Biennial Meeting Address: The Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, Denver, CO,

Biennial Meeting Address: The Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley
Denver, Colo., July 1, 2005

Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ.

American Baptists, I have a deep love for you and our family. This is a difficult season for all of us, a season when anxieties are high and when we wonder what will our future be. But we are the people of Adoniram Judson who reminded us that "the future is as bright as the promises of God."

It is an honor and a challenge to serve you in this season of our denominational life. Through these past 3 1/2 years my time among you in prayer conferences and retreats, in annual meetings and congregational worship, and in mission conferences and associational meetings, I have rejoiced in you, a Christ-centered people called American Baptists. I marvel at the depth of your love for Christ. I marvel at the creative ministries you engage in. I marvel at the commitment to mission you have.

When I was nominated for General Secretary, my then 11-year-old son, Jordan, questioned me, "Dad, just which one are you - a general or a secretary? I fully understand his confusion. It can seem like an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp, Amtrak schedule, government secret, and friendly fire. But that is the tension built into every ministerial/pastoral role - to lead and to serve. To the world servant/leader is an oxymoron, but not to those Centered in Christ. It is the way of the cross.

I stand before you tonight as one who earnestly desires to be a servant leader. I stand before you tonight both as General Secretary and as a fellow disciple who seeks to faithfully follow my Lord.

The issue of homosexuality has brought us as a denomination to a cross-road in our life together. One road will lead to separation. The other path will lead us to shared ministry and mission in all the theological and ethnic richness that has come to make us the unique denomination we are. What will you choose? Which road will you take?

I was asked by the General Board before my election, "Where do you stand on the issue of homosexuality?" I replied, "I am conservative in matters related to human sexuality AND I do not want to be separated from those who differ from me. So, I want you to hear me clearly tonight: I am STILL traditional in matters of human sexuality AND I do not want to be separated from those who in Christian conscience differ from me on the issue of homosexuality. We have been a family where I have been granted the privilege of living in that paradox. With all my heart that is where I believe I have been called to be, where we have been called to be.

A question one often hears in the current controversy is, "Aren't we putting Baptist principles above Biblical authority?" No, Baptist principles are thoroughly grounded in scripture. Those who raise this question misunderstand our mothers and fathers in the faith who, in setting forth what we today call Baptist distinctives, drew them forth from the study of scripture and understood them to thoroughly represent scripture. As Baptists, our tradition is immersed in scripture, centered in Christ.

Here are some of my personal convictions about our life as the people of God, as American Baptists, that I believe are rooted and grounded in the word:

* we have been created out of love and for love in Christ Jesus;

So we know and believe that love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.... There is no fear in love.... (1 John 4:16, 18)

* though we suffer from sin, it is God's intent that we live in intimacy with God;

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

* God has bridged the chasm between us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth;

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.... (2 Corinthians 5:18)

* in Christ we see the fullness of God and of God's love;

He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God.... (Colossians 1:13-15)

* we are offered grace, mercy and forgiveness according to the immeasurable riches of God's grace;

And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

* the gift of forgiveness breaks the chains of our guilt and our bondage to the past and frees us to live in the newness of life and joy in Christ;

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will.... (Ephesians 1:7-9)

* in Christ Jesus the fullness of God's reign has been made manifest in the life of the world;

...that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

* through the power of the Holy Spirit that reign is taking root in history and will culminate in the fullness of God's will beyond history;

...he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.... (Titus 3:5-6)

* we as the church are called as a living manifestation of that reign, a manifestation of the new humanity that is possible only through the reconciling work of the gospel;

Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

* we live as an eschatological community in witness to the present reality and future hope of that reign;

But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.... (Philippians 3:20-21)

* as an imperfect community of faith we serve as an invitation of grace to others that they, like us, might find their salvation and continued healing through the love of Christ;

Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. (2 Corinthians 4:15-16)

* the church is first and foremost a missional community, centered in Christ;

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

* we have been radically set free in Christ in order that we might become radically obedient;

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

* Christ's invitation to abide in him is an invitation to allow his spirit to permeate our lives in order that we might grow up into him who is the head;

I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

* our way is not the way of domination, but the way of cross-bearing servanthood;

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

* the work of reconciliation is uniquely the work of God in Christ Jesus and is, therefore, the vocation of all who follow him as Lord.

So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

* That God's reign shall find its completion in that day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall give praise to God. (Romans 14:11)

We read this evening of Esther, an ordinary woman whom God brings into extraordinary circumstances to serve God in radical discipleship: "Who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Because of our particular gifts as ABC, because of our history of being a bridge people across divides of race, theology, and culture, because of our heritage in mission - who knows but what we have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this.

Let's notice:
1) God called Esther to radical discipleship that expressed itself in radical love
2) Radical discipleship has been a mark of American Baptists
3) God is calling us to a new radical discipleship.

