Devon DickCHAIRMAN OF the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) Mission Agency, Rev. Dr. Burchell Taylor, in delivering 'The Way Forward', declared the Mission Conference historic. It was the first known conference exclusively dedicated to the issue of examining the past and charting the way forward in mission.
This historic conference was embellished with 300 delegates from Jamaica, the United States and United Kingdom. In addition, there were various presenters including Professors Barry Chevannes, Errol Miller and Horace Russell. There were also papers by Reverends Cawley Bolt and Neville Callam. This ensured that the conference was not just platitudes, propaganda and praise for Baptists. Rather, it was a critical reflection on the past with its strengths and weaknesses in order to identify the legacy and the lessons. There was also the examination of understanding mission from a global perspective and the new environment in which mission had to be done. All papers were well received though not uncritically. The discussions and workshops made attempts to face the challenges and grasp the opportunities.
GENDER EQUALITY A
SERIOUS ISSUE IN FUTURE
One female delegate from St. Ann's Bay Baptist Church, a church which has a female pastor, observed with dismay that none of the papers were presented by females or no panellist who took part was female. Gender equality and representation will become a serious issue in the way forward for mission. Churches membership is female. Unfortunately, the church is still clergy-centred and predominantly male and therefore not fully utilising the potential of the laity in the mission of the church at all levels. And in fact the inputs by lay leaders, clerk of courts, Jeremy Taylor and businessman Glendon Brown, were of a high standard.
Another strong criticism at the conference was that it spent too much time dealing with the past. Granted that the conference could have been helped if those papers were circulated before, it is ironic that one of the historical experiences is that the White leadership of the past used arguments to claim that Blacks were not ready for leadership at the highest level.
The past is important, otherwise the mistakes of the past will be repeated. It is important to reflect on the good practices and determine what is useful for the future. It is necessary to avoid a theology that is oppressive and legitimises the exploitation by the status quo of those persons who are poor and powerless and instead engage in a theology that liberates the blind, captives and broken-hearted. In addition, there was the example from the recent past such as the educational project which has been undertaken at the historic Sligoville Baptist Church under the leadership of attorney-at-law Gloria Brown.
CONVICTION AND PASSION
The conference received general markers for insights and consideration from Burchell Taylor, a person gifted by God with the triune ability to conceptualise, articulate and implement ideas. He said that mission must be engaged with conviction and passion. It must be given priority as part of the will and purpose of God in Christ. Importantly, it must discern and redeem the times in which we live by using the tools of research from a multi-disciplinary approach. Or to put it in Chevannes' words, 'The challenge is to discover and declare God in a context of dehumanisation.'
In that vein, Dr. Clinton Hutton challenged the gathering to deal with identity and self esteem problems demonstrated in statements such as 'Black like sin' and 'Anything too black nuh good' In addition, mission must be all embracing and includes all groups and all humans, including minorities and the marginalised. He also identified that it will need meaningful investment of the resources of the churches. This has to take place with an emphasis on the ongoing renewal of the church through worship, prayer, study, training and fellowship. Some of those elements were facilitated by Rev David Kerrigan, Director of Mission in the UK and Rev Dr. Kirk Cohall, Director of Mission in the USA. If those five markers are followed then the Church will be aware of the new possibilities for mission.
STRONG POTENTIAL
The historic nature of the conference will be enhanced by what follows. History is replete with examples where great movements are preceded by a council meeting, a conference or an important gathering. This historic conference has the potential to lead to a new day in mission not only of the Jamaica Baptist Union but also with her partners in Jamaica and the world. So that years to come, persons will remember what Mission Director Glenroy Lalor calls 'The Ocho Rios Declaration'. This declaration was handed symbolically to the president of the JBU, Rev. Everton Jackson.
Then the excellent conference ended on the first Sunday in Advent, and persons left mobilised, motivated and armed with ideas for mission.
The Rev Devon Dick is
pastor of the Boulevard
Baptist Church.
