Baptist World Alliance Heritage and Identity Commission

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updated 100809

Officers: 2005-2010

Chair:

Karen O'Dell Bullock Ph.D.
Fellow and Professor of Christian Heritage
B. H. Carroll Theological Institute, Arlington TX, USA

 

HIC Commission

About 65 people from all parts of the world are named as members of the Commission
(contact secretary for more information)

The Baptist Heritage and Identity Commission is one of the BWA's six study commissions that meet annually, each year in a different part of the world, in conjunction with the meetings of the BWA's General Council. The venue for the Centenary Congress meeting in July 2005 was Birmingham, UK.

At its first meeting, in Singapore in 1986, members of the commission stated its purpose as:
to investigate and promote the meaning of Baptist heritage and identity

According to the General Secretary Emeritus of the BWA, Dr Denton Lotz, Commissions exist to bring about exchange of ideas on topics relating to Christian experience and mission and to encourage creative new solutions to problems of Christian mission in today's world. The BWA seeks out the best Baptist thinkers worldwide who are on the cutting ede of Baptist life and thought to challenge the member churches and conventions/unions to the enormous new responsibilities and opportunities for them in the years ahead. They will not always agree with one another, but the stimulation that commissions give to Baptist leaders is often the beginning process for helping all hear and respond more clearly to God's revelation in Christ. Study commissions provide an outstanding opportunity for Baptists to listen and learn from one another from various parts of the world.

Members have explored the Baptist heritage in higher education, evangelism, justice and peace, spirituality and worship, the role of women. Another series of studies has focused on Baptist origins and the lives of some Baptist leaders. In 1987, the Commission produced a statement defining Baptist identity. The Heritage and Identity Commission contributed the opening chapter, "Baptists: a Global Community of Faith" to the book-length We Baptists (Providence House: Franklin, Tennessee, 1999) a project of the Study and Research Division of the BWA. Members of the Commission were deeply involved in the centenary history of the BWA, Baptists Together in Christ 1905-2005, especially Dr RV Pierard as Editor, and Dr Eljee Bentley as co-editor; a second co-editor was Dr G Borchert.

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The Commission has published materials to help Baptists discover and preserve their heritage:

International Directory of Baptist Archives/Libraries (1990)
Manual for Developing Baptist Archives (1990)
(click here)
Bibliography of Selected Histories of BWA Member Bodies in Countries other than the USA

The Commission assisted fellow member Albert Wardin in producing

Baptists around the World (Broadman and Holman, 1995).

Selected papers by members are included in three volumes of the Study and Research Division of the BWA:

Faith, Life and Witness (1990)
Baptist Faith and Witness (1995)
Baptist Faith and Witness II (2000)
Baptist Faith and Witness (2005)

Contact secretary for more information about these publications


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