International Baptist Convention

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The International Baptist Convention (IBC) is a federation of Baptist congregations that are located in Europe , the Middle East and Africa . The individual local congregations each include people of different nationalities. The official church language of the IBC is therefore English .

history

The nucleus of the IBC were the Immanuel Baptist Church in Wiesbaden and the Bethel Baptist Church in Frankfurt . They were founded in the 1950s to provide pastoral care to US soldiers and their families. Soon, however, they developed a strong attraction to English-speaking people from other nations. In 1958 the two congregations formed a loose working group, the Association of Baptists in Continental Europe , which was soon joined by similar congregations.

From 1961 the American congregation federation of the Southern Baptist Convention supported the work of the IBC. In 1964, the Association adopted the name it still bears today.

In 1968 the IBC got its first general secretary and in the 1970s its own office. The work expanded. New international Baptist congregations sprang up in many other places. The aim was to make an international and multicultural community offer with a Baptist character, especially in the major European cities.

The IBC experienced a further surge in growth after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990. The IBC set itself the goal of founding at least 20 new international congregations in major Eastern European cities. This goal was already achieved in 1995.

International Baptist churches, which today work under the umbrella of the IBC, have also sprung up in southern Europe , the Near East and Africa .

Objectives

The IBC has formulated the following guidelines for its work:

First and foremost is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ .
In addition, it is about building new churches that are open to Christians with different national and cultural backgrounds.
The IBC offers a wide range of support for the internal and external growth of its members. This includes training for volunteers, camps and conferences, but also theological teaching and learning programs that are made available to the congregations.
Another important concern is to create suitable platforms for the congregations to meet and for their cohesion and exchange.
In addition, the IBC supports other Baptist groups and congregations ideally and materially and also works non-denominationally with Christian mission societies of confessional churches.

The IBC sums up its main concern as follows:

"To be an effective instrument of God to aid member churches in leading people to saving faith and discipleship in Jesus Christ. With a focus on the English language, our mission is to provide the framework and available resources for member churches and their missions. "

distribution

The IBC includes over 65 municipalities in 24 countries. There are 62 parishes in Europe, two in Western Asia ( Beirut in Lebanon , Dubai in the United Arab Emirates ) and one in Africa ( Dar es Salaam in Tanzania ). There are 25 IBC member communities in Germany .

organization

The IBC headquarters are in Frankfurt am Main.

There are close ties to the World Baptist Federation , the European Baptist Federation and the German Baptist Church, the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , among others . IBC has joined the federal government as an associate member. Similar contacts and relationships exist with the other national Baptist unions in Europe.

Cooperation with other churches

In many places in Germany members of the IBC congregations work together with other Christians within the Evangelical Alliance . You also take part in the interdenominational ProChrist work. There are also good contacts to other denominations in many places.

Christians who belong to other churches but cannot find their own denomination locally are welcome in the IBC congregations. You will receive a guest membership if you comply with the principles of the IBC.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ partner of the IBC ; accessed on February 27, 2010

Web links