OUR MISSION

The purpose of the Baptist Educational Congress shall be to foster and stimulate all phases of Religious Education, Training in Church Membership, and Evangelism, as are sponsored by the several churches taking membership therein.

II Timothy 3:16-17

HISTORICAL SKETCH

The Baptist Educational Congress, an Auxiliary to the Baptist Convention of Washington, D. C. and Vicinity, is an organization that is wholly committed to ensuring that Baptist leaders and the laity of the District of Columbia and Vicinity are solidly trained in the Word of God, as well as spiritually matured in the faith, to reach out and minister to the world for Jesus Christ.

The Congress was organized in 1943 under the visionary leadership of Rev. E. L. Harrison (Shiloh Baptist Church), then President of the Baptist Convention of Washington, D. C. and Vicinity, who recognized the need for a strong biblical training program for the area’s laity. Since then, the Congress has been led by such pioneers and giants of the faith as Rev. E. C. Smith, (Metropolitan Baptist Church), and Rev. R. L. Rollins (Florida Avenue Baptist Church).

At the close of Rev. Rollins’ 19 years of outstanding service, the Congress adopted four-year tenure. The following persons have served thus far. Rev. R. L. Patterson (Mt. Carmel Baptist Church), Rev. Charles W. Green (Pilgrim Baptist Church), Sis. Catherine Mundy (Shiloh Baptist Church), Dea. T. K. Hall (Mt. Bethel Baptist Church), Rev. R. Clinton Washington (Jerusalem Baptist Church), Rev. John R. Wheeler (Vermont Avenue Baptist Church), Rev. Smalls Bartley, (Second Baptist Church), Rev. R. Vincent Palmer, (Rehoboth Baptist Church), Rev. Robert Wilson (St. Paul Baptist Church), Rev. Maxwell M. Washington (St. Matthews Baptist Church), Rev. John T. Rhodes (Trinidad Baptist Church), and Rev. Henry A. Gaston (Johnson Memorial Baptist Church).