Pursuing the Vision By: Dr. Yammel Razon

The humble meeting of a small number of Conservative Baptist leaders from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and host Macau in the summer of 2005 may well have tremendous global impact in the 21st century. The time had come for national associations of Conservative Baptist (CB) churches to recognize formally that they are members of the CB global family, that is, the family of CB churches all over the world.

At the Asian Leaders’ Consultation held in Macau on April 1-3, 2005, representatives of national associations from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan, and Macau sought the will of God concerning CB churches scattered all over the world. The Holy Spirit guided the group to reach a strong consensus that they were ready and willing to constitute themselves as the initial fellowship of national associations of CB churches.

During the consultation, Pastor Rene Atienza, General Director of CB Philippines, observed that since the inception of the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society (now, WorldVenture or WV) in 1943, a number of CB church planting movements have been organized in different countries. These movements resulted in the formation of national associations of CB churches. These associations of churches come from the same family, so to speak. They have a common heritage and practically share the same doctrinal beliefs. Yet in the past, save for some CB regional meetings, there had been no serious efforts to bring them together for fellowship and much less for strategic planning in partnership to accomplish the Great Commission.

In the consultation, the delegates also recognized that the primary question to settle was, “Who are we?” They affirmed the reality that they do belong to one family. They affirmed that an international CB family is a self-evident truth. Allan Smith, chairman of WorldVenture Hong Kong, pointed out that when family members gather together, planning things occurs quite naturally.

In light of these considerations, the delegates adopted the position to organize into one CB Global Family, or simply, CBGlobal. Its initial members were those in attendance, namely, CB Hong Kong, CB Macau, CB Japan, CB Philippines, and CB Taiwan. Other associations of CB churches in other countries were anticipated to join CB Global eventually. In fact, not long after, and upon the invitation of the original members, CBAmerica and CBIndonesia voted to join CBGlobal.

At the end of the consultation, the delegates unanimously accepted the following as their purpose statement:

“CBGlobal exists to glorify God by bringing CB national church associations together in unity of Christ to fulfill the Great Commission.
To accomplish this, CBGlobal will:
1. Foster unity through mutual trust and encouragement.
2. Facilitate cooperative efforts through sharing of resources.
3. Focus the church in the Great Commission through church planting, evangelism and leadership development.”

The delegates unanimously agreed that the purpose statement expresses fully what was in their hearts. In drafting the purpose statement, the delegates affirmed the primary role of local churches in determining the direction of CBGlobal. Cooperative efforts will include social concern and relief operations.

CBGlobal made the following actions:

1. Identify Key Result Areas

2. Invite other CB national associations of churches worldwide to join CBGlobal.


3. Form the Leadership Team, composed of each country’s association head or appointed association/group representative.

4. Ask CB Philippines if the launching of CB Global can be held to
coincide with the CB Philippines anniversary celebration on Nov. 30,
2005. . Moreover, they also requested that a special meeting of
CBGlobal be held at that time, preferably on December 2, 2005.

5. Consider expanding the next scheduled CB Asian Leaders Conference which is supposed to take place in Bali, Indonesia in 2006 to include other participating countries, thus, making it a CBGlobal Leaders’ Conference. Date: Last week of October or before November 15.

Today, Nov. 30, 2005, in the presence of God and the testimony of God’s people from HK, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, and the United States, we witness the launching of CBGlobal, signaling the humble beginning of a close working partnership among members of the CB Family worldwide! May Jesus Christ be praised!