On January 30th, Lighthouse Trails issued a report titled: “Al Gore and Tony Campolo to Address Baptist Organizations”. The article addressed a conference being held by the New Baptist Covenant. NBC was formed in 2006 by former president Jimmy Carter and represents over 30 Baptist organizations and over 20 million Baptists around the world.
Two of the conference speakers, Al Gore and Tony Campolo, are both advocates of eastern-style mysticism, as are some of the “Presenters” at the conference: MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), The Alban Institute, and The Upper Room. In addition, the Religious Herald reported that conference speakers Linda Bryan and Loyd Allen presented a talk titled “The Spirit of the Lord Upon Me,” in which they emphasized spiritual formation, in particularly the silence and solitude. “Allen, who teaches church history and spiritual formation at the MacAfee School of Theology in Atlanta [Mercer University], emphasized that Baptists of this age need to rediscover the spiritual disciplines that create Christ-likeness…. Bryan emphasized ‘developing a familiar friendship with Christ’ through meditation and contemplation,” the article stated.
Allen stated that “contemplation and meditation” was lost at the beginning of the Reformation, a time in history when many believers split from the Catholic church.
The Spiritual Formation program at the MacAfee School of Theology where Loyd Allen teaches uses a textbook by M. Robert Jr. Mulholland titled Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map to Spiritual Formation. The book exalts the spirituality of Thomas Merton, Richard Foster, and other proponents of eastern-style mysticism and gives instruction on meditative exercises such as lectio divina. It encourages visits to Catholic monasteries for periods of silence and instructs on the final stage of mystical prayer where the practitioner experiences “ecstasy” and finds “complete oneness with God” (p. 97).
Based on the first two years the New Covenant Baptist has existed, it appears that contemplative spirituality will be part of the ongoing agenda for these 20 million Baptists.
