Joel Rainey is the Director of Missions at Mid-Maryland Baptist Association, an adjunct professor at Capital Bible Seminary and blogs at Themelios. This post, the beginning of a series, was originally published at his site. This is the second in Joel’ series about Baptist associations. Here is the introductory post.
If you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing well. That principle is never more clearly observed than when examining the way so many denominational entities operate today.
Last week, I spoke briefly about a number of issues that need to be addressed in the modern Baptist Association for it to effectively serve the 21st century mission of the churches. Today I want to cover the first of those issues in greater detail: determining the purpose of the Association.
Many Baptist entities are currently in the middle of an all-out identity crisis. To a large extent, this is because all of our agencies–at every level–are products of the modern missions era–an era that is fast coming to an end on a global scale! Another subject for another day to be sure, although you can read more about it here.
For a local Association to thrive among thriving churches in the 21st century, each will need to define its purpose and mission as defined by the churches. A few simple principles can get us started:
1. Know Why You Exist. For example, Mid-Maryland Association exists as a network of more than 60 churches that seek together to extend the Kingdom of God here in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area and around the world. We do this through evangelism, leadership development, and church planting that brings a glimpse of God’s Kingdom here on earth. In short, we are an organization that exists for the sole purpose of missions mobilization. By and large, our churches know this, and this is what they use us for.
Under this “missions mobilization” umbrella, we have four primary emphases: Prayer Strategy (Association prayer team, Prayerwalks around neighborhoods prior to revivals or new church launches), Ministry Projects (Disaster Relief in New York and Oklahoma, Prison and Truck-stop ministry, partnership with local governments to serve the homeless, etc.), Leadership and Church Development (Pastor and spouse support, administrative support to help churches with office operations, leadership training, etc.), and Missions and Multiplying Churches (direct evangelism and church planting here in the corridor, and around the world). We pray because that’s where it all begins. We serve in ministry because we want to touch physical needs as we point to ultimate spiritual need. We work with church leadership because there is no forward mission without leaders. And we share the Gospel and plant churches all over the world because we want to multiply the aforementioned efforts of ministry, prayer, and leadership development.
There are ten other Associations in the Maryland/Delaware Convention. Their structures and mission are different from ours, and each contributes to Kingdom advance in its own way. So when I describe our structure above, I’m not saying that every Association should look like ours. What you look like and what you exist to do should be decided by your churches (I’ll get to this in a moment). But I am saying that at the end of the day, if you don’t know why you do what you do, your organization is in trouble!
2. Connect to the context of your churches and surrounding culture. Too many Associational leaders are concerned that the churches don’t even know they are there, or just don’t know why they are there. But if you get to know your churches–I mean really get to know them and put their well-being and ability to reach their communities before any Associational “program”– I can promise that eventually, they will know who you are, and they will be glad you are there.
Additionally, connect to the culture[s] that surround the geographic proximity of your churches. Associational missionaries have the ability to do this in a way that no one at state or national levels is able. County officials, school district employees and teachers, prison wardens, transportation workers, and planning commission administrators should know you by name if you serve a network of churches in their back yard. Much of the “why” of your existence as an Association should be determined by the realities you observe in your area.
My area is very “cause oriented,” and has a soft heart when it comes to the disadvantaged. So, we team up each year with County governnent offficials, local businesses, churches of other denominations, and ministries to the homeless to sponsor an annual 5K race. That race has grown from 115 runners the first year to nearly 300 in subsequent years. We have raised thousands of dollars since beginning this effort in 2011, and all of it has gone to a Day Center that serves more than 200 homeless families in the 3rd most affluent county in North America.
In short, the mission of the Association is to bring churches together to bless their region in the name of Jesus, and the role of the Associational Missionary is to help pastors and lay-leaders understand how best to get this done, and equip the churches to lead the effort. You can’t do that if you don’t know the churches AND the communities in which they reside.
