The rehearsal for this month’s Baptist World Congress in Birmingham on 27–31 July has taken place at Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church without any hitches.

Over 200 volunteers took part in the training day. The volunteers were shown around the venue by International Congress Centre manager Richard Jones, and given Monopoly money and the identity of a registered Congress attendee to train them for the work they will do processing registrations when visitors arrive to the Congress.

Congress director Emmett Dunn opened the day with a dedication service before the volunteers split off into their individual training groups according to their areas of responsibility. There are 25 overall including translation, stewarding and transport covering the event, one of the largest ever held at the ICC, says Jones.

Mr Dunn said after the rehearsal that he was "extremely encouraged just to see the number of people and the willingness to be a part of it, to give up their Saturday to come and hear more about what their involvement is."

Around 400 volunteers in total are to serve at the Congress, all of whom are covering their own expenses.

The Rev Derek Keenan, who is task group leader for the Congress team together with wife Jacqui, said, however that more volunteers are still needed and urged for everyone to muck in on the day saying "If delegates will be at the evening celebrations anyway and would be prepared to assist with stewarding, that would be an enormous help."

Dunn summed up his optimism for the Congress on the day and the result of the rehearsal, saying "I am going back to the United States to let the world know that Birmingham is ready to receive the world."