"[1] Similar proposals were put forward later such as the call of John Rippon in 1790 for a world meeting of Baptists "to consult the ecclesiastical good to the whole.

John Howard Shakespeare, editor of The Baptist Times and Freeman, London, endorsed the proposal.

[2][3][4] In October 1904, the Baptist Union of Great Britain passed a resolution to invite a Congress to meet with them in 1905.

This means that the body wields no authority over participating churches or national Baptist unions, serving only as a forum for collaboration.

[11] In 2004, the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention voted to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) over issues regarding the alleged adoption of liberal stances such as the inclusion of conventions that allow same sex marriage as well as perceived anti-American sentiment, which were partly attributed to Alliance Secretary General Denton Lotz's visits to Fidel Castro in Cuba.

[16] According to a census published by the association in 2024, the BWA has 266 participating Baptist fellowships in 134 countries, with 178,000 churches and 51,000,000 baptized members.

In the initial stages of the Baptist World Alliance, the role of General Secretary was split into two geographical regions.