Baptist World Alliance

The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is an international Baptist association of Christian churches with an estimated 51 million people in 2023 with 253 member bodies in 130 countries and territories. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA accounts for about half the Baptists in the world.

The BWA was founded in 1905 in London during an international congress of Baptist churches. Its headquarters are in Falls Church, Virginia, United States. It is led by General Secretary and CEO Elijah M. Brown and by President Tomás Mackey.

History
The roots of the Baptist World Alliance can be traced back to the seventeenth century when Baptist leader Thomas Grantham proposed the concept of a congregation of all Christians in the world that are "baptised according to the appointment of Christ." Similar proposals were put forward later such as the call of John Rippon in 1790 for a world meeting of Baptists "to consult the ecclesiastical good to the whole."

It was, however, only in 1904 when such congregation became a reality. John Newton Prestridge, editor of The Baptist Argus, at Louisville, Kentucky called for a world gathering of Baptists. John Howard Shakespeare, editor of The Baptist Times and Freeman, London, endorsed the proposal. In October 1904, the Baptist Union of Great Britain passed a resolution to invite a Congress to meet with them in 1905. At the Congress, a committee was formed, which proposed a Constitution for a World Alliance. The Baptist World Alliance was founded in London, during this first Baptist World Congress in July 1905. Every five years since, the BWA holds a Baptist World Congress in different locations around the world, and multiple international meeting and programs are held in the times between Congresses.

The gathering was referred to as an "alliance" and not a council in order to establish the nature of the dialogue as a meeting. This means that the body wields no authority over participating churches or national Baptist unions, serving only as a forum for collaboration.

In 2004, the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention voted to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) over issues regarding the alleged adoption of liberal stances such as the inclusion of denominations that allow same sex marriage as well as perceived anti-American sentiment, which were partly attributed to Alliance Secretary General Denton Lotz's visits to Fidel Castro in Cuba. A year later, two state denominational members of the Southern Baptist Convention—the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Baptist General Convention of Texas—affirmed their continued support and applied for membership in the Alliance, and were subsequently admitted.

In 2020, the Argentine Pastor Tomás Mackey succeeded South African Pastor Paul Msiza as BWA President.

Statistics
According to a census published by the association in 2023, the BWA has 253 participating Baptist fellowships in 130 countries, with 176,000 churches and 51,000,000 baptized members. These statistics may not fully representative, however, since some churches in the United States have dual or triple national Baptist affiliation, possibly causing a church and its members to be counted by more than one Baptist association, if these associations are members of the BWA.

Beliefs
The Alliance has a Baptist confession of faith.

Organisational structure
The Alliance is divided into six regional or geographical fellowships: North American Baptist Fellowship, Caribbean Baptist Fellowship, Latin American Baptist Union, European Baptist Federation, Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, and All-Africa Baptist Fellowship. Each regional fellowship is served by an Executive Secretary.

List of general secretaries
In the initial stages of the Baptist World Alliance, the role of General Secretary was split into two geographical regions. In 1928, these positions were merged into a single general secretary role.

Baptist World Congress
Baptist World Congresses have been held every few years since 1905.

Global Baptist Mission Network
The Global Baptist Mission Network has 23 member mission organizations.

BWAid
BWAid supports humanitarian aid projects.

BFAD
BWA Forum for Aid and Development (BFAD) brings together 30 Baptist humanitarian agencies.

Ecumenical relations
The Baptist World Alliance is involved in ecumenical dialogues, including with the Roman Catholic Church and the World Methodist Council. One series of International Conversations between the BWA and the Catholic Church took place from between 1984 and 1988 moderated by the Reverend Dr David T. Shannon, sometime President of Andover Newton Theological School, and the Most Reverend Bede Heather, Bishop of Parramatta. While this dialogue produced the report called Summons to Witness to Christ in Today's World, the second phase did not push through because of opposition from within the Baptist World Alliance itself. Negotiations continued, however, so that a series of consultations transpired from 2000 to 2003. During this period the Baptists and Catholics discussed important doctrines that divide these denominations. These second series of conversations resulted in formal meetings between 2006 and 2010. The current Co-Moderators are Paul Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology in the University of Oxford and formerly Principal of Regent's Park College, Oxford, and Arthur J. Serratelli, Bishop of Paterson.