TheAsia Pacific Baptist Federation (APBF) is a federation of 65Baptist associations and is one of six regional fellowships in theBaptist World Alliance. The headquarters is inOkinawa City,Japan.
English missionaryWilliam Carey started his work in the Dutch controlledSerampore north ofCalcutta, India in 1793, initially focussing on Bible translation, preaching, teaching, and the founding of schools.[1][2] One of the major schools established by this mission isSerampore College, founded in 1818.
Other pioneers includeJoshua Marshman andWilliam Ward who together with Carey became known as theSerampore Trio.[3] Of the three, Ward was instrumental in converting AmericanCongregationalist missionary,Adoniram Judson, to Baptist beliefs and baptised both Judson and his wife, Ann Haseltine Judson, in Serampore.[4]
Judson later began Baptist missionary work inBurma on 13 July 1813 upon his arrival inRangoon.[5]
The APBF was formed in the thenBritish colony of Hong Kong in 1972 as theAsian Baptist Federation (ABF).[6][7] It joined the Baptist World Alliance in 1975.[8]
It adopted its current name in 2007 after a resolution was approved during the ABF Congress held in the city ofChiang Mai,Thailand from 2 May to 6 May 2007.[9]
The APBF represents almost 60 Baptist denominations (known as conventions or unions) from 20 countries, encompassing almost 30,000 congregations with more than 5 millionbaptized believers.[9] The single largest member of the APBF is theMyanmar Baptist Convention which claims more than 1.1 million baptized believers.[9][10]
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