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)
For ease of reference, click one of the buttons below to see resolutions in that category.
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Swedish group learns of BWA freedom and justice work
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) welcomed an eight-member team from the Commission for Government Support for Faith Communities in Sweden (SST) to its international offices on October 7. SST is a government agency that provides support for faith communities, enabling...
Baptists to observe BWA Day
Baptist churches and institutions are encouraged to observe Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Day on February 4 or 5, 2017, depending on whether they worship on Saturday or Sunday. The observance is aimed at affirming Baptist identity within the worldwide Christian family....
Ethiopian Baptists request prayer
Baptists in Ethiopia are requesting prayer from the international Baptist community on recent happenings in the East African country. Over the past two months, beginning on August 5, Ethiopia has been beset by unrest that has led to the loss of hundreds of lives and...
Appeals for Baptists to aid Haiti
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is appealing to the worldwide Baptist family to respond to the devastating impact of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, by making donations online, sending in checks by mail or making wire transfers by bank. Haiti faced the brunt of the...
Nominations for human rights award now open
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has begun the process of accepting nominations for the 2017 Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award. Nominations will close on December 16. Any Baptist individual, church or organization can submit a nomination, and any Baptist is...
Callam appoints meeting planning manager
Carolina Mangieri, a Baptist World Alliance (BWA) member of staff since 2004, assumes the full position of Meeting Planning Manager beginning October 1. The appointment was made by BWA General Secretary Neville Callam following a decision of the Executive Committee in...
BWA among global gathering on peace and justice in Italy
Dimitrina Oprenova of Bulgaria, a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), was among a global gathering of 450 religious leaders of various Christian and faith traditions at the "THIRST FOR PEACE: Religions and Cultures in dialogue" in Assisi, Italy, from...
BWA appoints coordinator for mission and justice
Trisha Miller Manarin of Virginia, in the United States, has been appointed Baptist World Alliance (BWA) coordinator for the Division on Mission, Evangelism and Justice (MEJ). The appointment was made by BWA General Secretary Neville Callam following a decision of the...
Baptists join others in mission during Rio Summer Games
Baptists, along with other Christian traditions in Brazil, are engaged in mission outreach to the city of Rio de Janeiro and its visitors during the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The Olympic Games will formally run from August 5-21 while the Paralympics will...
Donation to BWA made more secure
Over the past two weeks, the donation (Give) button on the Baptist World Alliance website did not work as intended and persons using it may have received an error message. The glitch occurred while the BWA installed an extra layer of security on the website to ensure...
Baptists urge UN to raise threat designation for Nigeria
The main international organization that represents Baptists globally is telling the United Nations it needs to raise the designated threat level for Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region. Declaring that the area is rife with conflict and dislocation, the Baptist World...
Plans begin for 2020 congress in Brazil
The 22nd Baptist World Congress will be hosted in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in July 2020. The event, dubbed Celebration 2020 will, for the first time, include the Baptist Youth World Conference, which was previously held as a separate assembly. General...
BWA to combine divisional portfolios
The divisions of Mission, Evangelism and Theological Reflection (METR) and Freedom and Justice (F&J) are to be combined. This was affirmed by the BWA General Council at its meeting in Vancouver, Canada, in early July, after it was first approved by the Executive...
BWA receives new members
Three organizations were granted membership in the Baptist World Alliance by the General Council at its meeting convened in Vancouver, Canada. One new country has been added to the BWA roster. Founded in 1984, the Grenada Baptist Association has six churches and 400...
Baptists to discuss International terrorism and refugee displacement
The growing refugee crisis and terrorism will be among the issues to be discussed during the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering, primarily Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Europe and the mayhem caused by Boko Haram in Nigeria. The Annual Gathering is being held from...
Callam encourages Canadian congregation to remember those who labor in the faith
Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam encouraged Christians to specially remember Christians who work and live in vulnerable circumstances. The global Baptist leader, who was preaching at the worship service of First Baptist Church, Vancouver, on...
BWA convenes evangelism conference for French-speaking Baptists in the Caribbean
The Baptist World Alliance convened the fourth “Jesus Christ, Bread of Life” Mission and Evangelism Training Conference aimed at Francophone Baptists in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St. Martin, in the Caribbean. It completed the program of evangelism...
Baptist leaders to gather in Vancouver, Canada
Several hundred Baptists are to attend the Baptist World Alliance Annual Gathering in Vancouver, Canada, from July 4-9. The Annual Gathering brings together an international group of Baptist leaders, theologians, teachers, pastors and other representatives for...
Former BWA president Noel Vose has died
Noel Vose, president of the Baptist World Alliance between 1985 and 1990, died on May 2, in Western Australia. He was 94 years old. Vose was founding principal of the Baptist Theological College of Western Australia, which opened in 1963, and retired from that...
Baptist response to Ecuador quake
Baptists in Ecuador and other countries are offering emergency relief to those affected by the 7.8 earthquake that struck the country on April 16. Almost 600 have been killed, more than 8,300 were injured and more than 150 remain missing, . Israel Baptist Church in...
Dunn resigns BWA position to pursue pastoral opportunity
Emmett Dunn, director of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Youth Department and congress director, has resigned his position to pursue opportunities in the pastorate. His resignation takes effect July 31 and comes after 22 years of service to the BWA, where he began...
Baptists send emergency aid to Ecuador
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is sending an initial sum of US$15,000 for emergency relief to Ecuador after a massive 7.8 earthquake hit the South American country late on April 16. More than 400 were killed and more than 2,500 injured. A state of emergency was...
Baptist World magazine wins award
For the second year in a row, Baptist World, the quarterly magazine of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), received an award from the Religion Communicators Council (RCC). The periodical received the RCC Shoestring Award on March 31 during the DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial...
Baptists among those killed in suicide bombing in Pakistan
At least seven Baptists died in a bombing that killed more than 70 people on Easter Sunday, March 27, in the city of Lahore in Pakistan. According to a Baptist World Alliance (BWA) source in Lahore, 74 persons, 54 of them Christians, were among those killed by a...
BWA appoints new chief administrative officer to the UN
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has appointed Darrell Armstrong, a Baptist pastor in the state of New Jersey in the United States, as its chief administrative officer at the United Nations (UN). He succeeds attorney Mark Wiggs. Armstrong, a BWA representative to the...
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