By Wayne Stapleton
VP of Cross-Cultural Engagement and Emerging Leader Engagement
We are in a significant moment.
The body of Christ is a diverse body, composed of people with one Lord but different political perspectives, different cultural backgrounds, different economic positions, and more. Even so, we are unified because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross, work we just meditated on and celebrated during Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday.
There is one Lord, one Gospel, one baptism, and one Savior, and his name is Jesus. The church affirms this, and yet we can often let our loyalties to Christ and his church be influenced by various social, cultural, political, and national loyalties – to our detriment.
The world needs a church unified in its love for Jesus.
The world needs a church that is interceding for our leaders and for their constituents.
The world needs a church that is tireless in its witness to the love Christ has commanded us to reflect, love that saved us and is saving us and will save us.
The NAB is a bi-national conference, unified first around our confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and commitment to the Word of God. But we are also unified around our heritage as the NAB and our Statement of Faith. Not only does the world need the church, we as the church also need each other. We need each other’s prayers. We need each other’s stories of hope. We need each other’s brotherly (and sisterly) love. We need each other’s grace.
In critical and tense times, let our testimony come from “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV). Jesus suffered on our behalf. Saved by the precious blood of the Son of God, our salvation and our model, we are called to sacrificial service. Our witness is always critical, important for the world to see. Our witness is our testimony, a revelation of who we are and whose we are, and where our treasures truly reside. In the midst of the back and forth of political and social commitments, our witness to our oneness by the shed blood of the Lamb is absolutely crucial for the world to see Christ through us. This witness is revealed in our prayers, our service, our language, and our love.
So, let us commit, in the name of Jesus. Let us commit to praying for one another and for our leaders and neighbors.
Let us commit to serving Jesus in unity as members of the North American Baptist Conference of churches.
Let us commit to speaking the truth in love, always seasoned with grace.
Let us commit to the love that Christ himself calls us to, love that reflects his character.