3. Learn to say “no.” One of the psychological effects of not knowing your purpose is the perceived need to accept any and all assignments that a church might want to give you. I’ve seen this happen at multiple levels of our denomination–a staff member is charged with substantive response to any need, even if that need doesn’t match the capabilities of the organization. The end result of this approach to serving churches is a burned out staff and an organization that continues to bleed to death from ultimate irrelevancy.
As an example, our Association simply doesn’t do “conflict mediation.” We tried it many years ago, and it didn’t work out so well–and probably because that isn’t the reason the churches brought us into existence to begin with. And since they hired me, they probably want to stay even further away from this particular approach to serving churches, since I tend to be more of an arbitrator than mediator, and as such would most likely just make the problems worse.
Saying “no” to providing mediation doesn’t mean we don’t think its important. Actually, it means we think its important enough to get it right, and since its not within the scope of our mission, we are quite sure that we won’t get it right (just ask a couple of churches where we attempted this. I’m glad they are forgiving!)
Additionally, I don’t hold meetings during “working hours” that have no purpose. I love the people in our churches, but I can’t do what they pay me to do if I’m always having lunch with a pastor with no aim for what we hope to accomplish together. To be sure, I’d like to think I’m a friend to all our pastors, and many of them have become dear friends of mine. But I’m not compensated to be a “friend.” (and honestly, who has to pay someone to be their friend–really?) I’m expected to move our collective mission efforts forward.
Saying “no” to what you can’t do also frees up the time you need to do what you do well. I want our churches to see us as their “first phone call” regardless of their need–not because we can meet every need, but because they have grown to trust us to serve them well–and will believe us, even if we say “that’s not what we do, but the [state convention/NAMB et al ] have a great way of helping you with this……”
.4. Allow local churches to determine “all of the above.” If you are an Associational Missionary, you can lead them in this discussion, but the final decision should belong to the churches as a whole, who deserve the ability to determine their own collective identity through your Association.
At this point, I want to “push back” a bit against some allegations I’ve heard in recent years from church leaders–most notably pastors. Too often, I’ve heard them speak about how “useless” the local Association is, how “entitled” they feel to receive continued support from churches, regardless of whether that support represents a good investment.
OK pastor, fair enough. But let me ask this really simple question:: If the local Association is really in such bad shape (and I can certainly believe this is true of many of them) whose fault is it–really?
If you come to the Southern Baptist Convention in Baltimore next year, and move from the floor to instruct or direct any national entity to do anything, you will immediately be ruled out of order and told to sit down. That’s because Southern Baptists believe that our national entities are best governed indirectly through elected trustees. Most Associations (including ours) don’t operate this way. In many ways, the local Association is the only level of our denomination that is completely under the control of local churches.
So let me ask again, if your local association is a mess, who should we see about that? It belongs to you, so if enough churches believe it needs to be revived, or direction needs to be corrected, then get together, talk about how best to do it, and then get it done!
At base, the Association is nothing more than churches leveraging their collective strength to multiply the growth of the Kingdom. If seen in this light, I believe the brightest days are ahead–if strong, contextual identity and purpose is established. But that identity should allow for a radically de-centralized approach to mission, which is what I’ll talk about in the next post.
Honestly, Joel, your post gets right at some of the issues we have in our associations here. Great stuff.
I appreciate the thinking that has gone into this. I’m just not seeing much relevance in associations nor much recognition that anything is amiss unless the money flow shrinks.
I have not served with a AM/DOM that I did not like or appreciate. Generally, they attempted to fulfill their interests and desires. I’d hazard a conjecture that most SBC churches wouldn’t know it if the association folded.
Things outside the legacy states may be much different.
We cannot even get two folks from each church in the association to attend quarterly prayer meetings. Looking for my towel to throw in.
Our church has voted to remove the local association from our budget this year. It is pretty much defunct. We have no DOM. We have no structure or organization. None of the churches are interested in trying to revive it. We’ll put our money in other mission efforts and move on. The association here has done nothing for years, and, unfortunately, it will not really be missed.
Those of you who do not participate in the association, I am wondering, do you have any other forum or channel with which to relate to other pastors in the area? Do the people in your churches have any forum or channel outside the local church with which to relate to other believers in the area?