Esther's call to radical personal discipleship called her to cast aside thoughts of her own safety; it called for her to speak in the face of political power and adversity; it called her to place her life in God's providential care.

In so doing she mirrored Moses, Elijah, Nathan, Jeremiah and other Old Testament figures whose love of God called them to costly discipleship. In so doing she prefigures the costly discipleship of Mary the mother of Jesus, of Peter and Paul, of Priscilla and Aquila, and of the beloved disciple John.

I believe that the heart of our Baptist life is a call to radical personal discipleship lived in a community with a missional vocation. Our missional vocation is to embody and proclaim God's reign of grace to all the world that they might see in us, by the power of the Spirit, the life of Christ which has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between us and made us the new humanity, the beachhead of God's inbreaking reign.

I am often asked what do we mean by radical discipleship. (Help me with a rousing "Yes."
* Is it evangelism? Yes.
* Is it social ministry? Yes.
* Is it being centered in Christ? Yes.
* Is it mentoring, discipling? Yes.
* Is it non-conforming engagement with the world? Yes.
* Is it mercy-oriented? Yes.
* Is it grace-filled? Yes.
* Is it justice-seeking? Yes.
* Is it forgiveness-offering? Yes.
* Is it radical love in action? Yes.
* Is it needed in the world in 2005? Yes, Yes, Yes!

One reason why I am an American Baptist is because throughout our history we have embodied and struggled with what it means to be radical disciples. Our history of seeking to be faithful in following Jesus has been enfleshed in persons as diverse as Roger Williams, Adoniram and Ann Judson, Luther Rice, Lott Carey, John Mason Peck and Isaac McCoy, Joanna P. Moore, Walter Rauschenbusch, Carl F. H. Henry, Jitsuo Morikawa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Edna Martin, Ralph Beatty, Adam Morales, Ed Tuller, Roger Frederickson, Marion Boehr, Dan Fountain, and Tony Campolo. Each in his or her own way challenged or challenges the status quo for a deeper form of discipleship. Each was willing to turn from a cozy way to take a costly way, as each followed or follows our Lord.

Just this past month as I represented American Baptists at the centennial of Central Philippine University, I was reminded by them of the cost of radical discipleship that was freely paid by eleven American Baptist missionaries to the Philippines: the Hopevale Martyrs. In the Second World War, when the Japanese invaded the Philippine islands, missionaries faced a critical decision. They could either surrender to the Japanese and be safely interred for the duration of the war, or they could cast their lot with their Filipino sisters and brothers and remain at large among them. Eleven American Baptist missionaries chose not to surrender but to remain with their flock, ministering to them in this most difficult time. After the invasion, the missionaries and many Filipinos moved further into the center of the island to escape the Japanese army. Then yet again they moved until they came to a secluded area in the jungle which they named Hopevale. For twenty months Filipinos and missionaries lived in the safety of the interior. One of the missionaries took rocks and with them outlined an area, and made an altar and seats of the rocks within the area so that they might have a place of worship - for worship and service to their Lord and King were paramount in their lives. They called the chapel the Cathedral in the Glen.

Those 11 missionaries were: Miss Jennie Clare Adams, superintendent of Nurses at Capiz Emmanuel Hospital; Dorothy Dowell, former principal of the Baptist Missionary Training School; Signe Erickson of the school of theology; Frederick and Ruth Meyer of Capiz Emmanuel Hospital; Francis and Gertrude Rose of the college; Erle and Louise Rounds, evangelists, with their eight-year-old son, Erle Douglas; and Howard and Charma, Covell faculty at Central Philippine College

Imagine my surprise when just a year ago I learned that my father-in-law was taught Sunday School by the Covells as a boy in pre-war Japan. Dad remembers their radical pacifism which caused them to be expelled by the Imperial government for teaching Japanese boys and girls to resist the militarism of that era. How ironic that they should be reassigned to the Philippines for continued service where they would face again the power of the Japanese military.

In December of 1943, Japanese soldiers discovered Hopevale and took all its residents into custody. The missionaries were informed that since they had not surrendered when the island was first invaded, they were to be executed. These 11 radical disciples asked for a one-hour stay of their execution that they might pray. Joining together, they spent their last hour on earth in communion with God and one another in prayer. At the end of that hour, the record shows that they arose, and singing a hymn, they told the Japanese commander, "Now we are ready." They were lead away singly or in two's: the adults to be beheaded, the child to be bayoneted.

Like Esther, these radical disciples counted service to their Lord and to others above the cost of their own lives.

Radical discipleship, this call to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves has always been central to our commitment to follow Jesus.
"I have decided," goes the old spiritual, "to follow Jesus." And "though none go with me still I will follow." Those words speak deeply to an American Baptist understanding of radical discipleship.

