World Convention of The Churches of Christ
While Dr. Bader was working with the UCMS, his interest was growing in the Christian World Communion that he belonged to - the 'Stone-Campbell family'. This global family had churches with the same origins and traditions using the names 'Christian Churches', 'Churches of Christ' or 'Disciples of Christ'. Baptists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians had all established global conventions and a means of cooperating or acting in a worldwide way. Jesse Bader had attended the meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in 1925 and began thinking about how this concept might develop for his Stone-Campbell family. He canvassed suggestions amongst leaders in several countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom receiving strong support. In October 1930, with attendance from around the world, the first World Convention of Churches of Christ was held in Washington DC, USA. Up to 10,000 people attended and the program featured an afternoon tea at the White House hosted by the President and Mrs. Hoover. 'World Convention' was firmly established. Dr. Bader became the first president (1930–35) and was also appointed as the first general secretary, a post he held (part time until his retirement) until his death. Conventions were held every five years until 1970 (though the pattern was interrupted by World War II) and currently continue every four years.
'While preaching unity to others, our churches the world around have too often neglected to practice unity and promote a closer fellowship amongst themselves,' Jesse wrote in 1930. It was a statement he was to repeat often. 'World Convention' or 'World Convention (Christian - Churches of Christ - Disciples of Christ)' (current names) is a permanent legacy from Dr Bader that is also a constant reminder that a movement that came into existence to emphasise that 'the church is essentially, intentionally and constitutionally one', must always tend to its own unity if it is not to be hypocritical in reminding the whole church that unity is the will of God, the prayer of Christ, the heart of the gospel and the hope of the world.
Read more about this topic: Jesse Moren Bader
Famous quotes containing the words world, convention, churches and/or christ:
“There are innumerable questions to which the inquisitive mind can in this state receive no answer: Why do you and I exist? Why was this world created? Since it was to be created, why was it not created sooner?”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“No convention gets to be a convention at all except by grace of a lot of clever and powerful people first inventing it, and then imposing it on others. You can be pretty sure, if you are strictly conventional, that you are following genius—a long way off. And unless you are a genius yourself, that is a good thing to do.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)
“A few years ago, the liberal churches complained that the Calvinistic church denied to them the name of Christian. I think the complaint was confession; a religious church would not complain.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.”
—Bible: New Testament, Philippians 3:7-9.