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INFORMATION SERVICE
Baptist World Alliance
Eron Henry, Associate Director of Communications
Neville Callam, General Secretary
April 28, 2010
For Immediate Release |
BWA expresses solidarity with Poland |
| Washington (BWA) -- The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has extended condolences to the people of Poland on the tragic plane crash that killed more than 90 national leaders and officials, including Poland's president and his wife.
General Secretary Neville Callam, in his letter to Baptists in Poland, expressed "deep regret" and stated that "the entire Baptist family from around the world grieves with the Polish people, and especially with our Baptist sisters and brothers, over your indescribable loss."
The BWA leader assured Baptists in Poland of Baptist solidarity and divine support. "We stand in solidarity with you even as we are assured that the ever-present God waits to comfort and strengthen you all through the Holy Spirit."
He stated his hope that, "even in the midst of such wrenching tragedy and loss, the love of God through Christ, and the peace that passes all understanding, will engender hope for a bright future for all the people of Poland, even though the present seems so dark."
Condolences were also sent to the Central European country by the Union of Evangelical Free Churches in Germany. It was "with great shock that we received the news of the tremendous tragedy that has befallen your country," President Hartmut Riemenschneider and General Secretary Regina Claas wrote.
"We pray that the Lord of all comfort will be with those most immediately affected," the German Baptist leaders said to Gustaw Cieslar, president of the Baptist Union of Poland. The Germans prayed that God "will raise up leaders who can fill the void," and that Baptists in Poland will testify to "the hope founded in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ."
Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, Maria, along with 94 national leaders and officials, all died in a plane crash near the city of Smolensk in western Russia on April 10.
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