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 on Haiti
The General Council of the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, July 1-6, 2013:
ACKNOWLEDGES that the Republic of Haiti was the first, and for a long time, the only state in the world to recognize equality of rights for all human beings regardless of gender, economic condition or any other consideration;
Decade of Racial Justice
The Baptist World Alliance Congress meeting in Melbourne, January 5-9, 2000
AFFIRMS that all human beings are created in the image of God and are called to full participation in the
human community;
Faith and Hope in the New Millennium
The Baptist World Alliance Congress meeting in Melbourne, January 5-9, 2000
AFFIRMS the message of the Congress theme, “Jesus Christ Forever. Yes!”; the center of all our life as
Baptists in Jesus Christ who is the eternal Son of God, Lord and Savior; we affirm the new century in the
strong hope of Christ and his future for all humanity;
Tribute to Dr. Billy Graham
BWA World Congress Resolution 1995.6 The General Council and 17th World Congress of the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Buenos Aires,Argentina, July 31-August 6, 1995, with the theme Come Celebrate Christ: The Hope of the World,GREETS Dr. Billy Graham in the name of...
Appreciation
BWA World Congress Resolution 1995.5 The General Council and 17th World Congress of the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 31-August 6, 1995, with the theme Come Celebrate Christ: The Hope of the World, THANKS President Carlos Menem of the...
Aid
The General Council and 17th World Congress of the Baptist World Alliance, meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 31-August 6, 1995,
GIVES THANKS to God for all those who have worked in partnership with Baptist World Aid in 75 years of caring;
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.
Russia
The members of this Sixth Baptist World Congress, meeting in Atlanta, Ga., record their sorrow that it has been impossible for any representatives from the U. S. S. R. to participate in their assembly. They would desire, if it is possible to reach them, to assure the Baptists in those Republics of the prayerful and continuous sympathy of their fellow-believers throughout the World.
Temperance (1939)
BWA World Congress Resolution 1939.4 This assembly of the Baptist World Alliance declares that the sale and use of intoxicants increase crime, waste national resources, corrupt social habits, and are inimical to the welfare of individuals and of society, and should...
Racialism
BWA World Congress Resolution 1939.5 The Sixth Baptist World Congress, assembled in Atlanta, Ga., is constrained to express the judgment of Baptist people in general on the question of race relationship. The members rejoice that the preparations for the present...
Evangelism
The Congress rejoices in the spontaneous action of a number of its members in gathering for an informal conference on Evangelism, receives with high appreciation the suggestions and recommendations which they have put forward, and refers them to the Executive Committee for sympathetic consideration and consultation.
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...
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 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 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 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
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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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