This year’s CBF General Assembly had been scheduled for the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta June 24-26. Instead, there will be a virtual meeting on those dates with a forthcoming schedule. CBF Executive Director Paul Baxley noted that reservations that had been made were being canceled and thanked the hotel and staff for their cooperation.
CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley released a statement today (April 2) announcing that the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Governing Board approved his recommendation to transition this year’s CBF General Assembly to “a virtual experience.”
“These are highly unusual times. The ministry of congregations and the pursuit of God’s mission in the world have never been more important than they are right now. But these moments require a faithful agility unlike any we have seen before,” Baxley said in the statement.
“I am grateful to CBF’s COVID-19 Work Group, our Governing Board officers and our meeting planners, as we have sought to find just the right solution for General Assembly 2020. During this unprecedented season, supporting the needs of Cooperative Baptists and their congregations has been our primary concern. Our journey to do that has taken time and has led us to the announcement today.”
The General Assembly had been scheduled for June 24-26 at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta. The decision follows a move by other groups to cancel or postpone denominational meetings, which the statement addressed.
“Why are we holding this meeting virtually instead of canceling it outright? The CBF General Assembly is not a religious or political convention. Instead, from our inception, it has been imagined as a gathering for worship, inspiration, education, fellowship and business. While we cannot gather in the ways we have become accustomed this year, it is essential that our Fellowship do what each of your congregations is doing; namely find ways to carry out our ministry with faithful agility in the midst of this pandemic.
“We have been inspired by the agility and boldness of our congregations and their leaders, field personnel, state and regional coordinators, chaplains and pastoral counselors, Together for Hope practitioners, theological schools and partner ministries. The need for us to find ways this June to connect with one another in all the ways available to us is sufficiently urgent that we believe we must find a way.”
Baxley asked that the original date be reserved for “a series of virtual experiences of worship, inspiration, education, fellowship and business” with a schedule and additional information to be released.
“While we grieve that we will not have the opportunity to be together in person this year, we are seeking ways to invite many more Cooperative Baptists into our Assembly experience, believing that in every season of challenge there are new opportunities for faithfulness not because of our creativity but rather the resurrecting character of the Triune God.
“We believe God is calling us to find ways to come together for worship, hear the stories of our larger mission in the world, learn more about the calling we are receiving toward bold faithfulness, and create opportunities for us to support one another and learn from one another in this time of extraordinary need and challenge.”
Baxley concluded, “We look forward to sharing more regarding our plans for a very different General Assembly this year. We promise that we continue to pray for you and give every energy to supporting congregations in this time. And we pray that as we continue to make ourselves available to Christ in faithfulness, that he will be at work among us in ways ‘abundantly far more than all we could ask or imagine.'”
