WHAT IS A BAPTIST ASSOCIATION

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WHAT IS A BAPTIST ASSOCIATION?
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WHAT SOUTHERN BAPTIST ORGANIZATION?...

• Gets no money from the Cooperative Program
• Provides regular training programs for its local
  Churches
• Provides your Pastor a regular opportunity to
  work and fellowship with other Pastors
• Assists Church Planters in starting new churches
• Provides a forum for concerns of belief and
  practice
• Is distinctly local in its mission focus.

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• Your
• Baptist
• Association!

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ENGLISH BAPTIST ASSOCIATIONS--1624
FUNCTIONS

• To Have Fellowship
• To Carry on Evangelistic Work
• To Meet the Needs of the Churches

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2007...Baptist Associations in American
Celebrate... 300 YEARS

• THE FIRST BAPTIST ASSOCIATION IN AMERICA-
  PHILADELPHIA- 1707

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DID YOU KNOW?

• The Baptist Association was the first Baptist
  body outside the local Church.

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SOUTHERN BAPTIST TIMELINE

• 1682- The first Baptist church in the south was
  at FBC Charleston, SC.
• 1751- The first Southern Baptist Association was
  organized in Charleston, SC.
• 1821- The first State Convention in the south
  began in South Carolina.
• 1845- Our National Convention, the Southern
  Baptist Convention formed in Augusta, GA.

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MAJOR ROLES OF U.S. ASSOCIATIONS- 1700S

• Promote Fellowship among the Churches.
• Give Counsel Assistance to the churches.
• Maintained Uniformity in Polity and Belief.
• Coordinated Cooperative Mission Efforts.

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GROWTH OF S.B.C. ASSOCIATIONS IN U.S.

• 1760- 4 Associations
• 1770- 7 Associations
• 1780- 13 Associations
• 1800- 48 Associations
• 1814- 125 Associations
• TODAY- More than 1,200

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ROLE OF ASSOCIATIONS IN THE EARLY 1800S

• Providing an organization through which Churches
  could cooperate in Missions, Education and other
  endeavors.
• Prime Movers in Promoting Sunday School.

• Before State Conventions and the National
  Convention, the
  Associations carried the entire load of Outreach,
  Missions, and Ministries among Baptists
  beyond the Local Church.
  
  
• (1st South Carolina State Convention in 1821)

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CHANGING ROLE OF THE ASSOCIATION

• From 1935 to 1960 the role of the Association was
  to represent the Denominations programs to the
  churches.
• From 1960 to 1974 as individual Associations
  began to grow in strength and employ staff to
  lead them, the generalized Denominational
  Promoter role began to shift to a more
  self-determining local mission strategy.
• Since 1974 the Association has become more and
  more a full partner in Baptist life.

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CHANGING ROLE OF THE ASSOCIATION

• 1963-1989 Several National Convocations on
  Associational Missions were held in an attempt to
  further clarify the role of the Baptist
  Association.
• A new philosophy developed that included such
  phrases as
  
  (a) separate, yet inter-related
  organization
• (b) fellowship of churches, not promoter of
  programs
• (c) develop a comprehensive mission strategy
  for its area.

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SHIFTING ROLES OF
ASSOCIATIONS

• 1940S- Starting New Missions and Churches and
  Promoting Baptist Work.
• 1950S- Enlisting Churches for Denominational
  Programs.
• 1963- Meeting the Needs of Churches.
• 1974- Building a meaningful Mission Strategy to
  Win Our Nation to Christ, and began to
  emphasize Missions as an Associational
  function.

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J. N. BARNETTE

• No other Denominational Agency has an equal
  chance with the District Association in bringing
  the majority of the Churches up to the high
  standard which some of them have reached. It is
  the most extra-church organization Baptists have.
  More good can be done to a larger number of
  Churches... Through the right kind of
  Associational work than through any other Agency
  that Baptists have.

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RUSSELL BENNETT

• The Association is not a society to serve the
  churches but a fellowship through which the
  churches, in the spirit of Christ, serve one
  another.

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SBC STATEMENT ON ASSOCIATIONS IN 1976

• The Association should be broadened and
  strengthened as a Missionary Organization. It
  should understand that its churches are on
  mission for Christ. Its chief service to the
  Churches and the Denomination is as Coordinator
  of the Local Missions and Outreach of the
  Churches.

