Baptists

==Membership==
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Église Baptiste le Rocher Lomé culte.jpg
| caption1          = [[Worship service (evangelicalism)|Worship service]] at The Rock Baptist Church of [[Lomé]], member of the [[Togo Baptist Convention]]
| image2            = Crossway Church service.jpg
| caption2          = [[Worship service (evangelicalism)|Worship service]] at [[Crossway Baptist Church]] in [[Melbourne]], affiliated with [[Australian Baptist Ministries]], 2008
}}Membership policies vary due to the autonomy of churches, but generally an individual becomes a member of a church through believer's baptism (which is a public [[profession of faith]] in Jesus, followed by immersion baptism).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pendleton |first=James Madison |author-link=James Madison Pendleton |url=http://www.reformedreader.org/rbb/pendleton/churchmanual/bcm01.htm |title=Church Manual For Baptist Churches |publisher=The Judson Press |year=1867}}</ref> Most Baptists do not believe that baptism is a requirement for salvation but rather a public expression of inner repentance and faith.<ref name="Brackney" /> In general, Baptist churches do not have a stated age restriction on membership, but believer's baptism requires that an individual be able to freely and earnestly profess their faith.<ref>{{cite web |title=Baptist Faith and Mission |url=http://www.sbc.net/bfm/ |access-date=8 November 2011 |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention}}</ref>

In 2010, an estimated 100 million Christians identified as Baptist or belonging to a Baptist-type church.<ref>J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, ''Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices'', ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p.299</ref> In 2020, according to the researcher [[Sébastien Fath]] of the [[French National Centre for Scientific Research|CNRS]], the Baptist movement has around 170 million believers in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-28 |title=Qui sont les baptistes ? |url=https://www.reforme.net/religion/protestantisme/2020/07/28/qui-sont-les-baptistes/ |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=Reforme |language=fr-FR}}</ref> According to a census released in 2023, the BWA includes 253 participating fellowships in 130 countries, with 176,000 churches and 51 million baptized members.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Member Unions {{!}} Baptist World Alliance |url=https://baptistworld.org/member-unions/ |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=baptistworld.org |language=English}}</ref> These statistics may not be fully representative, however, since some churches in the United States have dual or triple national Baptist affiliation, causing a church and its members to be counted possibly by more than one Baptist association, if these associations are members of the BWA.<ref> Robert E. Johnson, ''A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches'', Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 361</ref><ref> Paul Finkelman, Cary D. Wintz, ''Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century Five-volume Set'', Oxford University Press, US, 2009, p. 193</ref>

Among the censuses carried out by individual Baptist associations in 2023, those which claimed the most members on each continent were:

* In [[North America]], the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] with 47,198 churches and 13,223,122 members,<ref> Aaron Earls, [https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/southern-baptists-grow-in-attendance-and-baptisms-decline-in-membership/ Southern Baptists grow in attendance and baptisms, decline in membership], baptistpress.com, USA, May 9, 2023</ref>  the [[National Baptist Convention, USA]] with 21,145 churches and 8,415,100 members.<ref name=":0" />
* In [[South America]], the [[Brazilian Baptist Convention]] with 9,070 churches and 1,797,597 members, the [[Evangelical Baptist Convention of Argentina]] with 670 churches and 85,000 members.<ref name=":0" />
* In [[Africa]], the [[Nigerian Baptist Convention]] with 14,523 churches and 8,925,000 members, the [[Baptist Convention of Tanzania]] with 1,350 churches and 2,680,000 members, the [[Baptist Community of the Congo River]] with 2,673 churches and 1,764,155 members.<ref name=":0" />
* In [[Asia]], the [[Myanmar Baptist Convention]] with 5,337 churches and 1,013,499 members, the [[Nagaland Baptist Church Council]] with 1,661 churches and 648,096 members, the [[Garo Baptist Convention]] with 2,619 churches and 333,908 members, the [[Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches]] with 1,079 churches and 600,000 members.<ref name=":0" />
* In [[Europe]], the [[All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists]] with 2,192 churches and 105,189 members,<ref name=":0" /> the [[Baptist Union of Great Britain]] with 1,897 churches and 99,475 members, the [[Union of Christian Baptist Churches in Romania]] with 1,697 churches and 83,853 members.<ref name=":0" />
* In [[Oceania]], the [[Australian Baptist Ministries]] with 1,024 churches and 87,555 members, the [[Baptist Union of Papua New Guinea]] with 493 churches and 84,700 members.<ref name=":0" />