The first IBC (International Baptist Convention) church, Immanuel Baptist, was begun in 1957 in Wiesbaden, Germany. The next year, Bethel Baptist Church in Frankfurt was organized. These two churches formed the Association of Baptists in Continental Europe. During the following two years, Immanuel and Bethel sponsored 19 churches and missions.
In 1961, the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention sent a missionary couple to work with the growing churches. Three years later, churches in England joined the association which was renamed the European Baptist Convention (English Language).
In 1968, the EBC named its first general secretary. In the 1970s, additional volunteer staff was added. In the 1980s, several full-time workers joined the EBC administrative staff to help the churches. Several new international churches were begun during the decade. EBC pastors and leaders began an intensive effort to plant English-language churches in the major cities of Europe.
The fall of Communism in 1990 brought a new challenge to the EBC — the urgent need to reach internationals in many eastern European countries. At the annual meeting in October 1991, the EBC set a goal to plant 20 new English-language churches during the next four years.
That goal was reached. Among the new churches, eight were started in capital cities of the former eastern Europe.
In 1996, the EBC called the first general secretary to be fully supported by the convention. Ten years earlier the convention had the vision to do this and had each year increased budgeted funds in order to achieve this goal.
In 2003, the EBC was re-named the International Baptist Convention (IBC) to better reflect the nature and location of its member churches.
Today the convention continues to pursue its mission of reaching the world for Jesus Christ.
