The Ohio Independent Baptist, June 1966

• rie e • • By Dr. Raymond F. Hamilton It was a thrilling experience to be cho en by the General A sociation of Regul ar Bapti t Churches in their May meeting in 1948 to represent them in the formation of the International Council of Christian Churche , held in Amsterdam in August of 1948. Together with myself there was chosen Kenneth Muck, Paul Jack on Ken– neth Kinney, D. 0. Fuller, who would make up the repre entation. We doubt that we wil l ever fo rget the experience of flying TWA to Paris and then to Amsterdam. Tired a we were from the activitie of the day, we partici– pated in the welcoming meeting that wac; given in a Reformed Church in Amsterdam. in which the peaker. a noted Dutch theologian addressed the congregation for about an hour and a h alf. It was a struggle to stay awake when we did not understand a single word that was being spoken. But we did catch the inspiration and thrill that seemed to run through the crowd. G ideon' s Band The p]ace chosen for this first P lenary ongress of the IC C was the hi storic EngJi h Reformed Church in the City of Amsterdam. It was an old church which had been dedicated October 17, I 419 as a chapel of the J{ oman Catholic Church , but in 1607 wa taken o,,er by the .. nglish Re 1 ormed Church and refitted for Pro– Le tant er\ 1 ices. It was here that the J) ilgrirn fathers, after leaving crooby, Engla11d fot1nd refuge and had \\·or– sh i 1> in the very roo111s wJ1erc the I wa to n1eet. Al)ot1t 150 parti– ci Jlant fr 111 26 11ation and 39 de. 11on11i11ations 1 allied in rcspon e to the inter11atio11al cal] for this ga1l1eri11g. lt \\ a a little Gid 011' Band, l)ut tl1ere ,~ a a tl1rill of citen1ent a r1d 4 r1tici- Jlati 11 a \\ e 11 ed tl1c J)rc er1ce f tl1e l i I 1 pirit a11d 1l1e u11ity tl1at 11e1 - , aded t11e ilr 111 ren i11 1,it of tl1eir \ ari u 1 ac a1ild den n1inaii n . 1\ll l1ad 111 i r t bac in t11 }1i toric 111 1 t i an f it h, , 11 d '" r c 11 c 111 d al tJt tl1 gr \\ ing aJl t, y. \ ' rl u11cil f fill al) Ul n t arri at , 11 um11t f tit) ' 111 J J)J TH OHIO IND P ND N BAPTIS Dr. Raymond F. Hamilton sentative a sembled for the Interna– tional Council did not fi nd it very dif– ficult to agree upon the great cardinal principles of our Christian F aith. Eleven clear-cut statements were ac– cepted as the foundational principle rooted in the Word of God. It is in– teresting to note the Preamble which wa adopted and which et for th the purpose of our gathering. WHEREA , It is the duty of all true churches of the Lord Je u hrist to make a clear te timony to their faith in Him e pecially in the e darkening day of apo ta y in n1any profe ing Churche , by \\t hich apo - ta y whole denon1ination in their of– ficia l capacity, a well a i11ui, idu ,tl C hurche , have been wept into a pag– an,zing st1 ean1 of n1oder111\111 tinder \'ar1ot1s 11a11cs and in var)11 ng (leg rec : ancl WI II RI A . There ha l)ccn a nol– al) lc growth ()f at1t ocratic (iec10111i11, - li(lr1 on tl1c: part es1,ccially l)f 111u(lcr11- istic I adcrs l))' ,, hl)tll th' 11gl1tft1I p \\ crs <)f t 1t1c h u rc}ll.':s are of tc11 LI ttrJ)C I ar1tl , ti ~ nl)\\' l)ei11g t1st11 p 'ti; and W JJI llF~1\ , the co111111a11ci oJ 1od t, l i fleJpl toll J)Hr,t ircl111all u11t, Ii .. f a11LI corrtlJ)ti 11 ar I nr a11 I Jl i I i \ ; a 11 d a 1 l \l\ J I l I{ I , \ \ 1 l) Ii \ 111 ti 111e d J le 11(1 tl1 f r111at ion >f , ,, 1 ld-,, id '1 g 11 , f r C 11 " 11 i J c111 J >- Jl r, - t1 11 n Iii Jlrt1 t f 13 11,1 - l Ii , i11g ( 'ht1rches for the proclan1ation a nd defense of the Go pel, for the ma in– tenance of a testimony pure, stead– f a t a nd world-wide to those great facts and revealed truth of historic Christianity and especially to the great doctrines of the Prote tant Reforma– tion, for the accompli hment of task which can better be done in co-opera– tion than separately, and to facilitate the di charge of the obligations which inhere in the Commiss ion of Chri t to Hi Church to make known the Go pel of Chri t to every kindred and tongue and tribe and nation. THEREFORE the bodies of vari– ou nationa]itie and languages form.. ing thi Council do now e tabli h it a an agency, without compromi e or eva ion unreservedl y dedicated as a witne to the faith once for a ll (ie- 1ivered ll nto the . aint. .,. Continues to Grow ot all the group, a sembled there were able to unite with the Interna– tional Council in it final form for various rea ons. A few of the group had ent repre entative to find ot1t just exactly what we were planning to do , and were weighing our movement a against that of the World Council of Churche , trying to decide which way they wanted to go. Hence, in the due proce of time ome of the op– portuni t groups were eliminated fron1 our fellow hip. In the en uing year . however we h ave grown to \\:here at the clo e of our ixth Plenary on– gre held in Geneva la t year, v. e r - ported a total of l 11 denomination from all arot1nd the Vvorld. T,v n1ore have ince appli d for fell \\ - hip. t th r11eet1ng in 01 terda111 it ~ cl decided t e t, bl1 h an 1nterna- ti nnl of ficc 111 n15tcrda111 1t\elf. Ir. rie Kok, \\ ho hat1 retired f ron1 t ht: ti1plon1at1c r\1ci..;, ha,1ng ~er, e<.l the Dtttch 10\ e1 n111ent in h1na fL1r nll)fc th,tn ,l qt1~ rtc1 of a e11tt11 \, bec,1111e the 111 \t (1c11el ,ti 'ccretar, He haLi - done ,tn c cell nt Job l)i arr,1ng1ng for ot1r l'i 11 t t>le11a1\ l)11g1e~ anti hi ,, 1tic i11ter11a ct l)t1al c p r1e11 \.: a11li lo ,,e fl)J the 01 ti le l h1111 111tt) 1hl'.i scr\ 1 'C ot th" l11ternrtti 11al )t111 ii . 11 i , .. 1lt1able " r, u .. c ,,, rt: 1 st t tt i11 l1is l1c,,11:\gl)t11g i11 Janti ·=tr f l -1 . s i 11 t 11, 11 \\ • 114 \ c 11, l 11 , 11 r. l ~ r t ' t r , l t 11 t l1 c , , r k 11 a s lJ t 11 f i, i 1 I l) t,, 11 , r I 1 - tnri s r J"'l'e nti11g dif re11t 1,,1rt f 111 ,, rlll . JUNE, 1966 PAGE 7