Two-Meter-Wide Frieze Traces Baptist Church History
Two-Meter-Wide Frieze Traces Baptist Church History
Grenoble – The 400th anniversary of the global Baptist movement was on centre stage at the French Baptist Federation’s annual conference, which took place in Grenoble from 21 to 23 May. Three major speeches highlighted the topic: The historian and author Sébastien Fath (Chauny) spoke on ‘Baptists and Freedom’ and Alain Nisus, Professor for Dogmatics at the evangelical faculty in Vaux-sur-Seine, on ‘Authority and Church Government’. Pastor and Town Councilman Luc Maroni (Lens) looked to the future with his talk: ‘Daring to be Different. Being Baptists in France and in Europe Today.’ Workshops and discussion groups helped the almost 400 participants reflect on Baptist identity and relationships between Baptists and other Christians, other religions and society in general.
At the conference, the French Baptist Historical Society unveiled an exhibit on Baptist history. A panoramic frieze two metres long and 85 cm high tracing Baptist history from its roots in the 16th century to the ‘Amsterdam 400’ gathering in Amsterdam this July caught a great deal of attention. The remainder of the exhibition consists of almost 150 posters. Over 50 congregations have already ordered a copy of the exhibition. Not only members of the Baptist Federation are active in this Society – active are also congregations from the Baptist Association as well as others independent of both unions. A new French-language book entitled: ‘Baptist Churches – a Protestant Alternative’, was also introduced at the gathering:
Greetings were given by Anna Maffei (Rome), President of the Italian Baptist Union and Anders Blaberg (Örebro), head of the Swedish mission ‘InterAct’. Both also preached. The French Federation’s outgoing President, Christian De la Roque (Lille), regretted that it had not been possible to present a new candidate for the position of General-Secretary to the Federation’s Council. After the resignation of Etienne Lhermenault in 2008, David Razzano (Sartrouville) had taken over the position on an interim basis. He will need to continue to serve in this capacity – in addition to his usual duties as Director of a missions society. He will be assisted by David Boydell (Massy). The Federation stated in Grenoble, that it hopes to be able to elect a new General-Secretary in September 2010. Jean Dupupet (Jouy-le-Moutier) was elected the Federation’s new President; the new Vice-President is Gwenyth Gelin (Paris). The new Assistant-Vice-President is Christian De la Roque.
The conference assembly collected 1.500 Euros in support of two Baptist anti-trafficking projects in Italy and the Netherlands.
It was reported that the Baptist Federation is growing slowly: Today it has 127 congregations and approximately 7.000 members. The Baptist Association has 42 congregations with roughly 2.600 members. France also has 62 independent Baptist congregations with 3.500 members. Only the Baptist Federation belongs to the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation.
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At the conference, the French Baptist Historical Society unveiled an exhibit on Baptist history. A panoramic frieze two metres long and 85 cm high tracing Baptist history from its roots in the 16th century to the ‘Amsterdam 400’ gathering in Amsterdam this July caught a great deal of attention. The remainder of the exhibition consists of almost 150 posters. Over 50 congregations have already ordered a copy of the exhibition. Not only members of the Baptist Federation are active in this Society – active are also congregations from the Baptist Association as well as others independent of both unions. A new French-language book entitled: ‘Baptist Churches – a Protestant Alternative’, was also introduced at the gathering:
Greetings were given by Anna Maffei (Rome), President of the Italian Baptist Union and Anders Blaberg (Örebro), head of the Swedish mission ‘InterAct’. Both also preached. The French Federation’s outgoing President, Christian De la Roque (Lille), regretted that it had not been possible to present a new candidate for the position of General-Secretary to the Federation’s Council. After the resignation of Etienne Lhermenault in 2008, David Razzano (Sartrouville) had taken over the position on an interim basis. He will need to continue to serve in this capacity – in addition to his usual duties as Director of a missions society. He will be assisted by David Boydell (Massy). The Federation stated in Grenoble, that it hopes to be able to elect a new General-Secretary in September 2010. Jean Dupupet (Jouy-le-Moutier) was elected the Federation’s new President; the new Vice-President is Gwenyth Gelin (Paris). The new Assistant-Vice-President is Christian De la Roque.
The conference assembly collected 1.500 Euros in support of two Baptist anti-trafficking projects in Italy and the Netherlands.
It was reported that the Baptist Federation is growing slowly: Today it has 127 congregations and approximately 7.000 members. The Baptist Association has 42 congregations with roughly 2.600 members. France also has 62 independent Baptist congregations with 3.500 members. Only the Baptist Federation belongs to the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation.