the assurance that WE CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS US.

We have already heard of one meaningful partnership that has resulted from conversations in our planning meetings. Dr. Bill Underwood, president of Mercer University, heard Dr. David Goatley, Executive Secretary of the Lott Carey Missionary Convention, tell of having mission stations where HIV-AIDS was ravishing the population. They needed medical missionaries to assist in the pandemic. Mercer University’s Medical School had students who needed places to intern. The two of them begin working on a partnership that will allow two Baptist entities to cooperate in God’s mission. As the organizations now committed to The New Baptist Covenant begin to meet, discover each other, seek God’s will and purpose, we expect amazing things to happen all over this continent. We believe that God is getting us ready to do a greater thing than has ever been done in North America. I THANK GOD THAT I CAN BE A PART OF IT.”
— Emmanuel L. McCall is pastor of the Fellowship Group Baptist Church, East Point, Ga. He is also past national moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and vice president of the Baptist World Alliance.