The Malaysia Baptist Convention has its origins in a mission of Baptist immigrants from Swatow, China in 1905. The first Baptist church inAlor Setar, Kedah has been established in 1937. 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.
Malaya Baptist Convention
In 1953, the Malaya Baptist Convention was organised comprising the following five churches as charter members :
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 its 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. In May 1967, a Baptist from Hong Kong, Wong Chung, was appointed the first Secretary General of the MBC and later in the same year, in view of the changing political landscape due to Singapore leaving the Malaysian federation in 1965, the convention changed its name again to the Malaysia-Singapore Baptist Convention.
From the time of its formation, membership in the MBC was limited primarily to churches in what was then Malaya and Singapore. In 2005, the Sarawak Baptist Church joined the MBC and this was later followed by the 2006 affiliation of the Sabah Baptist Association making the MBC representative of Baptists throughout Malaysia for the first time. In 2017, it had 185 churches and 29,771 members.
Beliefs and practices
The theological positions of the MBC is contained in a Statement of faith adopted in its 1979 Annual Messengers' Conference with articles similar to those adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in the latter's 1963 revision of the Baptist Faith and Message.
Ordinances
Similar to most Baptist and Protestant churches, the MBC accepts the Lord's Supper and Baptism as its ordinances. The primary difference is in its understanding of the ordinances where they are viewed not as sacraments with the means of conveying God's saving grace but as symbols acting as outward testimonies to the recipient's faith and commemorations signifying deeper spiritual truths.
Gender roles
The MBC Statement of Faith does not specify the gender of those called to serve as pastors and deacons in the church. There are women who serve as pastors and associate pastors in churches affiliated with the MBC but to date no women have been officially ordained in the MBC. Whether this is incidental or a matter of policy remain unclear.
Languages in use
Most MBC affiliated churches have historically conducted services in either English, Mandarin or other varieties of Chinese. Other languages are increasingly being used in recent years including the national language, Malay, as well as non-indigenous languages, like Burmese, Chin, Korean, Nepali, and Tagalog.
Vision X208
In 2004, the MBC adopted a 5-year plan dubbed Vision X208 that sought to challenge affiliated churches and Baptist Christians to embark aggressively in church planting and evangelism to double Baptist work in Malaysia. A progress report was published on the MBC website showing significant growth by the year 2007:
Affiliations
Intra-church institutions
The following institutions are affiliated with the MBC:
