By John Pierce

ATLANTA, Ga. — Two former Presidents of the United States helped announce an unprecedented gathering of diverse Baptist groups set for Jan. 30-Feb.1, 2008 in Atlanta. That news came out of a Jan. 9 meeting at the Atlanta-based Carter Center with representatives from some 30 Baptist organizations in Canada and the U.S. affiliated with the North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF).

Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Baptists, told the media following the meeting that they are eager to see members of their denominational family cross racial and convention lines to worship and work together.

“This … may turn out to be one of the most historic events, at least in the history of Baptists in this country, and perhaps Christianity,” said Carter, a longtime Baptist Sunday school teacher who will be the keynote speaker at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration next year.

Clinton, who sang in the choir at Little Rock’s Immanuel Baptist Church while serving as governor of Arkansas, has also been asked to speak. He is a “cheerleader” for the effort, he said, and hopes the celebration will be followed by concrete ministry efforts by the various groups claiming combined memberships of over 20 million.

“I am very grateful to President Carter for convening this group,” said Clinton. “Those of you who don’t follow the ins and outs of various denominations in America or did not have both the privilege and the burden to be raised in the Baptist church cannot possibly appreciate how different this meeting is from what has gone on in our denomination the last 30 years.”

Organizers say the larger gathering will be “prophetic, but not partisan,” and focus on Jesus’ reading of the prophet Isaiah as recorded in Luke 4:18-19, calling for preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the brokenhearted and giving liberty to captives.

“It’s indisputable,” said Clinton of the more than 500 biblical references to caring for the poor.

Former Southern Baptist Convention President Jimmy Allen, who helped form the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, chairs a committee enlisting program personnel for the celebration they hope will draw more than 20,000 Baptists from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

William Shaw, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., also a member of the planning committee, said four historic African-American Baptist groups will hold joint convention meetings a few days prior to the larger gathering. They hope to draw 10,000 Baptists that will stay over for the celebration.

NABF is one of six regional fellowships of the Baptist World Alliance. The 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention is not a part of NABF or the BWA. The SBC pulled out of the worldwide fellowship in 2004, just a year shy of BWA’s 100th anniversary.

Carter and Mercer University President Bill Underwood, who together called a meeting last spring that resulted in Baptist leaders signing a North America Baptist Covenant expressing a willingness to cooperate in ministry, said Southern Baptists would be invited to share in the 2008 celebration.

NABF members include: National Baptist Convention USA Inc., National Baptist Convention of America, American Baptist Churches USA, Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc., Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Canadian Baptist Ministries, Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, Seventh Day Baptist General Conference, Baptist General Conference, Baptist General Association of Virginia, Baptist General Convention of Texas, Baptist General Convention of Missouri, Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention USA, National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, North American Baptist Conference and General Association of General Baptists.

(For a complete listing of North America Baptist Fellowship members visit www.nabf-bwa.org.)

(John Pierce is executive editor of Baptists Today, an autonomous, national news journal based in Macon, Ga.)