I don’t. It is something I miss to an extent. When I was in the Northwest I really enjoyed the interaction. We shared in ministry and personal relationships. I find the church culture in Texas to be different. The local association in our area had been non-functional for a while. When the DOM retired the association went with him.
I would like to get it going again, but there is no interest from other pastors. Thus, it will not be promoted in the churches. Sad reality.
Since I have never been a pastor in the States, and have not ever really been active in a Stateside Baptist association per se, I feel somewhat unqualified to opine publicly on this. But I do have quite a bit of experience with both Baptist associations as well as interdenominational ministers associations and Evangelical councils in Spain.
If what our brothers here share about lack of participation in associations or anything equivalent is typical of SBC life at large (and I have a pretty strong hunch that it is), I ask if maybe this is indicative of a gap in our Baptist ecclesiology which has done an overkill on the autonomy of the local church. Yes, we are right to avoid ecclesiastical hierarchy and coercion of any form. We don’t need a Baptist pope, or even region-wide or city-wide Baptist bishops. But we do need each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are all part of one Body. As pastors, we need the support and camaraderie of fellow servants in the work. But not just pastors, other ministers and members as well.
I think we would do well to meditate on Ephesians 4:15-16, taking into account that in Ephesians, when Paul refers to “the body,” he is not just referring to a local congregation:
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
I participate more being semiretired than when an active pastor because most of the ministers at the min. conf. a retired. While active, I found more interaction online than locally although I always had a few local friends.
Affinity is the word here, not geography, as has been often said.
I guess my experience is just the opposite of many commenters on this article. Our association is very relevant and very active. Sure we have our problems with non participation by some pastors and churches, but that is certainly their right. If our association folded up there would be a void for sure. Of course I am biased because I’m the pastor’s conference president of our local association.
Our Association is wonderful. We have a Pastor’s Conference every Monday morning….it’s very well attended. We take turns preaching to each other, and then we pray together. Afterwards, some of us eat lunch together. It’s really a blessing to have this kind of sweet fellowship.
Also, our Association goes on 2 mission trips per year….one to Cincinnati(first year….we had been to W. VA for the past 13 or 14 years), and the other trip is to Honduras, which we’ve been going to for many, many years.
We have great participation in both trips….across the Association.
Also, we have a Disaster Relief team.
Our DOM is a great guy, whom we love very much.
David
Wow that’s almost identical experience to mine David. Except our association goes to Idaho and Malawi, Africa.
David, I wish that I were able to take part in the conference. I would love it if we could schedule a special one on a Saturday sometime so that the working bi-vo pastors could attend.
David,
I know that things have been tried before….to reach the Bi-Vo fellas… and none of the things seemed to work. Do you think that they would come on a Saturday morning? Say, once a quarter? Or, once a month?
David
Yeah, it can be hard to get everyone motivated to participate in something like that. I think it would be good for ALL the pastors to come together at least once a year (apart from the annual meeting), to encourage one another, pray with one another, worship together, and get in the Word together. Maybe it’s something we can work towards in the future.
David,
It’s encouraging to hear a full time guy interested in finding ways to include bi-vo folks. Good on you!
Thanks, Joe.
David, maybe we can talk to Wayne about having something once a quarter?
David
Joel, really good stuff. I have written and spoken on this topic as well, and your points are well taken. Thanks!
I remember accompanying my dad in Sweetwater to the local pastor’s conference as well as to associational meetings. In my memory–which isn’t clear–I remember the best part was meeting each of the other pastors with whom our family either had direct, active friendships or with whom there was at least a collegial familiarity (I’m speaking personally: one of the PKs of the senior pastor at FBC Sweetwater was also in my class at school!)
Social patterns are reinvented by each generation. My grandparents’ generation produced a rather quaint and unique social pattern that I got to enjoy as a single man working in College Station in my post-college/seminary career. Some of you will recognize the initials of that quaint organization on sight: S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.
