|
Kuala Lumpur (BWA)--Four organizations in Africa have been accepted into membership of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) at a meeting of the General Council in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Association of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Congo is an association of 3,021 members in 36 churches in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Established in 1994, its offices are in the city of Goma in the eastern part of the country.
A second Baptist body from the DRC, the Baptist Churches Union Community of Congo, has also been received into BWA membership. Formed in 1964, it comprises 46,321 members in 372 churches and has offices in Kikwit in the southwestern part of the DRC.
Both groups bring to 10 the number of member bodies in the DRC, one of the largest countries in Africa.
The Baptist Convention of Sudan (BCOS) started in refugee camps in Kakuma, Kenya, in 1996, and includes 18 churches and another 32 that are in the process of being established. The BCOS has more than 13,500 members. Offices are in Malakal in South Sudan.
There are now two BWA member bodies in Sudan.
The Free Evangelical Baptist Church of the Central African Republic joins three other Baptist bodies that are members of the BWA in the French-speaking African nation. It has 57,000 members in 250 churches. It has offices in Berbérati, the third-largest city in the nation.
The BWA now has 222 member bodies in 120 countries.
The General Council also accepted the Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India (CBCNEI) into associate membership in the BWA. CBCNEI includes a number of church bodies in several Northeast Indian states, some of which hold full membership in the BWA. CBCNEI represents more than one million members in more than 6,000 churches.
More than 300 Baptist leaders and delegates gathered in Kuala Lumpur from July 4-9 for the BWA Annual Gathering. It involves yearly meetings of a number of BWA groups, including the General Council and the Executive Committee; executive sub-committees and divisional advisory committees; women's, men's, and youth departments; regional groupings; and commissions of the divisions of Freedom & Justice, and Mission, Evangelism & Theological Reflection, and others.
-30-
| 
