104th Annual Convention of The Nigerian Baptist Convention

The Nigerian Baptist Convention is the second largest Baptist convention affiliating with the Baptist World Alliance, and the third largest in the world after the Southern Baptist Convention, USA, and National Baptist Convention, USA. Conservative estimates of the size of the Nigerian Baptist Convention claims three million baptized believers and a worshipping community of more than six
million. Virtually most Nigerian Baptists belong to churches affiliated with the Nigerian Baptist Convention.

 

Administration

The main officers are currently Rev. Dr. Samson Olasupo Adeniyi Ayokunle, President (and Chief Executive Officer), Rev. Dr. Olumide Kehinde, Chairman. The headquarters and administrative building of the Nigerian Baptist Convention is located in Ibadan but the convention also operates bookstores across the country. The Nigerian Baptist Convention has several conferences constituting subsidiary organizational structures.

Origin

The Nigerian Baptist Convention started in 1850 as a foreign missionary project of the Southern Baptist Convention of the United States of America. The Nigerian Baptist Convention was officially formed in 1914. The Nigerian Baptist Convention is now completely self-governing, self-propagating, and self-supporting. It has started other Baptist conventions in West Africa notably in Ghana (now the Baptist Convention of Ghana), and in Sierra Leone, now the (Baptist Convention of Sierra Leone).

Theological & Medical Institutions

The Nigerian Baptist Convention operates nine theological training centers for pastors, the largest being the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary in Ogbomoso, which grants undergraduate, masters’ and doctoral degrees. In the 1950s, a survey of African seminaries by Bishop Stephen Neill (for the Theological Education Fund) ranked the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary as one of the best seminaries in Africa. The Nigerian Baptist Convention also operates several hospitals and medical training institutions across the country. The Baptist Medical Centre in Ogbomoso remains one of the leading hospitals and is a university teaching hospital for the Bowen University in Iwo. The Nigerian Baptist Convention operates other top flight Baptist medical centres (with Schools of Nursing and Midwivery) located in Eku and Saki; and several other minor Baptist hospitals across Nigeria.

Educational institutions

The Nigerian Baptist Convention has founded and operated thousands of primary and secondary schools most of which were taken during military dictatorships and operated as public institutions. The Nigerian Baptist Convention now operates Bowen University, named in honor of Rev. Thomas Jefferson Bowen, the first American Baptist missionary from the Southern Baptist Convention. Bowen University is located at Iwo in Osun State, and is housed in the old 1,300 acre (5 km²) campus of the Baptist College, a teacher-training institution on a beautiful hill just outside the city. Bowen University opened in 2002 as a residential institution with 500 students with a current enrollment of about 3,000 students, and a target capacity of at least 5,500 students. The idea of a Nigerian Baptist university was conceived in 1938, and endorsed in 1957 by the Nigerian Baptist Convention. Bowen University is “conceived as a centre of learning and research of distinction, combining academic excellence with love of humanity, borne out of a God-fearing attitude, in accordance with the Baptist tradition of ethical behavior, social responsibility and democratic ethos”.
The Church stands among the largest churches in Nigeria, Orthodox or pentecostal.
The Nigerian Baptist Church recently concluded her 104th Convention held at the National Stadium Abuja, Nigeria.