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NORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD BROCHURE- 2002

• The Baptist Association is...
• a Self-Governing Fellowship of Churches on
  Mission.

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THE EMERGING ASSOCIATION-Associational
Think-Tank 1996, NAMB

• Is Theologically Historically based.
• Is Purpose-Driven
• Is Contextually Relevant
• Is Congregationally-Focused and Service-
  Oriented.
• Is Uniquely Positioned in the Denomination/nearest
  the Churches.

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THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

• It assists Churches to fulfill their mission
  encourages and provides leadership for mission
  projects beyond the local Church and serves as a
  venue for doctrinal integrity. Baptist
  Associations lead Churches to work together and
  to accomplish more for the Kingdom of God than
  any one church can do individually.
  Ed Gilman- 1999

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GEORGE BULLARDKINSHIP

• Relationship of a National Denominational
  Identity (42,000 churches)- ACQUAINTANCE.
• Relationship of a Regional Perspective
  (1,500 churches)- FRIEND.
• Relationship of an Association
  (30 TO 100 churches)- FAMILY .

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J.C. BRADLEY 10 Ways the Association assists the
churches

• By providing a mutually supportive fellowship of
  churches
• By encouraging agreement on doctrinal and
  practical issues that are basic to fellowship and
  consistent with mission
• By encouraging a commitment to mission, both as
  individual churches as churches together
• By helping each church fulfill its mission
• By extending the work of the churches through
  cooperative activities

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J.C. BRADLEY 10 Ways the Association assists the
churches

• By facilitating communications between the
  churches and the conventions- state national
• By providing a basis for mission strategy for the
  Associational territory
• By providing a channel of missions and other
  services for church members as church groups or
  individual Christians
• By providing a voice or representation to other
  denominations and to the social, educational,
  economic and political structure of the
  communities
• By supporting the pastors and other staff members.

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SOUTHERN BAPTIST ASSOCIATIONS TODAY

• 58- have 29 or less churches
• 38- have 30 to 74 churches
• 4- have 75 and more churches
• 65- are rural
• 25- are metropolitan
• 10- are megapolitan (more than 1 million)

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ALLEN GRAVES

• The Church cannot be the church, in the full
  sense of being and doing all that Christ
  intended, without involving itself along with
  other Christians who share a common faith and
  perspective.

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WALTER SHURDEN

• As long as Associations think globally and act
  locally, they are not rigid, tradition-ridden,
  passive bodies. Rather, they are flexible, fluid
  and responsive to the leadership of the Spirit of
  God..... The general purpose of Associational
  ministry is clearly established in Associational
  history. The specific ways in which an individual
  Association achieves that purpose are left open
  to its own creativity and courage.
  Associational Bulletin, 1983

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TO CONTINUE TO BE EFFECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS MUST
HAVE

• 1- Passion for the Kingdom.
  God is
  working, we must join Him.
• 2- Prayer for Empowerment.
  We must
  have the power of God to accomplish His agenda.
• 3- Partnership Among its Churches.
  Together we can do
  much more than anyone alone.
• 4- Provision for a Team-based Organization.
  People on teams
  are motivated because they are serving in the
  area of their passion.

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TO CONTINUE TO BE EFFECTIVE ASSOCIATIONS MUST
HAVE

• 5- Partnerships with Outside Groups.
  Our
  state and national conventions are ministry
  partners.
• 6- Planting Churches as a Priority.
  New churches tend to
  reach the unchurched more effectively.
  
• 7- Positioned itself in a Servant Role.
  It
  must maintain regular, intimate contact with its
  churches.
• 8- Promoted Cooperative Mission Ministry
  Efforts. It must
  emphasize local and global evangelism.
  
  
  
  

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FOR FURTHER STUDY

• Our Baptist Story- Pope Duncan, 1958
• The Fellowship of Kindred Minds- Russell
  Bennett, 1974
• The Baptist Association- EC Watson, 1975
• Principles of Administration for A Baptist
  Association- Allen W. Graves, 1978
• A Baptist Association Churches On Mission
  Together- JC Bradley, 1984