April 20, 2024
DULUTH, Ga. – The Southern Baptist Convention’s network of associations plays an important role in the nation’s largest protestant denomination, the three announced candidates for the SBC presidency say.
In a Q&A with The Christian Index, they described associations as the entities that help congregations fulfill their missions, create closer ties between sister churches, and provide important training for Christian leaders.
“Local associations can help churches fulfill their mission to make disciples and plant churches,” said Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., and president of Founders Ministries. “They also can assist churches with problems or needs that may arise which require resources beyond a local congregation. The church I serve has been encouraged and helped by sister churches in our association more than once, and we have also been involved in assisting several churches in our association with unusual needs that have arisen from time-to-time over the last 36 years. Because of the closer connections that churches in an association can have, local associations are better able to help encourage churches to maintain our common commitments and identity as Southern Baptists.”
Robin Hadaway, a former pastor and International Mission Board missionary to Africa and South America who went on to serve as a professor and administrator at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, called Baptist associations “the linchpin for local churches.”
“Most know that Baptist associations predate both state and national conventions,” Hadaway said. “Associations provide the glue that holds Baptist life together. Many bivocational pastors and laypersons cannot attend a state or national convention. It’s at the local Baptist association where pastors and church leaders receive training, cooperate in local missions efforts, and enjoy fellowship and encouragement.”
Bart Barber, pastor of First Baptist Church in Farmersville, Texas, said associations have many important functions.
“But the most important is that local associations build the informal family relationships between our churches on the basis of the Baptist Faith & Message, paring away churches that have strayed outside our boundaries of sound doctrine and practice, and drawing in for a more intimate and supportive fellowship those churches who are united in belief and mission.”
The Christian Index did an email Q&A with the candidates on a variety of topics and will do a series of stories over the next few days based on that Q&A. What follows is the question about Baptist associations posed by the newspaper and the candidates’ unedited responses in their entirety.
The Index: What do you consider to be the most important function of local Baptist associations?
Ascol: Local associations can help churches fulfill their mission to make disciples and plant churches. They also can assist churches with problems or needs that may arise which require resources beyond a local congregation. The church I serve has been encouraged and helped by sister churches in our association more than once and we have also been involved in assisting several churches in our association with unusual needs that have arisen from time-to-time over the last thirty-six years. Because of the closer connections that churches in a association can have, local associations are better able to help encourage churches to maintain our common commitments and identity as Southern Baptists.
Barber: Here, also, there are so many important functions, but the most important is that local associations build the informal family relationships between our churches on the basis of the Baptist Faith & Message, paring away churches that have strayed outside our boundaries of sound doctrine and practice and drawing in for a more intimate and supportive fellowship those churches who are united in belief and mission.
Hadaway: One year ago, my wife and I had only been in our home in Oceanside, California for 4 days when I attended my first San Diego Southern Baptist Association meeting. DOM Mike Carlisle lives only a mile from my house and is an energetic, empowering leader. Our association has almost 200 Southern Baptist churches. Many of them are small missions. The Baptist association serves as the linchpin for local churches. Most know that Baptist associations predate both state and national conventions. Associations provide the glue that holds Baptist life together. Many bivocational pastors and laypersons cannot attend a state or national convention. It’s at the local Baptist association where pastors and church leaders receive training, cooperate in local missions efforts, and enjoy fellowship and encouragement.
