Baptist World Alliance embarks on new collaborative era

LAGOS, Nigeria—The Baptist World Alliance entered its “collaborative mission era” with the adoption of a new constitution and bylaws.

After decades of “major growth” in the global organization, BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown—re-elected during the annual gathering to his second five-year term—pointed to a new era of shared governance shaped by the BWA’s identity and mission.

The shorter constitution tells who the BWA is and why it exists. The longer bylaws outline how BWA will work and place BWA’s six regions at the center of governance.

The new constitution and bylaws were adopted unanimously, along with a year-long implementation plan scheduled to finish by the conclusion of the July 2025 BWA World Congress in Brisbane, Australia. To facilitate implementation, Nominating Committee and Executive Committee at-large terms were extended one year.

New members

Of the 440 participants from 64 countries, 372 were in person and 68 were online. Members of the General Council among them voted to add 13 new member bodies. Ten are in Africa, four of which are the first BWA member bodies from their respective countries:

• Evangelical Baptist Church Association of Cape Verde (700 members in six churches).
• Baptist Association of Mauritius (151 members in five churches).
• Baptist Convention of São Tomé and Príncipe (350 members in three churches).
• Federation of Baptist Churches in Congo (1,250 members in 12 churches).

Other new members from Africa are:

• Community of Independent Baptist Evangelical Churches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (22,305 members in 145 churches).
• Convention of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Congo, DRC (3,062 members in 15 churches).
• Baptist Fellowship Church in Central African Republic (8,493 members in 60 churches).
• Communion of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Central Africa, CAR (12,700 members in 67 churches).
• National Association Baptist Churches, CAR (50,000 members in 228 churches).
• Christian Unity Baptist Churches in Rwanda (12,051 members in 29 churches).

Three institutional members were added: Hungarian Baptist Aid, Buckner International and Baylor University.

Nigeria’s significance

The Nigerian Baptist Convention, formed in 1914, is the largest member body of BWA, formed in 1905. Additionally, Lagos—with more than 13 million people—is one of the world’s 20 largest cities and is a strategic center of the Baptist movement, Brown noted.

Nigeria has more than 220 million people, Nigerian Baptist Convention President Israel Adelani Akanji said.

“It is said 1 in every 7 Black people in the world is a Nigerian, and 1 in every 4 people in Africa is a Nigerian,” he added.

Nigerian Baptist Royal Ambassadors opened the annual gathering with a formal ceremony and honor guard inspection.

Focused on peacemaking

Brown introduced the theme of the annual gathering—“Ambassadors of Peace”—defining ambassadors as “reconciled reconcilers.” He referred to 1 Peter 3:11—“seek peace and pursue it;” James 3:18—“the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace;” and Matthew 5:9—“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, a deacon in his Baptist church, participated in the opening welcome and worship, and was recognized and prayed over by annual gathering attendees.

Resolutions adopted

The BWA General Council adopted three resolutions unanimously.

Religious nationalism

The resolution on religious nationalism defines it as idolatry and as “the co-opting of the language, symbols, imagery, sacred texts, or holy figures of the dominant religion to justify wielding legal, political or social power or privilege, and may depict a nation or political party as divinely approved and guided.”

As a threat to religious freedom that “may corrupt or exploit any religion in the pursuit of obtaining or maintaining political power, … Baptist individuals, churches, unions, and institutions” are called on “to find ways to publicly and privately oppose religious nationalism [and Christian nationalism, more specifically—as well as the theology of dominion undergirding it—and] support positive Christian engagement in the public square.”

Peace in the Middle East

The resolution on peace in the Middle East is the ninth such resolution since 1981. It condemns violence against civilians and “all forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia.” It denounces “genocidal rhetoric by any party or country, especially that which utilizes biblical passages.”

The resolution “urges an immediate ceasefire in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Yemen, … the immediate return of all hostages (as well as the bodies of dead hostages) by Hamas,” and coordinated humanitarian efforts to prevent further deaths.

Furthermore, “a just and lasting peace” should include and be available to both Palestinians and Israelis.

“With the significant damage to Gaza Baptist Church, we commit to support the rebuilding of a long-term Baptist presence in Gaza and the preservation of Christian community and witness throughout the Middle East,” the resolution concludes.

World hunger

A resolution on world hunger acknowledged an estimated 700 million people—“including more than 23 million Baptists—are affected by hunger.”

Their plight is made worse recently by “global systemic issues like poverty, economic injustice, climate change, war, and racial and gender inequality.” To address these issues, “structural and systemic changes are necessary to eliminate hunger and poverty disparities.”

Human rights award

Rev. Mariama Julie Sesay of Sierra Leone received the Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award for her decades of work fighting gender-based violence against girls and women.

As a survivor of female genital mutilation at age 10, from which she almost died, Sesay has made female genital mutilation a center piece of her ministry and advocacy for gender justice and health.

BWA business concluded by commissioning the first missionaries from the All Africa Baptist Fellowship. The Baptist General Association of Virginia is partnering in their support.

UPDATED to include the final attendee count.