BWA NEWS IN BRIEF
COSTA RICA - BAPTIST CHURCH GROWTH IN LATIN AMERICA
The Union of Baptists in Latin America (UBLA), one of six regional fellowships of the Baptist World Alliance, held a consultation from
April 14-18, 2010, in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Baptist leaders from 25 countries in Central and South America attended the
event.
The consultation was aimed at evaluating the situation of Baptists in Latin America, reflecting on the past decade, and putting strategic
plans in place for the next 10 years.
UBLA reported significant numerical growth. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Baptist churches in Latin America increased
from a little more than 10,200 to more than 16,000 churches, while church membership grew from 1.4 million to more than 2.3 million.
Growth among Baptists was reported to be four times that of the growth of the population in Latin America in the period between 2000
and 2010.
Raquel Contreras, a vice president of the BWA and former president of UBLA, made a presentation to the gathering on the devastating
8.8 magnitude earthquake that affected Chile on February 27. “God has changed our agenda…our way to see life has changed…our
priorities have been changed,” she told the gathering of mainly Baptist convention and union presidents and general secretaries.
UBLA President Ivan Martinez described Latin America as a region characterized by both suffering and hope, which testify to the need
for Baptists to engage in compassionate care for the Latin American people.
Among those attending the meetings were Raimundo Barreto, BWA Director for the Division of Freedom and Justice, and Daniel Carro,
former BWA regional secretary for Latin America and a member of the BWA Commission on Doctrine and Interchurch Cooperation and
the Academic and Theological Education Workgroup.
PHOTOS: BWA director of Freedom and Justice, Raimundo Barreto, with Raquel Contreras, president of the Union of Evangelical
Baptist Churches of Chile, and Marlene Baltazar, vice president of the Baptist Women’s Union of Latin America;
Presidents and general secretaries from Baptist conventions and unions throughout Latin America at the consultation in Costa Rica
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