FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA – January 12, 2026) The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) announces that Julie Justus Williams, Director of Global Partnerships and Unity, has accepted a new role as Area Director for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa with International Ministries (IM), also known as the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Since joining the BWA in November 2002, Justus Williams has played a vital role in fulfilling the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) mission to network the Baptist family to impact the world for Christ. Originally serving in the Divisions of Evangelism and Education/Study and Research, she helped organize human rights advocacy and visits, evangelism conferences, and supported BWA Commissions. After graduating from seminary in 2006, she began serving with Baptist World Aid (BWAid), coordinating project applications and preparing resources to support Baptists’ response to global hunger, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. She facilitated BWAid’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, including coordinating with other Baptist organizations for a Baptist Blitz Build initiative in 2007 following Hurricane Katrina. She was also a regular contributor to BWA publications, including Baptist World Magazine.
In 2008, Justus Williams launched the new Division of Freedom and Justice as the sole staff person with additional staff joining later. In this role, she served as one of the BWA’s United Nations (UN) representatives, coordinated the additional UN volunteer representatives, and advanced related advocacy efforts. She prepared materials for the annual Human Rights Day and alerted Baptists to relevant justice issues.
In 2010, she transitioned to the role of Member Services Manager, serving as the key contact with BWA member organizations around the world. In 2019, her title changed to Director of Global Partnerships and Unity, a reflection of expanded leadership responsibilities. In these roles, she has helped facilitate unprecedented growth, welcoming 66 new member organizations into the global family over the last 15 years, leading to a membership that now includes 283 conventions, unions, and ministries in 138 countries and territories. She has networked leaders from diverse cultures and traditions to advance the organization’s mission, overseen the PATH Scholarship program that has made it possible for hundreds of leaders to attend and serve at BWA events, and facilitated the yearly membership statistic gathering and analysis process for the development of the annual BWA Yearbook. She also served as a co-editor with BWA General Secretary Neville Callam for Baptists Against Racism: Reminders at the End of the Decade.
Throughout her tenure, including as a staff liaison for the BWA Commission on Baptist Worship and Spirituality, she has helped develop meaningful worship experiences for 14 BWA Annual Gatherings. Serving alongside three BWA General Secretaries, 45 BWA Officers, and more than 75 Executive Committee members, she has helped plan and facilitate annual Executive Committee and General Council Meetings, including meticulous post-meeting documentation with a commitment to maintaining an accurate historical record. Through her work with the BWA Nominations Committee, she has helped facilitate four quinquennial commission and committee leadership transitions. During her tenure with the BWA, she has traveled to more than 25 countries to serve alongside BWA Baptists from all six regions and worked in strategic collaboration with 16 regional secretaries.
“For more than twenty years, Julie has offered significant leadership across the life of the Baptist World Alliance, marked by faithfulness, insight, and a deep love for the whole of the global Baptist family,” said Rev. Dr. Elijah M. Brown, BWA General Secretary and CEO. “She has traveled the world building and fostering relationships with hundreds of leaders in national conventions and unions and played a pivotal role in multiple BWA ministries. Through her service in BWAid, Congress, Commissions, and the Office of the General Secretary, her leadership has helped shape initiatives that have touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world and welcomed numerous new BWA Member Partners. The seeds of unity Julie has planted and nurtured will bear fruit measured in generations.”
Justus Williams will conclude her time of service with the Baptist World Alliance and begin her new role in February 2026.
“It has been a joy and a privilege to serve God through the Baptist World Alliance for over two decades. I am grateful for how my worldview has expanded, for friendships in all BWA’s 138 countries and territories, and for the faithfulness of BWA’s member partners,” said Justus Williams. “The beauty of the BWA is that we see and treat each other as equals because we are all made in the image of God. From the smallest member partner to the largest, God knits us together into a wonderful tapestry that is the BWA. I thank God for all 53 million BWA Baptists and appreciate the faithful prayers and support I have received as I step into a new role within our global Baptist family.”
As a lifelong American Baptist, Justus Williams brings extensive experience to her new role. She served from 2001 to 2004 as a representative of the American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware (ABCOPAD) to the General Board of the ABCUSA and was on the IM Board. As a young adult, she ministered in Costa Rica as a member of an IM “Xtreme Team.” She also lived and served in Prague, Czech Republic, for two years while earning a Master of Theology from the International Baptist Theological Seminary, including volunteering at the European Baptist Federation (EBF) office.
”We give thanks for Julie’s enduring legacy and rejoice in all that God will continue to do through her new role with International Ministries, where she will provide focused leadership throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. International Ministries and American Baptist Churches USA are founding members of the Baptist World Alliance, and we look forward to ongoing strengthened collaboration as together we invite all people to become disciples of Jesus Christ and proclaim God’s reign of justice, peace, and abundant life,” said Brown.
Please join the BWA in congratulating Julie Justus Williams as she transitions to her new place of service and in unified prayer for God’s continued blessings on her life and ministry.
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