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Berlin
Meeting
The Baptist World Alliance joined with the European Baptist Federation
and the Union of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany to hold a historic Seminar
in Berlin, Germany, on Baptist Identity and National Culture, May 26-29.
Participants from India, Africa, Latin America and Europe, shared how
excessive nationalism has led to ethnic conflict and wars that have killed
millions of people in their countries. More
grievous than that has been the endorsement of rival religious groups that take
sides. Indeed it was the war in
Kosovo, and especially the reaction of some Serbian Baptists that promoted the
German Baptist Union to ask the BWA to hold this meeting.
The seminar was chaired by BWA General Secretary, Denton Lotz, and Kim
Strübind, member of the German Baptist Executive Committee.
The meeting was remarkable for its honesty.
For example, several German leaders present confessed they too had said,
"Heil Hitler" in their youth. A
detailed account of the involvement of German Baptists and National Socialism
was given by Andrea Strübind, professor of theology in Munich.
However, the most poignant moment of all came when Serbian pastor Zarko
Djordjevic asked for forgiveness for the attitudes of Baptists in his country
during the conflict with NATO over ethnic Albanians.
"We would like to express our regret if in the last decade we have
by our Slavonic impulsiveness hurt anyone," he said.
"We ask you to forgive us for this."
Pray that God will give us a spirit of revival so we can begin a new
chapter in our history."
It is the sincere prayer of the participants and the BWA that a new
chapter is written in many parts of the world where the values of the kingdom of
God will supercede nationalism that devalues other people.
A Berlin Declaration asks Baptists around the world to take several
actions, but most important it asks Baptists to "work for justice and peace
for all and actively to oppose war and violence as a means of settling national
disputes and ethnic conflicts."
A full text of the declaration as
well as the listing of the seminar participants and topics is available on the
BWA website www.bwanet.org.
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