FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – July 12, 2025) A new publication is highlighting the Baptist World Alliance’s prophetic voice over the past 120 years.
Good News for the World: Baptist World Alliance Resolutions and Statements, 1905-2023, edited by BWA Historian Lee Spitzer with a preface from BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown, presents in one volume the more than 400 resolutions and statements issued by the BWA since its founding in 1905. This is the first time these documents have been compiled into one encyclopedia, and for many of them, the first time they have ever been published.
Covering a broad range of topics including racism, antisemitism, poverty, and war, BWA resolutions represent the global Baptist body’s response to social, political, and theological issues throughout its history. Adopted at BWA World Congress, General Council, and Executive Committee meetings, these resolutions are reflections of God’s justice, compassion, and love for the world.
“Many of the resolutions speak to contemporary concerns with multicultural wisdom, spiritual integrity, and intellectual depth,” said Spitzer. “Readers seeking to discover how Baptists on a global scale and across time have addressed the human condition in its various dimensions – moral, social, economic, political, and religious – will be inspired by these declarations.”
Speaking at the July 11th book launch held during the 23rd Baptist World Congress, Spitzer shared that Good News for the World was written for three audiences: scholars, theologians, and historians as a tool for research on what Baptists have said about key issues throughout the 20th and 21st centuries; denominational leaders who can utilize BWA resolutions as they represent and advocate on behalf of the Baptist body around the world; and pastors and lay leaders who can share with their congregations the words and wisdom of Baptist thinkers, religious leaders, and states people from the past 100 years.
In addition to the 422 resolutions and statements, the book includes a variety of indices to help readers navigate the volume, including a table of contents categorizing the documents into 13 major topics such as war and peace, poverty, gospel for the poor, climate change and climate care, ecumenical relations, Baptist identity, antisemitism, and interfaith relations.
Over the past 100 years, BWA resolutions have had a significant impact around the world as Baptists have used them to stand against injustice.
“The resolution that has had the greatest impact globally was a resolution that we passed in Berlin at the World Congress in 1934,” said Spitzer. “In that resolution we said to Hitler and the Nazis that antisemitism was against the Gospel, and that any kind of racial discrimination, whether it was against Blacks in the American South, or Asians, was against the core beliefs of Baptists. When we published that resolution, we were the first and only international Christian fellowship to oppose Adolf Hitler in his country. That resolution was republished in major secular newspapers all around the world. Around the globe, people knew that Baptists with one voice stood up against the one of the greatest evils of the 20th century.”
General Secretary Brown shared a contemporary example of how historical resolutions are being used for advocacy on behalf of Baptists today.
“When the war in Ukraine began again, we found a resolution that had been submitted by the Russian Baptists that talked about how they had a theological conviction to not serve in direct military engagement on the frontlines, and we were able to write to the government of Russia using a resolution that was 100 years old to argue that Russian Baptists should not be required to participate in this ongoing conflict. The incredible voice from BWA resolutions not only gives us insight and wisdom it gives us advocacy tools in our world today.”
In Baptist polity, the resolutions adopted by the BWA are not binding on the faith and practice of its members, but share wisdom and raise consciousness that can guide action.
“BWA resolutions are a global family speaking with one voice and recognized around the world,” said Brown. “BWA resolutions are a global family in action, articulating theological convictions, leading for greater mission engagement, responding in loving solidarity in the midst of suffering, advancing an ethic of life and religious freedom for all, and calling for structural organization that more fully embodies ‘the essential oneness’ of the Baptist family and Jesus’ prayer that we ‘may be one’ in ‘complete unity.’”
Published by Baylor University Press, Good News for the World: Baptist World Alliance Resolutions and Statements, 1905-2023 is available for purchase here: http://bit.ly/4lUEbPT. All proceeds from the book are being donated to the BWA to support its global mission.
