We are pleased to share with you the entire set of Resolutions, Manifestos, Messages and Proclamations approved by delegates attending the Baptist World Alliance World Congresses from 1905 through 2015 (the 2020 Congress was postponed to 2021 due to the global pandemic).
Additionally, we are offering the Resolutions and Manifestos approved by the BWA General Council, which meets yearly. The online collection includes the years 1976-2019. The BWA Executive Committee Resolutions are currently being compiled, and a limited number are already accessible. The collection will be expanded over time.
Each Resolution document is in PDF format and seeks to reproduce the original text as closely as possible. This means that language and punctuation may be archaic and not in accordance with contemporary standards of discourse. Spellings of words sometimes are in British English and have been preserved as they were originally published. I am solely responsible for any typographical errors in reproduction, and I would deeply appreciate it if you would share with me any that you may discover.
It is the BWA’s hope that this collection will be useful to scholars, historians, denominational leaders, and clergy. Each document now contains a unique identification number, topical keywords, and four types of citations for academic purposes.
The range of issues covered by the collection is comprehensive, and many of the Resolutions speak to contemporary concerns (such as racism, antisemitism, poverty and war) with multi-cultural wisdom, spiritual integrity, and intellectual depth. Readers seeking to learn how Baptists on a global scale and across time have addressed the human condition in all of its variations (moral, social, economic, political, etc.) will be rewarded as well as challenged.
In Baptist polity, Resolutions and other collective statements are not binding on Baptist individuals or churches. They intend to share wisdom and raise consciousness rather than to demand or coerce conformity or hinder the soul freedom and responsibility of people to follow God according to the dictates of their own Christ-led conscience. In the foreword to the 1955 Golden Jubilee World Congress Official Report (p. 6), BWA General Secretary Arnold T. Ohrn stated this principle well:
If you should need any further assistance in utilizing this online historical archive, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer,
BWA Historian (Click here to contact)
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Resolution of Thanks
We, the delegates of the Eleventh Baptist World Alliance Congress held at Miami Beach, Florida, June 25-30, 1965, offer thanks to our Heavenly Father for the privilege of fellowship with Baptists gathered from the nations of the world. We are grateful, not alone for new light and truth which have broken forth from the Word of God, but for the restatement of those things most surely believed among us.
Resolution on Brotherhood and Equality
That this Eleventh Congress of the Baptist World Alliance affirms its belief in both the brotherhood of all Christians and the equality of all men under God, regardless of race or social position, and that we accept our responsibility as Baptists to take a full share in solving the un-Christlike distinctions of our societies, wherever they are.
Resolution on Peace
In these days of tension and concern for the destiny of all mankind, we Baptists appeal to all Christians to join together to preserve peace on earth.
We must answer the call “to seek peace and pursue it.” The things that belong to “Thy peace” must be found. No nation wins a nuclear war—all are defeated. As much as one hundred and twenty billions of dollars are being spent yearly on armaments and armed forces by the nations of the world.
Resolution on Separation of Church and State
The Tenth Congress of the Baptist World Alliance reaffirms its belief in the separation of the church and its institutions from the state.
Resolution on Underprivileged Persons
We believe that all people of the world have one Father and that one God has created us all and that it is God’s will that all of His people should share in the conditions that provide for freedom, self- determination, technical knowledge, and the materials necessary to the life of persons whom God has created to fulfil His purposes.
Resolution on Nuclear Testing
We urge the nations to dispense with all testing of nuclear weapons and the production of the same; and co-operatively, to agree on satisfactory methods of inspection designed to ensure that all nations shall exercise good faith in this matter.
Resolution on Race Relations
We urge the nations to dispense with all testing of nuclear weapons and the production of the same; and co-operatively, to agree on satisfactory methods of inspection designed to ensure that all nations shall exercise good faith in this matter.
Final Resolution
This final session of the Jubilee Congress of the Baptist World Alliance rejoices to record an attendance of over 8,500 delegates, representing Baptist communities in every continent and over sixty lands. It welcomes in particular the participation of a delegation from the Baptists of the Soviet Union.
Resolution of Thanks
We, the members of the Golden Jubilee Congress of the Baptist World Alliance held in London, England, July 16th to 22nd, 1955, warmly recognize, and express our heartfelt gratitude for, the careful and arduous preparations made by British Baptists, and especially by the Committees set up in London, for the hospitality shown us and for the arrangements made for our convenience and comfort.
