Photo of one of the plenary sessions by Rev Andrew Hall, a Congress participant. Used with permission.
This year‘s Baptist World Congress, held in Brisbane from 7-12 July, felt like a decisive moment for Baptists, giving a choice to take certain paths and not others. The Baptist World Alliance has held a world congress every five years in various countries since 1905.
The last time a Baptist World Congress was held in Australia was in 2000 in Melbourne. I went, a third-year ministry student then, less aware of the people and politics. I was encouraged by the diversity of global Baptists and by our common love for Jesus. This time, I was more aware of the global moment, and what was being said in response to that.
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA)
It needs to be said upfront that not all Baptists are represented by the Baptist World Alliance. By its own estimation, it represents 53 million baptised members, about half of Baptist members globally. Baptists tend to measure their numbers by official members, those who have been baptised upon their own confession of belief and received into church membership. This does not include all regular attenders, leaving out many children and others who have not taken the step into formal membership. To include these could conceivably almost double that number. A recent estimation put the number of adherents at 170 million, so it would be a reasonable ballpark figure to suggest the BWA might represent at least half of those.
For instance, the well-known Southern Baptist Convention isn’t part of the Baptist World Alliance, having withdrawn in 2004 due to what they perceived as a leftward drift. However, a couple of their state members remain within the BWA.
The Paths of the Acts 2 Movement
The 2025 Baptist World Congress was opened with an address by the General Secretary, Rev Dr Elijah Brown. Dr Brown is a specialist in human rights and religious freedom. Of course, this is a Baptist specialty. Liberty of conscience is a key Baptist distinctive, reflecting our origin as dissenters. The last two clauses of the BWA beliefs statement state that member organisations:
“16. Confess that faith in Christ entails a passionate commitment to religious liberty, freedom, peace and justice;
17. Affirm that in Jesus Christ all people are equal. We oppose all forms of slavery, racism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing and so will do all in our power to address and confront these sins”
Perhaps it is no surprise then that this would be a key point in Dr Brown’s address, as part of a wider movement he was launching, called the Acts 2 Movement. This movement calls Baptists worldwide to walk five paths together: The witness path, the neighbour path, the Bible path, the freedom path, and the care path. These have goals set for 2033: 450 million testimonies shared, 500,000 neighbourhood chaplains, the Bible translated into 1159 more languages, 1 million signatures on a covenant of religious freedom, and 1 billion intentional acts of service.
This whole initiative was warmly received by the over 3000 attendees from over 130 countries gathered in Brisbane (There should have been more, as word on the street was that a significant number of visas were rejected). There was a loud spontaneous round of applause for the rejection of Christian nationalism as part of the freedom path. This would be followed on the Friday night by an invitation to sign the Covenant of Religious Freedom which also included a rejection of religious nationalism. As well, at one point during the night people stood at the front to represent those countries in which Christians are the most vulnerable, to persecution, war, and hunger, with notably the Israel representative standing next to the Palestine representative. Both countries have associations affiliated with the BWA. As these people remained standing, the invitation for all to sign the covenant was made.
Responding to the Current Moment
Lying behind this was an awareness of the current situation in the USA. This was even explicitly referred to by some. The speaker on the final night was African American pastor Rev Dr Charlie Dates. Dr Dates has a proven history in justice centred projects and as well as pastoring is Co-Chair of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Preaching Institute.
As part of a bold sermon about the difference of gospel power, he implored the audience not to make the same mistakes as the US has regarding power, explicitly calling out MAGA churches as departing from a gospel understanding of power.
The previous day had featured four female speakers who spoke for the need for freedom and justice from various angles, Jennifer Lau, Executive Director of Canadian Baptist Ministries, Kaye Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church, AmandaKhozi Mukwashi, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Lesotho, and Rev Marsha Scipio, director of Baptist World Aid. Rev Scipio spoke of this moment as perilous times. To prove her point about the peril, she listed world conflicts, mass murders, domestic violence, religious persecution, and religious nationalism. These perilous times would require taking a path of frank truth-telling (2 Cor 7). An example of such followed immediately, because a male pastor got up to publicly call men in particular to release women into the freedom they already have in Christ.
On that note, while this day was a beneficial addition to the schedule, there is still some work to be done in terms of gender parity at the Baptist World Congress, with only 25% of the 70 listed speakers women.[1] On the main stage, women were confined to one day, which gave a focus to that day but also made it a day which could be skipped by those uncomfortable with women preaching.
Along with the plenary sessions, participants chose from a vast array of Bible studies, breakout sessions, forums, and gatherings all around the broad theme of Living the Good News. It is difficult to characterise the entirety of this offering, but certainly in the sessions I attended, the bold, gospel-focussed truth-telling about the current moment that characterised the main stage was continued.
Into the Future
The Baptist World Congress is not in the main a decision-making conference. Rather, it is a time to be encouraged and challenged as an international movement. The various challenges will now need to go back to national and state associations, right down to the level of the local church. These challenges will find a better welcome in some places than others. With their independence, Baptist churches and associations will have to choose to adopt and adapt what has been presented. Moreover, people will need to overcome their fears and apathy in order to go, act, and speak.
But if they do? Those many millions of Baptists worldwide might well make a powerful gospel difference in these perilous times. I certainly hope and pray that in five years’ time at the next Congress, I hear many hope-filled stories of people and a world changed by the gospel.
Disclosure: the author Megan Powell du Toit is an ordained minister of a Baptist World Alliance member association and currently serves on their Global Commission for Baptist Doctrine and Christian Unity. She facilitated one session at the Congress.
Rev Dr Megan Powell du Toit is the Baptist half of the WADR Project team.
[1] The author is currently working on an article on the standing of women in Baptist churches.
thewadrproject.com 