Texas Baptist entities feature in BWA business

The Baptist World Alliance General Council on July 9 approved 17 new BWA member bodies and partners—including five affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas or are closely connected with Texas Baptists.

Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas, with 42,520 members in 1,063 churches, was among the new conventions and unions approved as BWA member bodies.

Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, with 1,665 students, and No More Violence/No Más Violencia in Arlington, which had 765 students in 2023, were among the educational institutions approved as new BWA member partners.

One aid organization, Texans on Missions, and one financial institution, HighGround Advisors—both affiliated with the BGCT—were approved as new BWA member partners.

The BWA Executive Council elected Jerry Carlisle, president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, to serve as the first chair of the Trustee Committee.

BWA created the Trustee Committee when the BWA General Council adopted a restructured constitution and bylaws during its 2024 annual meeting in Lagos, Nigeria.

BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown, in his remarks, announced a memorandum of understanding between Baylor University and BWA will be signed at the 23rd Baptist World Congress “to establish for the first time ever a BWA program and center of study focused on the Baptist World Alliance.”

Other new BWA members

Four other Baptist conventions and unions were approved as new BWA members:

• Baptist Evangelical Union in Angola, with 214,250 members in 260 churches.
• Baptist Union of Tamil Nadu in India, with 2,000 members in 50 churches.
• Kachin Baptist Churches USA, with 2,700 members in 21 churches.
• Seira Community Church in Rwanda, with 5,200 members in 11 churches.

Four new members are the first BWA partner members in their respective countries:

• Association of Baptist Churches in Senegal, with 760 members in eight churches.
• Baptist Union of Samoa and International Ministries, with 300 members in five churches.
• Mongolian Baptist Convention, with 500 members in 14 churches.
• Union of the Baptist Christians in the Republic of North Macedonia, with 200 members in four churches.

Two other educational institutions were approved for BWA membership:

• Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Ky., with more than 20,000 students, whose former provost Donna Hedgepath is the current president of Wayland Baptist University.
• The International Baptist Theological Study Centre, founded in 1949 in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and now headquartered in The Netherlands, with 51 current students.

One news organization, The Alabama Baptist, Inc., became “the first BWA member partner focused primarily on media.”

Baptist Mission Australia also was approved as a new BWA member partner.

New leaders elected

Tomás Mackey of Argentina concludes his five years as BWA president at the 23rd Baptist World Congress.

Karl Johnson of Jamaica, current BWA vice president, was elected to succeed Mackey as chair. The title of president was changed to chair in the new BWA constitution and bylaws to reflect the pastoral nature of the role.

Lynn Green of the United Kingdom was elected vice chair, succeeding Johnson as vice president.

The new BWA constitution also created a Leadership Council that includes 12 at-large members. Igor Bandura of Ukraine, Bela Szilagyi of Hungary and David Washburn of the United States were elected as at-large council members.

BWA growth reported

Brown reported more than 3,400 registrants from 130 countries for the 23rd Baptist World Congress.

BWA has grown 32 percent worldwide over the last 10 years, Brown said, “and now includes 53 million baptized believers in 134 countries.”

Brown reported growth in the BWA Global Mission Network with the addition of the Asia Pacific Baptist Mission; New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society; Fiji Baptist Convention Mission; the Africa Baptist Mission Board; and Baptist Evangelism, Church Planting and Missions Network of the Baptist Union of South Africa, bringing the global network to more than 7,000 missionaries.

Additionally, a first-ever collaborative mission initiative will launch during the 23rd Baptist World Congress thanks to a $1 million donation.

Noting the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, Brown expressed gratitude to Bashaka Faustin, present in the room, for his efforts to keep many people alive during the massacre.

“President Bashaka, we want to publicly say ‘thank you,’ because your courageous protection kept more than a hundred people alive,” Brown said.

“He sheltered more than a hundred people in his Baptist church in downtown Kigali and kept them alive, selling what he had to keep those who were doing the harm out.”