Resolution on Evangelism
As members of the Golden Jubilee World Congress we cordially endorse the following resolution passed by the Conference of Ministers and Laymen held on Tuesday, July 19th, and request the Executive of the Alliance to take steps to give effect to it:
Resolution on Christian Fellowship
As Baptists we recognize that we have had and continue to have a distinctive witness to the world and to the church; yet we believe that this ought not to keep us from the full realization that we are a part of Christ’s body and therefore one with all who are in fellowship with Him as Lord and Saviour.
Resolution on Bible Study and Sunday School Work
The members of the Congress understand that there is a strong desire that at the Conference on Bible Study and Sunday School Work to be held on Friday afternoon, 22nd July, certain definite proposals or plans for action should be put forward and approved.
Resolution on Race Relations
Whereas the Baptist World Alliance in 1934, 1939, 1947 and 1950 has already declared itself unalterably opposed to racial discrimination in every form; and
Whereas, in this Congress of the Baptist World Alliance representatives have gathered from more than sixty countries representing many nationalities and races;
Resolution on Peace
Whereas the Baptist World Alliance in 1934, 1939, 1947 and 1950 has already declared itself unalterably opposed to racial discrimination in every form; and
Whereas, in this Congress of the Baptist World Alliance representatives have gathered from more than sixty countries representing many nationalities and races;
Resolution of Thanks
“Baptists in every land join with their fellow-Christians in the prayer that peace, both just and abiding, may come soon to the hearts of all mankind. To that end, we hail with hope two recent developments:
First, war has been defined and declared as a crime against society. Second, the founding of United Nations as a medium of interpreting and guaranteeing the right basis for effective expression of the common desire of all right-thinking people to enjoy life, liberty, and happiness.
Resolution on Displaced Persons
BWA World Congress Resolution 1947.4 “This B.W.A. Congress at Copenhagen, assembled from many lands and representing many peoples, deeply concerned at the condition of the D.P.’s in many camps in Germany, Austria, and other countries, remembering that those who...
Resolution concerning the Jews
“Aware of the unprecedented suffering through which the people of Israel have passed during recent years, millions of them being exterminated by the most inhuman means; aware also that these sufferings are not yet at an end, but that hundreds of thousands are still in concentration camps or wandering homeless from land to land; aware, further, that the poisonous propaganda and destructive designs of anti- Semitism are still at work in many lands: this Congress puts on record its sense of sorrow and shame that such conditions prevail.
Resolution on Race Relations
“Race relations is one of the perplexing problems which the Christian Church must face in the world to- day. There are many conditions and attitudes which strain and impair human relations and cause great concern; but we cannot solve the problem unless we face it forthrightly as Christians.
Resolution of Thanks
Resolution of Thanks
127. The President introduced Dr. Clifton Gray, who moved the following resolution, which was unanimously accepted:
“The Baptist World Alliance gratefully records its deep sense of obligation to many individuals and organizations as well as to the citizens of Atlanta as a whole for the magnificent cooperation which has helped to make this Sixth Baptist World Congress
Resolution of Thanks to the Cleveland Committee
We, the members of the Eighth Congress of the Baptist World Alliance, desire to put on record our sincere and hearty thanks to the members and friends of the Cleveland Baptist Association for the admirable arrangements and gracious hospitality which have made possible the success of our 1950 sessions.
Resolution of Thanks
Whereas, The Baptist World Alliance has had the privilege these past three years of having as its President the Rev. C. Oscar Johnson, D.D., beloved pastor of the Third Baptist Church of St. Louis, Mo., and
Resolution on Genocide
The U. N. Convention defines genocide to mean certain acts (enumerated in Article II) committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such.
“Genocide is a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings.”
Resolution on Race Relations
WHEREAS, The Baptist World Alliance in 1934, 1939 and 1947 condemned racial discrimination;
WHEREAS, The question of race relations is world-wide in scope and is one of the most serious and baffling problems confronting mankind today;
Resolution on Prayer
Since the wrong we have committed only God can correct; since the peace and universal brotherhood we seek and long for, only God can bring; since the unity we desire, only God can bring it to pass; since every commission that has reported acknowledges that prayer is the key and the solution of the problems in its area and that at home and abroad souls are hungry for a better understanding of each other and a close walk with God, regardless of race, color, social, economic or cultural level;
Resolution on International Relations
BWA World Congress Resolution 1947.1 "Baptists in every land join with their fellow-Christians in the prayer that peace, both just and abiding, may come soon to the hearts of all mankind. To that end, we hail with hope two recent developments: First, war has been...
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