Asia Pacific Baptist Federation
The Asia Pacific Baptist Federation is a regional organization of the Baptist World Alliance, a worldwide fellowship of churches that subscribe to Baptist distinctives. The APBF was formed in the then British colony of Hong Kong in 1973 as the Asian Baptist Federation. It adopted its current name in 2007 after a resolution was approved during the ABF Congress held in the city of Chiang Mai, Thailand from 2 May to 6 May 2007.
Brief history in Asia and the Pacific
One of the earliest Protestant missionaries to Asia was an English Baptist named William Carey who was one of the founders of the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen in 1792. He started his work in the Dutch controlled Serampore north of Calcutta, India in 1793, initially focussing on Bible translation, preaching, teaching, and the founding of schools. One of the major schools established by this mission is Serampore College, founded in 1818.Other pioneers include Joshua Marshman and William Ward who together with Carey became known as the Serampore Trio. Of the three, Ward was instrumental in converting American Congregationalist missionary, Adoniram Judson, to Baptist beliefs and baptised both Judson and his wife, Ann Haseltine Judson, in Serampore.
Judson later began Baptist missionary work in Burma on 13 July 1813 upon his arrival in Rangoon. Today most countries in Asia have Baptist believers and churches.
Organization
The APBF represents almost 60 Baptist denominations from 20 different countries, encompassing almost 30,000 congregations with more than 5 million baptized believers. The single largest member of the APBF is the Myanmar Baptist Convention which claims more than 1.1 million baptized believers.The principal officers of the APBF are:
| Office | Name | Territory |
| President | Rev. Edwin Lam | Singapore |
| Vice Presidents | Mr. Bijoy Sangma Mr. Ratu Inoke Kubuabola Rev. Mark Wilson | India Fiji Australia |
| General Secretary | Rev. Dr. Vesekhoyi Tetseo | Okinawa, Japan |
| Treasurer | Mr. Peter Leau | Australia |
Ministries
- Mission & Evangelism
- APBF Communications
- APB Aid
- Theological Education
- Asia Baptist Peace Network
- Co-opted Members in the APBF Executive Committee
- Asian Baptist Youth Fellowship
- Asian Baptist Women's Union
- Baptist Women's Union of the South West Pacific
- Asian Baptist Men's Department
Members