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News and Highlights of APBF Ministry from General Secretary

 

 

70th Anniversary of the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong. May 1, 2008
   

With 90 churches and 72,000 baptised members the BCHK is one of the stronger Baptist groupings in the Asia Pacific region. The Baptists of Hong Kong play have significant contribution to the life of Hong Kong through its various educational institutions and renown Baptist Hospital. It also has a Theological seminary which offers graduate level education. The thanksgiving service of the 70th anniversary celebrations were held at the prominent Kowloon City Baptist Church which can seat close to 1000. This was followed by a Anniversary Reception dinner at the Laguna Palace Restuarant with 1000 guests and participants.

 

 

I had the privilege to address the gathering and bring greetings , as well as present a souvenir on behalf of the APBF to the BCHK ( in picture above being received by the President of the Convention, Rev. Chan Cha Keung). Pray for the BCHK and its churches which are strategic as a power centre for mission to the rest of Asia and beyond. Our own President Dr. Chu Wood Ping is the General Secretary of the BCHK. I am grateful for the kind hospitality and also the opportunity to attend and address the gathering.

 

  
Adi Baptist Union Youth Silver Jubilee, May 16 - 18, 2008. Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. India

The Adi are one the largest tribe of Arunachal Pradesh state in North East India. With over 200 churches, and over 20,000 Baptised members, they are a significant group. It was moving to see this gathering of 1000 youth gathered for the celebration conference, considering that 25 years ago there were only a handful of Christians among the Adi and there was intense persecution with many new converts put in prison and churches were destroyed.

I had the privilege of being the main speaker - speaking 4 times. God blessed his word and many youth rededicated their lives to Christ and on the last day many decisions to enter full-time ministry were made. Pasighat is 13 hours by road from Shillong.

Arunachal Pradesh is very strategically located as it borders China and Burma (Myanmar). We hope that one day many missionaries will go from this land to the rest of Asia. Pray for their continued growth in numbers and more important in their spiritual vigour.
Cyclone Nargis Round Table Conference, Bangkok. May 24 , 2008

In the aftermath of the Cyclone Nargis which struck southern Myanmar on May 2, one of the great frustrations was that most foreigners could not enter the country because of visa restrictions placed by the government. There was also a desire and need for us to act together as concerned Baptists from around the world. The APBF along with BWA and other Baptist organisations called for a round-table conference at Bangkok Christian Guest House on May 24 and 16 leaders representing 13 Baptist agencies turned up. Significantly Paul Montacute, Director of BWAid joined in by Skype phone and video, and so was able to sit up (it was night in the USA) through the meeting. The positive spirit of the gathering resulted in some decisions taken and which are being followed up till today. The Myanmar Baptist Convention was also represented by its Treasurer Rev. Kya Moo.
Disaster Risk Management Training conference. June 2 - 4, 2008. Chennai, South India

With increasing disasters it has become important and necessary to create awareness and also prepare our churches to respond when disasters do strike. Asia Pacific Baptist Aid headed by its Director, Rev. Kabi Gangmei has been successfully conducting a series of trainings starting from Indonesia, then north east India (Dimapur, Nagaland) and now one for the Baptists in the rest of India at Chennai. Altogether 16 delegates representing as many conventions came for the training.
BWA Annual Gathering and BICTE held at Prague, July 21 - 29, 2008

As part of my responsibility as the regional secretary of the BWA, I have to attend and to report to the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering. This year it held in the beautiful city of Prague of the Czech Republic. Prague has the distinction of being spared all the devastating bombings of the second world war and so many historic buildings dating back as much as 600 - 800 years are still standing. It is also the home of the Baptist Union of the Czech Republic as well as the European Baptist Federation (EBF). I was joined by our APBF President Dr. Chu Wood Ping in reporting on APBF ministries. Besides attending the BWA meetings I had the privilege of preaching in 2 Czech Baptist churches and also in a Russian Baptist church.

One of the highlights of the BWA gathering was the awarding of the BWA Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award to Mr. Denis Dutta of Bangladesh Baptist Fellowship of Churches. Mr. Dutta has been a champion advocate for human and religious freedom in Bangladesh. A former General Secretary of his convention also.

The delegates from the Asia Pacific also had time to get together. (pic below left)

After the BWA meetings I stayed back to attend the Baptist International Conference on Theological Education (BICTE) which were hosted by the International Baptist Theological Seminary, is a project of the EBF. Dr. Lilian Lim, APBF Chair for Theological Education also attended and presented a paper as well (above right).

Cyclone Nargis, APBF and BWA delegation Yangon Visit, August 23 - 26, 2008

The visit was necessitated by the need to sit down with the Myanmar Baptist Convention leadership, to finalise a plan of action for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims to be implemented by the MBC with the partnership of the international Baptist family. Paul Montacute, Director of the BWAid, Rev. Kabi Gangmei, Director of APBAid. Bela Szelaski of HBAid and yours truly went in. We had very fruitful discussions and arrived at a compromise and acceptable agreement/ MOU. We also took time to visit some affected churches and seminaries including the Myanmar Institute of Theology (MIT). It was also a good opportunity to meet the leadership of the Kayin Self Supporting Baptist group who are seeking affiliation with the APBF. They have a very impressive ministry and also actively involved in Nargis Relief.

