Our history

The Baptist church was born in Togo from a small group of Yoruba people who longed for freedom. They were ready to do whatever it took to overcome the challenges of being a minority group and to secure their children's future. Encouraged by the Ghana Baptist Conference (GBC) and inspired by the example of the Methodists, they decided to break away from other Christian groups despite the many conditions and restrictions in force at the time. This was in 1919.

Later, in 1955, during a visit by Rev. John Idowu, the idea of starting a Baptist church emerged. But they urgently needed a pastor to lead them. Pressed by this need, they accepted a pastor proposed by the association: Pastor Samuel Amao, who took up his post in December 1956. It was not until 14 April 1957 that they were able to form a separate Baptist group.

In December 1958, the association appointed Pastor Oladejo Owolabi to serve the Yoruba Baptists in French Togo. Under this well-trained man, supported by the association, the mission and the Yoruba community, change soon came. With the help of the Southern Baptist Mission and the Nigerian Baptist Convention, the new pastor worked to establish biblical principles in the community, reorganizing the church along the lines of Southern Baptist churches.

After the missionary couple left, tensions resurfaced. The elders who had celebrated Pastor Samuel Amao's departure had already grown tired of the new pastor, who had set them aside as polygamists ineligible for leadership positions. Tension between the pro-evangelical elders and the new converts to Baptist faith became very high, and everyone waited for the missionary couple to return and settle the matter.

On 24 November 1964, the official decision was issued: the Baptist Church Association was recognized in Togo, covering all Baptist initiatives in the country — the Yoruba Baptists, the first converts of the missionaries, ABWE (Association of Baptists for World Evangelism) and the beginnings of the Full Gospel Baptists. It was a long-prepared missionary project, despite repeated closures of the border with Ghana since Ghanaian independence in 1957.

The Yoruba Baptists remained members of the Ghana Baptist Conference until the end of 1964. That year, missionary Bond, now settled in Togo, called for the Lomé-Keta association to be dissolved: the Baptist Association of Togo became free and belonged entirely to French Togo. In 1965, a reconciliation formed the Ebenezer Baptist Association, marking the true beginning of the Yoruba Baptist church in Togo.

Faced with the travel costs of delegates from the north, the division of the associations was launched at a meeting in Kouvé in 1984. Between 1984 and 1988, a study was carried out and a constitution drafted. On 24, 25 and 26 March 1988, the Togo Baptist Convention (TBC) was born at the Boulevard Baptist Church, with six associations: A (Bethel), B (Agapé), C (Zion), D (Truth), E (The Way), F (Northern Association, later renamed Light, from Blitta to Dapaong). In 1989, the Baptist Mission officially left Togo, but leadership remained in the hands of expatriates until 2002, when the last missionary left the Baptist centre in Morétan. Deacon Koudakpo Komlan was the first African leader (general secretary from 1991). Since then, the following have served in turn: Deacon Oke, Kwashie Amenudzie, Joseph Adjenou, Jean Sodehoudji, Bamerbanona Kadera, Remy A. Agossou, Pierre Ayawo Adossi, and the current President, Rev. Elie Kokou Ayadome, elected on 3 April 2025. Today, the TBC has nearly 55,000 members worshipping in at least 629 churches, organized into 17 church zones and eight national departments: Ministers of the Gospel and Theological Training, Church Development, Mission-Evangelism, Men's Missionary Union, Women's Missionary Union, Youth-Sport-Leisure, Children's Development, and Projects and Schools.