At their online meeting January 17, the World Federation Executive Committee voted to recommend to member Conferences that they accept the Seventh Day Baptist Uganda Conference as a member of the Federation. Uganda’s application reports 11 churches and 10 cell groups in three regions across the country, 6 ordained ministers and 3 unordained, 239 members plus many children, some of them in one of the three schools operated by the Conference: a junior school, an orphanage/elementary school, and a high school/vocational school.
I believe we can safely say, the countdown has begun towards the next Session of the SDB World Federation, which will be in Brazil, January 22-28, 2017. At present, over 50 delegates and observers from almost all of the member conferences of the Federation, have pre-registered to be in attendance. Your continued prayers are requested, as the daily schedule for the Session is being planned, and as we seek to bring all the pieces together for a smooth, God-glorifying, people-edifying experience. We also ask for your prayers that enough funds will be raised to ensure that at least one delegate from each conference is able to travel to Brazil, and that all Session-related expenses will be covered.
January 2017 may seem like a long way off, but in reality it is not. In full recognition of that, the SDB World Federation is appropriately accelerating plans for its next Sessions scheduled for January 22-28, 2017 in Brazil. Historically, the Federation Sessions have been held every five years, except for those times when finances or other factors have prevented that from happening. The last time the Federation met was in 2008 in Kenosha, Wisconsin in the USA.
The year was 1965. It was the year that Sir Winston Churchill died. It was also the year that Ferdinand Marcos was elected President of the Philippines. And the year that Singapore was admitted as a part of the United Nations. 1965 was also the year that Rhodesia proclaimed independence from Britain. And the year Maclolm X was assassinated. That same year Israel and West Germany began diplomatic relations. And India and Pakistan began engaging in their border fight. And Tibet became an autonomous region of China.
The SDB World Federation requests prayers and any tangible help for the crisis situation being faced by some Burundi Seventh Day Baptists. A picture of the situation is described in the article below, written by Pastor Daniel Nsubuga, General Secretary of the SDB Conference in neighboring Uganda.
When the next SDB World Federation Sessions are held January 22-28, 2017, it will be the second time the Brazilian SDB Conference will serve as hosts. The first such opportunity was in February 2003. That was the first and only time in the then 30-plus year history of the organization, that the Sessions were held in a non-English speaking country. Brazil made history then, and continues to make history as it once again prepares to welcome delegates from the 18 member conferences of the World Federation, located in 19 countries, representing 6 continents of the world.