The theme of the 2007 North American Baptist Women’s Union Assembly was “Come Hear. Go Tell.” But the message that came through loud and clear to the 350 or so attendees from Canada, the USA, and Guyana, was even more pointed: “Go home and tell younger people about Jesus.”

“Older women—young women need us, not because we’re smart, but because we’re old. And we have all this life experience to pour into them,” she said.

“It just takes one in a generation to make a difference in the kingdom of God,” she said. “Don’t drop the baton.”

“I need you. You need me” was the heart cry expressed to the older women in their churches by the eight members of NABWU’s young adult committee who attended the assembly. Perhaps the most eloquent was Karen Robinson, a street pastor in Toronto, Ontario. She has several leadership roles in her church and doesn’t always have time for women’s events. But, she said, “if women’s ministries were focused on something I’m passionate about and areas in which I’m already working—like social justice, or addressing issues like poverty or the sex trade—that would capture my heart and my attention.  I also long to have opportunities to meet with older women, to find mentors, to have women praying for me, and to have wise women to encourage me and guide me through so some of the challenges of my life.”

“We know how moved we are as we hear the faithful witness of missionaries. The authenticity of having ‘been there’ never fails to kindle our imaginations. They tell us what they have seen and heard.”

Dorothy Selebano of South Africa, president of the Baptist World Alliance Women’s Department, urged her North American sisters to share the message now. “Use the opportunities and privileges you have to propagate the Gospel, to be salt and light, because time is running out,” she said in one of several messages to the assembly. “The time is now. The question is, What are you doing now?”

“The most dangerous place for a child to grow up is at the intersection of poverty and race,” she said, citing alarming statistics. In the USA:

1. • A child is neglected or abused every 35 seconds.
   

2. •    A child is born into poverty every 36 seconds.
   

3. •    A Black boy born today has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison. A Latino boy has a 1 in 6 chance.
   

4. •    Only 13% of Black, 15% of Latino, and 41% of White children are able to read by fourth grade.
   

This is a “national catastrophe,” Marian said. “Our job is to ensure that they have a right to education” and help with the discrepancies and choices they face at every turn. She urged her American listeners to use their political influence to make sure each child gets medical, dental, and mental health benefits.

“Say: I care, and I’m ready to serve. I’m ready to do whatever I can to build a movement for children, to build a nation where every child feels welcome,” Marian said.

This was NABWU’S twelfth quinquennial assembly. It was held at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

Reported by Esther Barnes