Malaysia Baptist Convention

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The Malaysia Baptist Convention (MBC) is an association of Baptist churches in Malaysia. According to statistics provided by the Baptist World Alliance, 324 local congregations comprising 22,853 members are associated with the MBC [1].

The other significant body of Baptist churches in Malaysia belong to the Reformed Baptist tradition [2].

Contents

[edit] History

The first Baptist churches in Malaysia were the result of the initiative of Baptist immigrants from Swatow, China. A key person during those early days was Mrs. Oh Hock Teck who helped establish the first Baptist church in Alor Setar, Kedah in 1938. Although Baptist work in Malaysia was initiated by Asians, missionaries from the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention played an important role in helping the new churches establish Baptist distinctives in teaching, polity and ministry [3].

On August 16 1953, the Malaya Baptist Convention was organised comprising the following five churches as charter members :

  • Oversea Chinese (Swatow) Baptist Church, Alor Setar, Kedah (now Alor Setar Baptist Church)
  • Penang Baptist Church, Penang
  • Kuala Lumpur Baptist Church, Kuala Lumpur
  • Oversea Chinese (Cantonese) Baptist Church, Singapore (now Kay Poh Road Baptist Church)
  • Oversea Chinese (Swatow) Baptist Church, Singapore (now Thomson Road Baptist Church)

In 1953, the Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary was established in Penang to train national workers.

The Malaya Baptist Convention became a member of the Baptist World Alliance in 1957 and continued growing steadily. With the establishment of the larger federation of Malaysia, the convention changed her name to the Malaysia Baptist Convention in 1964. The first edition of the bi-monthly MBC Newsletter was first published in 1966 and that year also saw the convention being formally registered as a society in Malaysia.

With the changing political landscape due to the Singapore leaving the Malaysian federation, the convention changed her name again to the Malaysia-Singapore Baptist Convention in 1967. In March 8 1971, the Singapore based churches set up the Singapore Baptist Churches Fellowship and moved towards greater autonomy. In 28 December 1974, the churches in Singapore set up the Singapore Baptist Convention and the Malaysia-Singapore Baptist Convention was formally separated in 1975 and reverted to her former name, the Malaysia Baptist Convention [4] [5].

The Malaysia Baptist Convention today supports work in the various languages spoken in Malaysia and is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and the Asian Baptist Federation.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ BWA Member Bodies and Statistics [1]
  2. ^ Reformed Baptist Churches Malaysia [2]
  3. ^ Georgetown Baptist Church - History [3]
  4. ^ Malaysia Baptist Convention : History [4]
  5. ^ Singapore Baptist Convention : History [5]

[edit] External links