Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches

The Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches was formed in 1935 and became fully autonomous in 1969. Its origins go back to the work of Baptist missionaries from Sweden. At a later stage, links were developed and maintained with the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. Originally the work was confined to the Visayas region. While this is still the centre of the CPBC, the church has spread to the islands of Luzon and Mindanao and is now represented throughout the country. Since 1979 the CPBC ordains women and almost half of the local churches are led by women.

The Convention places particular emphasis on educational programmes. Its Christian Education department has the task to help the local churches develop a ministry through which “people and communities are continuously renewed, nurtured, transformed and empowered faithfully to participate in God’s redemptive acts towards a fuller manifestation of God’s reign”. A department for theological education and ministerial concerns has been established to coordinate theological schools and Bible colleges and organize continuing education programmes for pastors. Another important area of activities is development ministries, which include work with indigenous peoples, ecological programmes, adult literacy programmes and support of work of cooperatives. The CPBC has also a department for evangelization and mission, which conducts training for the churches to do evangelization and coordinates actions related to revival work.