The 316th Annual Meeting of the Philadelphia Baptist Association was held on Saturday, May 6th at the St. Paul’s Baptist Church in West Chester, PA, Rev. Dr. Wayne Croft, Pastor.
God’s mission moves through every generation in every age. As is our tradition, we practiced a bit of contextual theology during this year’s meeting. We sought to articulate our response to the notion of Christian Nationalism that is cropping up across our country today.
This year we are partnered with The Baptist Joint Committee (BJC) as we focused on the notion of Christian nationalism and our response as Christians. The Executive Director, Ms. Amanda Tyler the plenary speaker helped us to understand and address this issue. In addition, one of the workshops focused on reaching out to the next generations by responding to Christian nationalism. The BJC staff person Ms. Georgia McKee lead a discussion and workshop on the approach to Generation Z, etc.
We also looked at contextual theology from the lens of intercultural and intergenerational ministry through the Christ and Cultural Humility Program of the PBA. In both the plenary session and three of the workshops church attendees learned how this region of American Baptist congregations plan to respond to the rapid change that is all around us. Three congregations which participated in the initial Christ and Cultural Humility program reported on their experiences in the program and on their church projects.
In addition, Rev. Dr. Rodney Ragwan shared his ministry of providing contextual theology with seminaries, students, and pastors across America, Africa, and Asia, as an International Ministries’ new Global Servant.
The meeting concluded with worship with the Rev. Dr. James McJunkin, Executive Regional Pastor of the PBA, as the featured speaker, followed by a fellowship luncheon.
