The Boro Baptist Church Association (BBCA) is a Baptist Christian denomination in the state of Assam (Northeast India). Established in 1927 by the American Baptist Missionaries and later nurtured by Australian Baptist Missionary Society ABMS (now Global Interaction). It consists of 219 churches and fellowships with a total population 40,000 above and 18,000 plus baptized members. The BBCA has its headquarters in the Tukrajhar Baptist Mission compound in Chirang district of Bodoland, Assam. BBCA is working in partnership with Baptist World Alliance, Global Interaction (Australia), Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, Seva Bharat, Missionaries Upholders Trust, Inspire India (Children Festival) and Tura Baptist Church in Church Plantation and community development ventures to bring transformation in the lives of people, spiritually and economically. The motto of the church is "Arise and Build" Nehemiah 2:18
History
The origins of Boro Baptist Church Association are found in two important foreign missions - the American Baptist Mission and the Australian Baptist Missionary Society. The American Baptist missionary AJ Totle sent Umon K Marak, a Garo convert who preached the Gospel among the Boros of Tukrajhar area on the northern side of old Goalpara district, some 250 kilometers from Guwahati; Marak later founded the Goalpara Boro Baptist Church Union (now known as Boro Baptist Church Association) in 1927. However, the American Baptist Mission could not continue the mission work for a longer period of time due to shortage of workers and finally transferred it to the Australian Baptist Missionary Society (now known as Global Interaction) in 1946. The Australian Baptists began work among the Boros of Tukrajhar region from 1947, though the American Baptist Mission had transferred the Tukrajhar Mission station to the Australian Baptists in 1946. The first set of Australian Baptist missionaries Rev. Wilfred and Mrs. Gwenyth Crofts were sent to Tukrajhar on 17 May 1947, just three months before India received its independence.
The Australian Baptist Missionary Society continued their mission work among the Boros for twenty-one years. Since the year (1968), the leadership has been provided by the Boros themselves. The Boro Baptists rightly consider 1927 as the year of the beginning of Boro Baptist Church Association.
The missionary movement in Lower Assam was led by Boro Baptist Church Association especially from the 1980s when the great revival (spiritual awakening of the churches) came upon the churches of the Association. The immediate result of this was the formation of Gospel Fellowship in 1980 consisted of lay people who were committed to the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. Later Mission and Evangelism was started in 1991 to intensify the mission work. At present there 18 mission fields in various parts of both within and outside of Assam including some foreign countries where 36 missionaries/evangelists are found to be ministering among various people groups. It is evident that it continues to receive new baptized members from these mission fields and that it plans on sending more workers to those who have not been reached with the Gospel of Christ in various parts of this great land and even beyond. In this regard, BBCA has recently (2016) entered into partnership with UCPI (United Christian Prayer for India) to make mission works more intense.
Home Mission, began in 1991, and encouraged supporting the mission involvement of the member churches of the Boro Baptists. It mobilized the churches to be self-supporting through systematically giving tithes for mission works besides paying yearly budgets to the Association. At present there are 35 full-time workers in the Home Mission who are being kept busy ministering 195 churches/ congregations which are clubbed together in six major pastoral service areas. Besides looking after spiritual growth of the member churches, these Home Mission workers have administrative works as they are representatives of the Association to the churches in terms of proper co-ordination and supervision of various works.