All India Youth Leadership Conference, Kottayam, Kerala, South INDIA. September 2 - 4, 2008.

The conference organised and hosted by the India Baptist Theological Seminary in lovely green Kottayam. About 200 youth leaders and seminary students came together for the conference. The theme was" Overcoming your Goliaths!" a very appropriate one for today's world and especially the youth and youth leaders gathered.

First National Mission Congress of the Baptists in the Philippines. Baguio, Philippines. September 10 -12, 2008

In conjunction with the golden Jubilee celebration of the Luzon Convention of Southern Baptist Churches, for the first time in the history of the southern Baptist churches, a national mission conference was held at the beautiful campus of the Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary, in the mountain city of Baguio. The unique thing about the conference was that it was jointly sponsored by two other Baptist conventions - the Convention in Visayas and Mindanao of Southern Baptist Churches and the Visayan Convention of Southern Baptist Churches. The Women's Missionary Union also lended their support. Altogether, 200 plus delegates attended. Our President Rev. Chu Wood Ping and Rev. Dave Kwok, APBF Committee member were the featured devotional speakers. I had the honour of bringing greetings and also installing the newly formed officers of the One Sending Body. APBF Vice President Precy Caronongan played a pivotal role in the organisation with her husband Rev. Lino who is acting Director of Foreign Missions.

What impressed me was the zeal for mission and how they intend to do it with purely indigenous resources. It is said that over 8 million Filipinos work overseas. Many of these (over 700,000) are born-again believers, and the idea is to challenge and equip these to go as tent-maker missionaries.

APBF Pastoral visit to Philippines Baptists

After Baguio I took off on September 12 a journey to visit all the APBF member bodies in the Philippines.

1. Davao: Davao is the headquarter of two of our member bodies - the General Baptist Churches of the Philippines. The current President is Rev. Jeremias Muring. With 252 Baptist churches and 7,667 baptised members. While in Davao I could also visit the headquarters of the Convention in Visayas & Mindanao of Southern Baptist Churches and even the Mindanao Tribal Convention (which is not affiliated to APBF). I am grateful for the kind hospitality of brother Jerry Muring who also took me to visit the famed Asian Rural Life Center. I also stayed at their guest house which is quite basic. I was grateful for the fan which helped me keep the heat and the mosquitoes away to some extent.

2. Cebu: On the 16th September I landed in Cebu City. I realised that this was indeed a beautiful city with hills and the ocean around. Pastor Ildefonso Alfafara President of the Baptist Conference of the Philippines, received me and took care of me for the duration of my stay there. We visited their office, met the President of the seminary. We also took time to visit some local churches - including the one where Pastor Alfafara pastors. I was impressed to see the school ministry and also the new plot of land measuring 6000 sq. meters which they have purchased to accommodate the growing church of Mandaue City Baptist Church with over 1000 members. There is an air of dynamism and confidence to do mission. An effort is on to reach the yuppies and intelligentsia of the city.

The Baptist conference has 354 churches with 26,906 baptised members.

3. Iloilo City - On the 17th November at 8 AM flew into Iloilo, the headquarters of the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches Inc. which is the oldest and the largest of the Baptist groups in the Philippines. It has 900 local churches with 250,000 members. They have celebrated their Centenary of the gospel last year 2007. It is the only Baptist convention which has a University and a high grade hospital. I had the privilege to visit all of these. I am very impressed with the good leadership that the convention has in its President Rev. Rudy Bernal and the General Secretary Rev. Job Santiago. I am grateful to other leaders Feraz Legita, Director of their Development department for her help in seeing me around - as my chauffer. To see the cheery Tita Grace, Director of Christian Education - full of grace indeed! It was also a pleasure to meet some old friends such as Dr. Nathaniel Fabula and Dr. Joniel Gico who are both Vice Presidents of the Baptist University, holding important administrative responsibilities. It was also a time to catch up with many old friends and acquaintances. I could visit Rev. Edwin Lopez and his wife Pat over dinner hosted by them. Despite the stroke he had suffered some years back Rev. Lopez has recovered significantly and is now able to move around. It was good to learn of his involvement in some church planting work and being a consultant to the Medical establishment of his daughter as well.

In the course of our discussions the CPBC officials expressed their gratitude to APBF and the Baptist family of the region and the world, for their concern and help during the time Typhoon Frank. I enjoyed the wonderful hospitality and friendship of the Illongo Baptists (people of Iloilo region). I came away from Iloilo with warm feelings and hoping to go back again soon. It was a pleasure also to have the APBYF President Jesse Ray Porras also play part host and part APBF official while I was there. He is also a native of Iloilo. 4. Manila - On the 18th September morning, I took off for Manila - which was to be my last stop before departing from the Philippines. I was received by Precy and Lino, the indefatible ministry couple. We took some time to visit Lino's church, The Good Samaritan Baptist Church, and also the new Luzon Convention headquarters.

From there we took time to visit the Conservative Baptist headquarters which are situated in the Green Hills Church complex in downtown Makati. We met with some of the key leaders to introduce to them what APBF was and in a way extended invitation to them to become part of the APBF family. I also had the pleasure of meeting and catching up with the creative Roger Limpoco, who chaired the 6th AP Baptist Congress in 2002 in Manila.