Although most
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...
groups are
congregationalist in polity, some have different ecclesiastical organization and adopt an
episcopal polity
An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. (The word "bishop" derives, via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term ''*ebiscopus''/''*bis ...
governance. In those churches the local congregation has less autonomy and the bishop oversees them, assigning pastors and distributing funds.
Evangelical Baptist Union of Georgia
The Evangelical Baptist Union of Georgia have an episcopal polity, with an archbishop as the
primate
Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...
. Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, pastor of the Cathedral of Tbilisi is a charismatic figure and social activist.
Union of Baptist Churches in Latvia
The Baptists of Latvia are result from a revival among German and Latvian Lutherans and organized their first church in 1861. The union is headed by a bishop.
Episcopal Baptist Church in Congo
The Église Épiscopale Baptiste is a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...
denomination in
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
. It began with evangelical missionaries who accepted the Baptist doctrines and organized this denomination retaining the
episcopal polity
An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. (The word "bishop" derives, via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term ''*ebiscopus''/''*bis ...
. The Church became autonomous in 1956.
[ J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, ''Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices'', ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 671]
In 2007 there were ten bishops, and 105,000 baptized members in 110 territorial parishes. Most of them were in the nine provinces of DRC and some in
Angola
, national_anthem = "Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordinat ...
and
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...
. The pastor are under supervision from the bishops, who assign them a church.
The EPB is a member of the
World Council of Churches and the
Église du Christ au Congo.
Among African-American Baptists
A few African-American Baptist congregations have ordained or started calling their senior minister
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
, but without changing congregational polity.
India
The uniting
Church of North India
The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together the Protestant churches working in northern India. It is a province of the worldwide Anglica ...
received Baptists when in its constitution and had the Baptist Samson Das ordained Bishop of Cuttack in 2006.
References
External links
Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia Bishop ordained in Virginia
Baptist denominations
Christian denominations established in the 19th century
Christian denominations established in the 20th century
Protestantism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Protestantism in Georgia (country)
{{Baptists-stub