Baptist Preaching: A Global Anthology

13. Resource Sharing

107 a b PARt III CARIBBeAn 13 Resource Sharing (Colossians 4:16) Neville Callam Baptist World Alliance MacLean, Virginia, United States; Jamaica BIOGRAPHY Neville George Callam was born in St. Ann, Jamaica, and serves as the general secretary and chief executive officer of the BWA. Callam has also participated as a member of several workgroups, commissions, and committees of the BWA, its executive committee, and its general council, as well as serving as BWA vice president before becoming the first person from the global south to be appointed as general secretary and chief executive officer of the BWA. Previously, Callam has served as an educator and held senior positions in media in Jamaica, and he is an author. Callam has also served as a pastor and church administrator throughout Jamaica, as well as in leadership positions in the Jamaican Baptist Union and the Caribbean Baptist Fellowship. Callam is married to Dulcie Allison, and they have two children and two grandchildren. SERMON COMMENTARY Callam presents a sermon that moves from the local and the particular to the universal and the general. Taking what he calls a “throwaway” line at the end of Colossians, Callam energizes the text by moving it from the Lycus valley and its three first-century churches to the ends of the earth. This sermon 108 Baptist Preaching presents a strong case for the universality of the specific and the globalization of the local. Callam underscores the centrality of Christian love in the letter. This love, however, is no mere emotion. Christian love compels the ones loving to share good things with one another. In this instance, the Colossians and the Laodiceans are to exchange the letters that Paul has mutually and reciprocally sent to the two churches. Since they both share in the ultimate Christian inheritance (Col 1:12), this sharing should demonstrate itself in the practical sharing of Paul’s precious apostolic letters. Callam notes that by this time Colosse had declined in comparison with the other church in the Lycus valley. Yet they were not to turn in on themselves to hoard the precious manuscript from Paul but rather to send it on to another church. This must appear poignant to a global Christian leader such as Callam, who witnesses the vast resources of some Baptists and the great need of others. This kind of loving sharing leads to a sense of partnership between the churches. One of the powerful sentences in the sermon finds itself here: “Churches were never intended to be fortresses of independent existence driven by vaulting ambition to engage in unfettered competition.” This insight from the global leader of Baptists adds a corrective to a misunderstanding of autonomy. His subtle approach enables these words to be heard. Without using the buzzword “autonomy” he addresses a misunderstanding of just that. One of the challenges of international Baptist leadership must indeed be the varying understanding of autonomy among different Baptists. With a simple biblical example Callam opens the way to a wider understanding. This partnership leads to prayer and the making of common cause. The cameo appearance of Epaphras sheds light on the life of the ancient church. This faithful New Testament helper of Paul did not tether himself to one church out of convenience but partnered in prayer and ministry with all of the churches in the region. The result of this love and partnership was growth in the church. The absence of a silo mentality created the atmosphere that promotes growth. It is organic, natural, and spontaneous. Callam then turns the corner to apply this to Baptists of the world. He has to live daily among Baptists with gigantic resources and those with scanty resources and great needs. The passion of this need and the intensity of the situation mark this message. Part III—Caribbean 109 SERMON ANALYSIS The great strength in this message is the everywhere of the somewhere, the locality of the universality, the particularity of the general. The narrative power of the biblical message rests in its particularity. This letter is written not to everyone everywhere but to a very particular little church, probably a house church, in a specific ancient town on a river, the Lycus. The power of the passage springs from the mystery that the universal is best expressed through the local. As one novelist said of her craft, “Do not say that there was an earthquake. Say that an earthquake hit the...