The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is an international communion of Baptists, with an estimated 53 million people from 283 member bodies in 138 countries and territories as of 2025. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA accounts for about half the Baptists in the world, becoming Christianity's seventh-largest communion (see list of Christian denominations by membership).
The BWA was founded in 1905 in London during an international congress of Baptist churches. Its headquarters are in Falls Church, Virginia, United States. It is led by general secretary and CEO Elijah M. Brown, Karl Johnson of the Jamaica Baptist Union, Chair of the Alliance and Lynn Green of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Vice Chair.
History
The roots of the Baptist World Alliance can be traced back to the seventeenth century when Thomas Grantham, the Baptist Messenger and leading divine (theologian) of Lincolnshire, proposed the concept of a congregation of all Christians in the world that are "baptised according to the appointment of Christ." Similar proposals were put forward later such as the call of John Rippon in 1790 for a world meeting of Baptists "to consult the ecclesiastical good to the whole."
It was, however, only in 1904 when such a congregation became a reality. John Newton Prestridge, editor of The Baptist Argus, at Louisville, Kentucky, called for a world gathering of Baptists. John Howard Shakespeare, editor of The Baptist Times and Freeman, London, endorsed the proposal. In October 1904, the Baptist Union of Great Britain passed a resolution to invite a Congress to meet with them in 1905.Erich Geldbach, Baptists Worldwide: Origins, Expansions, Emerging Realities, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2022, p. 139 At the Congress, a committee was formed, which proposed a Constitution for a World Alliance. The Baptist World Alliance was founded in London, during this first Baptist World Congress in July 1905. Every five years since, the BWA holds a Baptist World Congress in different locations around the world, and multiple international meetings and programs are held in the times between Congresses.
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.
In 2003, the International Baptist Convention, an international association of English-speaking churches, became a member. William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2021, p. 314
In 2004, the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention voted to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) because a member association, the American Baptist Churches USA had accepted an organization that included 2 churches favorable to the blessings of same-sex marriage as well as perceived anti-American sentiment, which were partly attributed to Alliance Secretary General Denton Lotz's visits to Fidel Castro in Cuba. A year later, two state denominational members of the Southern Baptist Convention—the Baptist General Association of Virginia and the Baptist General Convention of Texas—affirmed their continued support and applied for membership in the Alliance, and were subsequently admitted.
In July 2025, Karl Johnson of the Jamaica Baptist Union became Chair of the Alliance and Lynn Green of the Baptist Union of Great Britain became Vice Chair.Baptist World Alliance, BWA Commissions New Leadership, baptistworld.org, USA, July 12, 2025
List of members
As of February 2025, the Baptist World Alliance listed 267 unions, conventions and associations of Baptist churches as members, which together claimed a total of 53,803,096 members. In June 2025, 9 new denominations were received into membership, increasing the total number of member bodies to 276, which together represented 53,871,526 individual members.