The Baptist Association

Note: This outline is prepared by one who has been both an independent, unaffiliated Baptist and, though only for a short while, an Associational Baptist. It is written out of love for true Baptist churches, Baptist preachers, and Baptist church members with the hope that it might cause all of us to carefully follow the Holy Scriptures. It is the conviction of the writer that Baptist churches should be both independent and interdependent, and that they should avoid the two extremes of formal Associationism and Isolationism.

I. What is a Baptist Association?

A. “A Baptist Association is a group of independent Baptist churches voluntarily associating in their efforts to fulfill the New Testament commission to the churches, maintaining a minimum of organization so designed as to guarantee the complete sovereignty and equal representation of the churches.” I. K. Cross

B. “A Baptist Association is a group of churches with similar doctrinal beliefs, who have similar traditions and backgrounds, who share the same goals in ministry, who desire fellowship to encourage one another and have organically bound themselves together to establish corporately what they feel cannot be wrought separately.” Elmer Towns

C. “A Baptist Association is a voluntary fellowship of churches whose messengers gather in stated meetings for mutual fellowship and counsel, to maintain uniformity in faith and practice among the churches, and to cooperate in their broader ministries.” Jack Keep

D. “A Baptist Association is an autonomous cooperative usually in a given geographic area, voluntarily organized by autonomous Baptist churches of similar faith and practice, meeting regularly through equal messengers to accomplish purposes suitable to the related congregations.” F. Russell Bennett

II. What is the Biblical basis for forming Baptist Associations?

A. The following Bible passages are generally used to justify the formation of formal Baptist Associations: Acts 11:1-18,27-30; 15:1-35; 20:1-4; Rom. 15:25-27; 16:1-2; I Cor. 16:1-4; II Cor. 8:1-2,16-24; 9:1-5; 11:7-9; Gal. 2:1-10; Phil. 2:25; 4:15-18; III Jn. 5-8.

B. These verses clearly demonstrate the fact that the churches of the New Testament closely associated with one another and did not practice isolationism. They do not demonstrate in any way, however, that formal Associations were ever formed by those churches. The churches of the Apostolic Era were both independent and interdependent; they practiced associationism (with a lower case “a”), but they did not establish formal Associations (with an upper case “A”). Neither did they, as far as anyone knows, elect Associational officers, set up Associational headquarters, or place any Associational organization between the church and the mission field

C. The first formal Baptist Associations in recorded history were formed in 17th century England. They were not a part of “the faith once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).

III. What is wrong with forming formal Baptist Associations?

A. “The New Testament does not reveal the existence of any formal ecclesiastical organization other or larger than the independent, autonomous, local church, be it a Synod, Conference, Association, Fellowship, Convention, or some other sort of denominational body. No Biblical basis can be found for such man-made, extra-Scriptural, supra-church organizations. Although the churches of New Testament times cooperated with one another, they did so without forming ecclesiastical bodies or organizations larger or higher than the local church.” John A. Kohler, III

B. “Jesus Christ left His church without any general organization (Assembly, Conference, Convention, Association, Council, Committee, or Board), to direct either its government or its work. Throughout the New Testament we can discover not a trace of organization beyond the establishment of individual churches.” Francis Wayland

C. “The church is a divine institution. It is the only visible religious organization that is of specific divine appointment. It is to the church that God has committed the preaching of the Gospel to all the world.” B. H. Carroll

D. “The only Christian organizations spoken of in the Bible are the churches of Christ. They are the only religious bodies that have any ecclesiastical authority . . . Associations are mere expediencies, devised by human wisdom, and are not like Scriptural churches divine institutions . . . There is no evidence that any such organizations existed during the apostolic age, or for many centuries afterwards.” J. B. Cranfill

E. “There were no missionary conventions, no missionary associations, no mission boards, nor missionary societies in the New Testament because all members of each church were engaged in the great work of evangelism. These extra-Scriptural, man-made organizations came into being in very modern times . . . While those who originate them have the purest of intentions, all honest men must confess that they are utterly foreign to the New Testament.” Milburn Cockrell

F. “The only organization established and commissioned in the New Testament is the local church. There is not one mention nor hint of any other organization. If God had intended for churches to organize themselves into bigger organizations surely He would have given some indication of this in the New Testament.” Norman Wells

G. “The New Testament knows of no super-church organization. The biggest, the most important organization in the world today, is a New Testament church.” M. L. Moser

H. “The only assemblies disclosed in the New Testament are local church assemblies. Denominations, Associations, and Conventions are human creations without any expressed divine sanction.” W. Lee Rector

I. “The Holy Scriptures positively know nothing whatsoever of any kind of a general body such as associations, conventions, or any kind of organized movement of Christianity other than a local congregation known as a church.” A. J. Kirkland

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