About The New Baptist Covenant

The New Baptist Covenant is an informal alliance of more than 30 racially, geographically, and theologically diverse Baptist organizations from throughout North America that claim more than 20 million members.

Representatives of these Baptist organizations have reaffirmed traditional Baptist values, including sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and its implications for public and private morality, as well as their obligations as Christians to fulfill the biblical mandate to promote peace with justice, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick and the marginalized, and promote religious liberty and respect for religious diversity.

The New Baptist Covenant 2008 Celebration

More than 20,000 Baptists from across North America will gather in Atlanta January 30-February 1, 2008, in an unprecedented demonstration of Baptist unity. The history-making event will culminate months of planning by leaders of more than 30 Baptist organizations who laid the groundwork for a new era of cooperation during a series of meetings at The Carter Center in 2006 and early 2007.

Under the theme "Unity in Christ," the three-day Atlanta Celebration will feature speakers and presenters who will address historic Baptist commitments and explore other opportunities to work together as Christian partners. The Biblical text for the Celebration is Luke 4:18-19. Themes for the five plenary sessions are:

Unity in Seeking Peace with Justice
Unity in Bringing Good News to the Poor
Unity in Respecting Diversity
Unity in Welcoming the Stranger
Unity in Setting the Captive Free

In addition to the plenary sessions, the Celebration will feature 16 special-interest sessions dealing with topics such as racism, religious liberty, poverty, the AIDS pandemic, faith in public policy, stewardship of the earth, evangelism, financial stewardship, and prophetic preaching.

The Birmingham Regional Meeting: Historic and Effective

On January 31, 2009 more than a thousand people crowded the sanctuary of the historic 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham for a New Baptist Covenant regional meeting.

Highlights of the event included work sessions on the Luke 4 mandate, as well as messages from President Jimmy Carter, Marian Wright Edelman, and Wayne Snodgrass.

The meeting was co-chaired by Gary Furr, pastor of Vestavia Hills Baptist Church and Arthur Price, pastor at 16th Street Baptist Church. Brent McDougal of the Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship served as the event's coordinator.

More information can be found at www.se.newbaptistcovenant.org.