Our call is to be, and to go and make disciples: disciples for whom their relationship to Christ is the center of their lives. Radical discipleship means that at the root of our values, our aspirations, and our actions is a commitment to following Jesus above all else. That call to radical personal discipleship in Christ Jesus is part of our Baptist DNA. We by our very nature as a Baptist body can do no other than to proclaim the invitation of Jesus, "Come, take up your cross daily and follow me."

From the beginning Baptists have held principles taken from the scriptures that are essential for radical discipleship to flourish. Some today would question them, some would even scorn them, but these principles were defended with Baptist blood so that radical discipleship might be possible.

I am reminded of a statement by John Kinney a few years ago as he addressed a gathering of American Baptists. In his sermon he said, "When you don't know who you are you act like who you ain't." So tonight, I want to remind you again of who you are as American Baptists: You are radical disciples committed to radical love.

As early Baptists read scripture they saw that God's call is a personal call addressed to each one, a call that requires a personal response. Birth into a Christian tradition or culture cannot substitute for the response required of each one as we stand in the awesome solitude of Christ's invitation to follow him. Baptists knew that only in freedom could one give one's heart and life in discipleship; that only in freedom could one appropriate the witness of scripture through the Spirit; that only in freedom did scripture have authority. For only truth freely found and freely embraced stands in the court of conscience. American Baptists, don't ever forget, "For freedom Christ has set you free."

Some today set the principle of soul liberty against the principle of Biblical authority. Baptists have never understood it thus. Our deep commitment to soul liberty is because it is essential to Biblical authority in our lives. Through soul liberty we fulfill Paul's instruction to the Philippians to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." Through soul liberty we recognize God's own respect for our free will. Through soul liberty we recognize that no one else can answer for us - neither priest, nor preacher, nor creeds or councils. Through soul liberty we honor the primacy of every soul's encounter with the living God. This is the very heart of what it means to be a Baptist Christian and what the priesthood of all believers means. Our commitment to biblical authority through soul freedom has been precious to us. And it is precious to us now! It doesn't make our life together easier, but it is essential for radical personal discipleship.

That is why American Baptists grant the majority the right to say, "This is what we believe" and also protect the right to speak a minority point of view.

Many of us became American Baptists because we saw in this family of faith a profound intertwining of biblical authority with the freedom to explore, examine, and even question. We can testify that coercion in matters of faith does not work, and that what American Baptists have in this twin emphasis is precious and life-giving. Baptist historian Bill Leonard has written that for Baptists, "the compelling ideal that informs identity theologically and pragmatically seems to be the belief that the people can be trusted to interpret Scripture aright, in the context of community and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit." Other Baptists may have forgotten how precious this soul freedom is. American Baptists; don't you forget it.

We as American Baptists are a unique people in U.S. Protestant life. We are certainly unique in Baptist life. No other Baptist body has been as committed and successful as ABC in bridging the paradoxes of race and ethnicity, of male/female, of conservative/liberal, of evangelical/ecumenical, of Free Will and Calvinist, of charismatics and traditionalists. Living with paradox is difficult. The proof is that there are Baptist groups far more monochromatic in color than we are, and Baptist groups far more homogenous in theology than we are. What has distinguished us as a special gift and task from God is being a living laboratory for the work of reconciliation in the midst of difficult paradoxes. God has uniquely gifted and called us to this difficult but sacred work of reconciliation, of walking with one another in the midst of deep differences.

This is hard work! But it returns us to a biblical principle more important even than soul freedom: the principle of love. Dr. David Scholer, American Baptist scholar and chair of the New Testament department at Fuller Seminary reminded us several years ago that it is the principle of love which is at stake in how we handle our differences.

God calls us to radical discipleship. Radical discipleship leads to radical love. Esther's love for her people bonded her to them even though it meant possible death. The Hopevale martyrs' love for their Filipino brothers and sisters bonded them to one another though it did mean death. God's radical and unconditional love bonded him to us in Christ Jesus though it meant his death, even death on a cross. That radical love which would lead Jesus to embrace the cross is the love which we are called to walk in, a love for each other that is the mirror image of God's own love for us. American Baptists do not forsake the principle of radical love!

Radical love does not overlook differences. Radical love does not underestimate the hard work required to remain in community where deep differences exist. Radical love does not mean that all the answers to the hard questions lie readily at hand.

Radical love does mean that in the words of G.K. Chesterton we owe one another "stormy loyalty." Radical love means that we struggle with Romans 14:13ff where Paul discusses the issue of conscience and the eating of meat which has been sacrificed to idols. Paul says to those with "knowledge," "if your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love." Does not this challenge the position of each side which places its knowledge on this or any issue above the call to radical love of one another. For is it not written, "if I have all knowledge . . . but have not love, I am nothing."

