What was the chief promise of New Baptist Covenant?
The chief promise was that the participants would see a racial, geographical and theological diversity of Baptists at a single place and time, with a common commitment to Christian humanitarian goals. What was the purpose and nature of New Baptist Covenant? The main purpose of the gathering was to mend fences and to build bridges among various Baptist denominations. The gathering did not have a purpose of creating a Baptist “super-convention” or “super-association.” The organizers said they were not interested in control structures. Buddy Shurden, one of the speakers at the gathering and the founding director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University, said that the gathering was not an effort to FORM something together but to SAY something together, namely to say “what we ought to be doing together, to say something to the nation and the world about what Baptist people ought to be.” Jimmy Allen, program chairman of the gathering, said that this gathering was not a centrali
