Baptist Convention of Angola - History

History

Founded in 1942 through the work of Portuguese missionaries, the Baptist denomination spread rapidly throughout the country with the support of Angolan evangelists and encouragement from North American missionaries who arrived in the central region of Angola during the same decade. Separate from the Evangelical Baptist Church in Angola, whose association is historically identified with the northern provinces of Angola (particularly the province of Zaire), the Baptist Convention of Angola has maintained a distinctive multi-ethnic character with an active ministry functioning in ten of the eighteen Angolan provinces since the time of Portuguese colonization.

After the war for independence ended in 1975, the Convention had a period of natural stagnation owing to the civil war that dominated the next three decades. In part this stagnation was due to the forced abandonment of the country by the missionary forces from America, Portugal, Denmark and Brazil who, up to that point had led the evangelistic spread of Christianity among the Baptist churches. As a result of the lack of trained nationals (no Angolan Baptist pastor had formal training in theology or as pastors) for the conduct of evangelism, the denomination did not exceed 27 churches between 1970 and the end of 1980. This situation began to change in the mid-1980s with the return to Angola of American and Brazilian missionaries and with the consequent initiation of a Mobile Bible Institute (directed by missionary pastor Curtis Dixon). This Mobile Bible Institute played an important part in the awakening of vocational service among Angolans and the training of leaders that became evangelists and pastors in the years after 1990.