Baptist World Alliance
Type	Communion
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Baptist
General Secretary and CEO	Elijah M. Brown, since 2018
President	Tomás Mackey, since 2020
Region	134 countries
Headquarters	Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
Origin	July 1905 London, United Kingdom
Congregations	178,000
Members	51,000,000
Missionary organization	Global Baptist Mission Network
Aid organization	BWAid
Official website	baptistworld.org

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TheBaptist World Alliance (BWA) is an international communion ofBaptists, with an estimated 51 million people from 266 member bodies in 134 countries and territories as of 2024. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA accounts for about half the Baptists in the world, becoming Christianity's seventh-largest communion (seelist of Christian denominations by membership).

The BWA was founded in 1905 in London during an international congress of Baptist churches. Its headquarters are inFalls Church, Virginia, United States. It is led by general secretary and CEOElijah M. Brown and by President Tomás Mackey.

The roots of the Baptist World Alliance can be traced back to the seventeenth century whenThomas Grantham, the BaptistMessenger and leadingdivine (theologian) ofLincolnshire, proposed the concept of a congregation of all Christians in the world that are "baptised according to the appointment of Christ."^[1] Similar proposals were put forward later such as the call ofJohn Rippon in 1790 for a world meeting of Baptists "to consult the ecclesiastical good to the whole."^[1]

It was, however, only in 1904 when such a congregation became a reality.John Newton Prestridge, editor ofThe Baptist Argus, atLouisville, Kentucky called for a world gathering of Baptists.John Howard Shakespeare, editor ofThe Baptist Times and Freeman, London, endorsed the proposal.^[2][3][4] In October 1904, theBaptist Union of Great Britain passed a resolution to invite a Congress to meet with them in 1905.^[5] At the Congress, a committee was formed, which proposed aConstitution for a World Alliance. The Baptist World Alliance was founded inLondon, during this first Baptist World Congress in July 1905. Every five years since, the BWA holds aBaptist World Congress in different locations around the world, and multiple international meetings and programs are held in the times between Congresses.^[6][7][8][9]

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.^[10]

In 2003, theInternational Baptist Convention, an international association of English-speaking churches, became a member.^[11]

In 2004, the messengers of theSouthern Baptist Convention voted to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) over issues regarding the alleged adoption ofliberal stances such as the inclusion of conventions that allow same sex marriage as well as perceivedanti-American sentiment, which were partly attributed to Alliance Secretary General Denton Lotz's visits to Fidel Castro in Cuba.^[12][13][14] A year later, two state denominational members of the Southern Baptist Convention—theBaptist General Association of Virginia and theBaptist General Convention of Texas—affirmed their continued support and applied for membership in the Alliance, and were subsequently admitted.^[15]

In 2020, theArgentine Pastor Tomás Mackey succeededSouth African Pastor Paul Msiza as BWA President.^[16]

According to a census published by the association in 2024, the BWA has 266 participating Baptist fellowships in 134 countries, with 178,000 churches and 51,000,000 baptized members.^[17] However, some churches and members may be counted more than once if they belong to more than one Baptist association, each being members of the BWA.^[18][19]

The communion has aBaptistconfession of faith.^[20]

The BWA 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.^[21] Each regional fellowship is served by an Executive Secretary.

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.^[22]

Baptist World Congresses have been held every few years since 1905.^{[9][23][24][25]}

No.	Year	City	Country
1.	1905	London	GBR
2.	1911	Philadelphia	USA
3.	1923	Stockholm	SWE
4.	1928	Toronto	CAN
5.	1934	Berlin	DEU
6.	1939	Atlanta	USA
7.	1947	Copenhagen	DNK
8.	1950	Cleveland	USA
9.	1955	London	GBR
10.	1960	Rio de Janeiro	BRA
11.	1965	Miami Beach	USA
12.	1970	Tokyo	JPN
13.	1975	Stockholm	SWE
14.	1980	Toronto	CAN
15.	1985	Los Angeles	USA
16.	1990	Seoul	KOR
17.	1995	Buenos Aires	ARG
18.	2000	Melbourne	AUS
19.	2005	Birmingham	GBR
20.	2010	Honolulu	USA
21.	2015	Durban	ZAF
22.	2021 (Online)	Online	N/A
23.	2025	Brisbane	AUS

The Global Baptist Mission Network has 23 membermission organizations.^[26][27]

BWAid supportshumanitarian aid projects.^[28]

BWA Forum for Aid and Development (BFAD) brings together 30 Baptist humanitarian agencies.^[28]

The Baptist World Alliance is involved inecumenical dialogues with theRoman Catholic Church and theWorld Methodist Council, among others.^[29] 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 ofAndover Newton Theological School, and the Most Reverend Bede Heather, Bishop of Parramatta.^[30] While this dialogue produced the report calledSummons 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.^[31] 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 divided these denominations.^[31] These second series of conversations resulted in formal meetings between 2006 and 2010. The current Co-Moderators arePaul Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology in theUniversity of Oxford and formerly Principal ofRegent's Park College, Oxford, andArthur J. Serratelli, Bishop of Paterson.^[32]

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• Believers' Church

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