Bylaws\/Standing Rules Changes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Statements of Concern and Public Witness Statements<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6.18.2016<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baptist Talk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing up as a rather physically small person and Chinese American in Boston, I was often picked on and my teachers would say, \u201cSticks and stones may break my bones but words never hurt me.\u201d I never took what someone said about me too seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My mother being a survivor in a foreign land and a proud matriarch would wisely advise me that I may have thoughts in my head but once I say them publicly, she said, \u201cYou can never take the words back.\u201d I\u2019m often the last to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of us here are old enough to remember that the old bylaws that guided the General Board produced policy statements, resolutions, issues of importance, statements of concern, and public witness statements. These statements reflected the Baptist thoughts of those times. While these adopted statements continue to be a part of our history, our present bylaws and standing rules provide no allowance for new ones. As we all know, we have been hurt so much over these statements that we don\u2019t want to be hurt again. It only takes that one time to touch a hot stove to know you won\u2019t do it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for the past 4\u00bd years, some of us have been wondering if we may have \u201cthrown out the baby with the bath water.\u201d Have we become so afraid of our own shadows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last Sunday\u2019s horrific terrorism in an Orlando nightclub is an example of casting light on who and what we may be today. It is good that we have offered up prayers for the victims and their families\u2014we must at least do that. But I do wonder when we may have conversations about gun control and gun owners\u2019 rights or immigration reform or the diverse face of Americans today or the persistent racial divide or economic inequities or even the topic of homosexuality. I know that we have blazed new trails on Baptist\/Muslim dialogue; but can we do more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please know that I am not supporting Donald Trump\u2019s combative speak here even if he shares my name! My mother would be appalled by what he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Baptists who hold the beliefs of soul liberty and the priesthood of all believers under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in a community of believers, I wonder if we may identify a place in our Baptist life together that the new normal is being in a place we may call, \u201cBaptist Talk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last September, the Rocky Mountains region\u2019s annual meeting theme was \u201cDangerous Dreams\/Dangerous Conversations.\u201d Steve Van Ostran led the region to discuss racial prejudice and human sexuality. In August, the Massachusetts Baptist Multicultural Ministries and ABHMS will be sponsoring a conference entitled, \u201cBold Conversations and Prophetic Witnesses.\u201d They too will be addressing controversial topics facing our churches and faith today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wonder if it\u2019s possible for Baptists to engage in conversations with an attitude and behavior that are not like the rest of the society. Can we Baptists talk together without getting all polarized and hurtful? I think that after practicing \u201cmission table conversations\u201d in the past two biennial mission summits and the countless table conversations that have taken place around the country that we may be standing at the threshold when we have the skill set to talk again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our board retreat these past two days, we have made a significant attempt to talk together over the place of joy, grief, hope and commitment as persons in our various ministries of service as well as participating members of BGM. We acknowledged that we each bring a particular and perhaps a unique voice to this Body of Christ and started to respect and honor these diverse perspectives in the making of the whole. I would like to propose that we are beginning to have a clearer grasp of what it is like to live into God\u2019s unfolding kingdom on earth as we know is already in heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the matter of discussion, let\u2019s call this \u201cBaptist Talk.\u201d Whenever we might want to have a conversation about anything especially that which is highly charged and divisive, we can clear the air and say, \u201cWe are going to have a \u2018Baptist Talk.\u2019\u201d This means that we can have heart-to-heart conversations without getting a heart attack. It means we can take the outside hallway conversations back into the meeting room conversation. It means that we can talk about issues with fellow board members and other Christian brothers and sisters and not just with our own family members or tribes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe that our high regard for our human ability to maintain mutual respect and decency would prevent us from total chaos. We would continue to speak out of civility and for the commonweal. There won\u2019t be any sticks and stones and we know that the words that we might speak would never hurt us. And in the end, we would have also reclaimed that \u201cbaby we threw out with the bath water\u201d because we would have granted one another the ability to have \u201cBaptist Talk\u201d again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The BGM Executive Committee would invite a task force to review our current bylaws and standing rules for the purpose of possibly incorporating the idea of \u201cBaptist Talk\u201d to be a part of our life together. We would need to identify guidelines to frame our \u201cBaptist Talks\u201d perhaps like the way we had our facilitators guided our small group conversations using the stones, stickers and confetti. With a commitment to be here, anticipating the possibility of joy, acknowledging the presence of grief, we may have hope for the world and for a people call, \u201cAmerican Baptists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don Ng (6.18.2016)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bylaws\/Standing Rules Changes Statements of Concern and Public Witness Statements 6.18.2016 Baptist Talk Growing up as a rather physically small person and Chinese American in Boston, I was often picked