In our living memory there has been no greater example of radical discipleship/radical love than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the movement he led for civil rights. In the face of hatred and violence, he emulated our Lord Jesus Christ by challenging hate with love, power with powerlessness, and violence with nonviolent resistance. Even in the face of lynchings, the murder of civil rights workers, and the daily insults of segregation, Dr. King refused to hate. Though others more militant and radical in their stance questioned him, Dr. King refused to walk separately from whites. Radical love in Christ Jesus bound him inextricably even to those who hated and persecuted him. He would not let us go! Thank God for such radical love!

Dr. Billy Graham in speaking about this love has said, "The Lord said, 'I will never forsake you.' No matter how sinful we are, how bad we are, God loves us. At least from my point of view, I believe he sent his son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us because he loves us and he doesn't have any termination to that love." Dr. Graham's words are powerful. They remind us that this is the nature of the love to which we are called in Christ for each other.

"There are a lot of people that feel a little bit strange around me, because I am inclusive," said Dr. Graham. We recall how in the midst of some of the harshest words and acts against the Muslim community following 911, Dr. Graham went to a mosque which had been attacked to demonstrate the love which he has preached. Thank God for such radical love.

For Dr. Graham it is a missional issue. In several interviews preceding his crusade this past week in New York City, Dr. Graham has repeatedly refused to be drawn into controversial topics. "If I took sides in all these different divisive areas, I would cut off a great part of the people that I really want to reach."

It is a missional issue for us as well. That is why like Dr. Graham I resist being drawn into the controversy that swirls around us and insist on focusing on mission. In the midst of divided votes in the General Board around issues of power and conflict there came a marvelous moment, a moment when Dr. Wright-Riggins called us to make children in poverty a priority for us. In that moment we were united without a single dissenting vote. In God's call to mission we were united. We must not forget our missional purpose. We dare not forget the world to which we are called.

In a world where 67% do not know Christ
We dare not forget the world.
In a world where 75 million of our US neighbors are unchurched
We dare not forget the world.
In a world where 1.2 BILLION people live in life threatening poverty
We dare not forget the world.
In a world where 11 million children under 5 die every year, more than half from hunger related causes
We dare not forget the world.
In a world where AIDs is threatening to decimate whole countries and has caused 13 million children to lose one or both parents
We dare not forget the world.
In a word where human trafficking enslaves 800,000 - 900,000 lives each year
We dare not forget the world.
In a world polarized by culture, ethnicity, politics and tribalism
We dare not forget the world.

Like Esther, American Baptists, God has called and shaped us for such a time as this:
To be reconcilers in a world marked by division
To be beachheads of God's reign of radical love in the midst of other reigns
To be a bridge people in a world of wall builders.

In the midst of its divisions, the world needs the witness of a people bound together in love, committed to the difficult task of walking with one another in the midst of strong differences. We stand at a crossroads. In our world, the path of radical discipleship, the path of radical love is the road less taken. We dare not choose another. We dare not choose the wrong road...the road that leads to separation. That choice will certainly unite you with like-minded people, but will give you small souls, and make you comfortable Christians. The radical call of Jesus doesn't make us comfortable. Take the road-less-traveled - the rich road of love of one another and service for Christ in the midst of our differences.

This road less-traveled has been the unique calling and gifting of American Baptists. For those of us called and committed this path what blessing there is! Who would have dreamed, given our nation's history of slavery, anti-immigrant sentiment, and suppression of women, that God could have put together a room of people like this? That's the blessing of radical love!

For such a people as you, a people called to radical discipleship, to radical love, God has a mission!
For such a people as you, a people called to radical discipleship, to radical love God has blessing!
For such a people as you, a people called to radical discipleship, to radical love, God has a future!

I dare to call you to radical discipleship,
I dare to call you to radical love.

Tonight, I want to end as Helen Barrett Montgomery ended her presidential address in to the 1922 convention. Listen to her words,
". . . we are in a great campaign. We have a war to fight for our Lord Jesus. We must not disagree! We must not fight each other! We must unite to win. Let this Convention be founded and proceed and end in prayer. Satan is here. He longs to divide us. He rejoices when he sees Christian[s] . . . in dissension. Nothing but prayer can defeat him. Let us . . . pour out our hearts before God."

I invite you to join me in a time of prayer. Even as I step out, I ask you to step out into the aisle to join me in prayer for our life together, for our mission in the world, for our desire to be radically committed followers of Jesus.

Come, step out. Come forward if you wish. Let's join in a great chorus of prayer, for more things are wrought by prayer than we can ever imagine. Lift you voices in supplication and thanksgiving, in intercession and praise. Let tears of repentance and sounds of rejoicing mingle. Let's pray.