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New index by Baptist World Alliance finds 1 out of 4 worshipers face significant levels of persecution, hunger, conflict, and economic challenges.
As thousands of Baptists from almost 150 countries gather online this week to celebrate their global family, a recent study finds 36,000 Baptist churches and 13 million Baptists in nine countries face significant challenges related to their faith and their daily lives.
This represents 1 in 5 churches and 1 in 4 worshipers affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), which has member bodies in 126 countries and territories.
Thus it was fitting that the 22nd Baptist World Congress, held every five years and originally scheduled for 2020 in Brazil, opened yesterday with a pre-conference focused on the persecuted church. The event was made all the more poignant by Monday’s mass kidnapping at a Baptist high school in Kaduna, Nigeria, where 121 students remain missing.
The inaugural Baptist Vulnerability Index is an effort by BWA leaders to “bring attention” to the “challenging realities” of its members and to help Baptists “stand together in intentional solidarity.” More than 4,000 people from 146 nations registered for the congress, the largest and most diverse attendance in the 115-year history of the gathering. (Billy Graham spoke at many.)
The report identifies the top nine countries where it is now hardest to be a Baptist: the Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Sudan, Syria, Ethiopia, India, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and South Sudan. All scored between 6 and 9 on the index’s 10-point scale [see chart below].
“Our concern is for the Baptists, but not only for the Baptists,” Elijah Brown, BWA general secretary and CEO, told CT. “We share concern for all of the citizens in the country who may be struggling.”
The most Baptists at ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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