Getting back to the Moorings

This is convention season for National Baptists. The three major National Baptist conventions will meet this month. When I think of these conventions, I think of the major reason why the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. came into existence. According to history, foreign missions, specifically African missions was the primary reason for the formation of the convention in 1895. The NBC USA, the NBC-A, and the NMBC all claim 1880 as their founding year. This is because in 1880 the Baptist Foreign Mission Convention organized. This convention was an attempt by African American Baptist primarily in the Southeast to consolidate their effort in sending missionaries to Africa.

Now the conventions are involved in all sorts of things, but foreign missions is relatively weak. Let us pray for God to raise more men and women to enter the mission field, especially in Africa. Though Christianity is experiencing tremendous growth in Africa, the type of Christianity is more Charismatic and even heterodox. Africa needs a true Evangelical witness. May African American Baptists help to provide this through the conventions.