The Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI) is an international conservative Baptist Christian denomination. It is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.
History The Fellowship was founded during a meeting at Fort Worth in 1950 by a group of 100 pastors of the World Baptist Fellowship who disagreed with the authoritative direction of the leader.W. Glenn Jonas Jr., The Baptist River, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 113 That same year, the Baptist Bible College (now Mission University) and the organization's headquarters were established in Springfield, Missouri. It has established various fundamentalists Baptist Bible churches around the world.J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 284 In 2000, it had 4,500 churches and 1,200,000 members.Samuel S. Hill, Charles H. Lippy, Charles Reagan Wilson, Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Mercer University Press, USA, 2005, p. 100 According to a denomination census released in 2025, it has 4,000 churches in the United States and has a presence in 80 countries.BBFI Missions, About, USA, retrieved August 16, 2025
Programs There are three functions of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International. Worldwide missions, training, and communication.
The Baptist Bible Tribune, published monthly, contains numerous opinion pieces, reports from the foreign mission field, reports from domestic churches, and light theological treatises. It is written by BBFI officers, pastors, and missionaries and is the official voice of the BBFI. Since 2015, the editor is Randy Harp who was preceded by Keith Bassham.
The organizational structure includes the president, vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, and one director from each state elected by his own state fellowship. Within this organization, there are state fellowships in each of the fifty United States.
Beliefs The Fellowship has a Baptist confession of faith.Baptist Bible Fellowship International, Articles of faith, USA, retrieved September 5, 2021 Their beliefs are part of the fundamentalist movement.Robert E. Johnson, A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 357
See also Christianity in the United States
References
External links Baptist Bible Fellowship International Web Site Baptist Bible Fellowship Missions Web Site Baptist Bible Tribune Profile of BBFI on the Association of Religion Data Archives website