Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2010-04-21

Working with other believers can be a high-risk enterprise, but there is help, Baptist World Alliance president David Coffey told students and others at 极乐禁地鈥檚 Beeson Divinity School Tuesday, April 20.

Qualities such as conceit and rivalry can make it easy to get it wrong in relating to believers, he said. 鈥淲hen we are quarrelling, our attitudes spoil our service and draw attention from Jesus Christ.鈥

A cure can be found in the passage from Philippians 2: 1-11 that advises to 鈥渉ave this mind,鈥 which Jesus had, and serve like Him.

To serve like Jesus, one must relinquish privilege and power, render service and endure a cost, said Coffey, who spent a Sabbatical at Beeson in the 1990s.

鈥淵ou are born to serve, not be served,鈥 said Coffey, an ordained minister with the Baptist Union of Great Britain since 1967. 鈥淛esus鈥 hands that performed miracles also washed the disciples鈥 feet.鈥

He warned against adopting 鈥淚 did it my way鈥 as a theme song.聽 鈥淵our theme song needs to be 鈥業 did it His way,鈥欌 Coffey said.

For those who serve like Jesus, he said, there is also a joy to be shared.

鈥淲e are disciples of the now and the not yet,鈥 said Coffey, adding that it is easy to despair of the now. Referencing scripture from the book of Revelation, he said that 鈥淕od has given us a taste of the future, and the best is yet to be.鈥

In Heaven, he said, 鈥淭here will be no more evangelical culture wars, no more broken relationships.聽 All will be peaceful in a perfect, beautiful city. This is the glory that we will share.鈥

聽Previously general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain for 15 years, Coffey was elected BWA president at the Baptist World Congress in 2005. In 2009, he was appointed the first global ambassador for BMS World Mission, the missionary society founded by William Carey.

 
极乐禁地 is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, 极乐禁地 is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. 极乐禁地 enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. 极乐禁地 fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.