| Convention of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania | |
|---|---|
| Romániai Magyar Baptista Gyülekezetek Szövetsége(hu) Convenţia Bisericilor Creştine Baptiste Maghiare(ro) | |
 The Baptist Church in Salonta | |
| Abbreviation | RMBGS |
| Classification | Evangelical Christianity |
| Scripture | Bible |
| Theology | Baptist |
| Polity | Congregationalist |
| President | Felix Pardi |
| Part of | Baptist Union of Romania |
| Associations | |
| Region | Romania |
| Language | Hungarian |
| Headquarters | Str. General Henri Mathias Berthelot,Oradea |
| Origin | 1920 |
| Merged into | Baptist Union of Romania (1922) |
| Congregations | 253 |
| Members | 8.321 |
| Official website | rmbgysz |
TheConvention of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania (Hungarian:Romániai Magyar Baptista Gyülekezetek Szövetsége;Romanian:Convenţia Bisericilor Creştine Baptiste Maghiare) is aBaptistChristian association ofHungarian churches inRomania within the largerBaptist Union of Romania, united for promoting cooperative ministry. The convention operates as a "sister" denomination to theBaptist Union of Romania and is a member of theEuropean Baptist Federation and theBaptist World Alliance.
In the 1870sAnton Novak, anEthnic Germancolporteur of theBritish and Foreign Bible Society, began to meet and study theScriptures with a group ofReformed Christians inTransylvania. In 1875,Heinrich Meyer baptized eight of them and formed them into a church inSalonta Mare. This was the first Baptist church in Transylvania.
TheBaptist Union of Romania was formed in 1920, butSaxons, Hungarians, andRusyn-Ukrainians maintained associations to promote their own interests. TheRecognized Hungarian Baptist Union of Romania was founded at Salonta in October 1920. TheUnrecognized Hungarian Baptist Union of Romania was formed around the same time inNuşfalău. In 1922, theRecognized Hungarian Baptist Union associated with theBaptist Union of Romania as a department within it, and also joined theBaptist World Alliance. The two Hungarian Baptist groups united to become theHungarian Baptist Convention of Romania in 1935.
Government instability and change brought varying challenges to the Baptists of Romania, especially from 1955 to 1989, under theCommunist regime. During this time believers were harassed, churches closed, ministers threatened, and educational work prohibited. In 1948, theHungarian Baptist Convention was closed. TheUnion of the Hungarian Baptist Churches of Romania was organized inCluj-Napoca on February 3, 1990. In 1996, the name "Union" was changed to "Convention".
According to a census published by the association in 2023, it claimed 8,321 members in 253 churches.[1]
| State-recognised |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Semi-recognised (as a religious association, but not adenomination) | ||
| Not state-recognised | ||
| Others | ||
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