I enjoyed the same comradery and the same collegiality–without the same spiritual impact–in my participation in the College Station chapter of the S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. But, in reality, that group was attempting to conserve something from another time: from the time of my grandparents’ childhoods. As a sign of the times, and in order to attract new members that will continue to conserve that style of music, The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America bowed to modernity and shortened their “tag line” to Barbershop Harmony Society.
I got busy and needed to change jobs and cities and ended up not affiliated with that chapter after a while. I don’t sing “Barbershop” any more, though I’ll wistfully listen to it when it crops up on TV or in a movie like (the fictionally Iowa-located) The Music Man. But every generation earns the opportunity to redefine its social institutions as it remains faithful to them and provides them with support and guidance.
I’ve enjoyed Joel’s comments a lot because he demonstrates faithfulness to the simple idea that local cooperation and collegiality is an echo of Southern Baptists’ broader commitment to cooperation in missions, evangelism, sharing of literature, and helping each other. And in reinventing the Association with an ancient purpose but with a more contemporary expression, he confirms those values, principles, and their underlying philosophy founded on these two verses:
John 13:34-35 (Hard-Core Southern Baptist translation): 34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Thanks for the feedback guys. It is interesting to read the myriad of perspectives/experiences that pastors have with Associations across the country.
I am saddened to hear of defunct and non-functional Associatons, and I think David Rogers’ words above are helpful to frame an explanation for why this may be. Church autonomy should never be used to justify the fierce independent streak that we sometimes see in Baptist churches.
On the flip side, I believe the SBC at all levels, in general, finds itself at the crossroads of a monumental global shift that will affect how we execute our mission together in the future. At no level is this now more acutely felt than at the level of the local Association, and if pastors and lay-leaders don’t take the time necessary to ask those questions, and thus make their local cooperation work as it should in this new world, then I fear this doesn’t bode well for the SBC at other levels either. Simply re-directing dollars to the national level because “nothing is happening locally” may result in a domino effect down the road which could be bad for the entire Cooperative Program. If we won’t invest the time to adequately cooperate with Baptists across the county, how much longer can we realistically expect to adequately cooperate with Baptists on the other side of the continent–through a bureaucratic entity headquartered in Nashville?
I think the answer lies in striking appropriate balance between Associations, who realize they are there to facilitate cooperation between churches (as opposed to believing the churches are there to prop up the Association), and churches who realize that everything can’t be about “what’s in it for them?” or as short-sighted as “what have you done for me lately?”
Additionally, I want to address William’s statement above regarding “affinity.” Lyle Schaller wrote a book roughly a decade ago about this very phenomenon, and while I tend to agree with his observations, I’m not sure that shift is healthy for our cooperative work. In fact, I think in many ways it contributes to some of the division we see now in the larger SBC (“traditionalists” vs. “young, restless and reformed,” etc) At the risk of sounding a bit trite, I firmly believe that our “affinity” should be the Gospel. And if Associations can find a way to navigate these differences toward full cooperation and trust at the local level, we won’t need to waste CP dollars on “Calvinism Committees.” (just to give one very recent and very notable example) I’m grateful for the work of that task force but frankly, if Associations were doing their job in a spiritually and theologically mature fashion, these sorts of diversions from our common mission would make little impact at national meetings. We have to find our common ground in the desire to make Jesus known locally and all over the world, and that kind of trust is best built locally
The Association represents Baptist cooperation in its seminal form. If we have forgotten how to work together at this most basic of levels, I don’t think that is a good sign. Hopefully, discussions like these, and future posts I have coming on this subject, can help us rethink and revive our cooperative DNA.
David and John, I’m excited to hear of what your local churches are doing together through the Association. Keep it up! 🙂
Joel,
Our DOM helps Churches, who lose a Pastor. We’ve also had some worship conferences, here lately, to help the Worship/Song Leaders. And, we’ve had some joint, worship services….where all the Churches come together to worship and sing praises to God, together. We also have an Associational wide, evangelism conference, once a year. It’s very well attended….
David
Volfan, question.
Is your association made up of churches (Pastors) that pretty much agree on essentials and denominational distinctives or is there a wide variance?
Tarheel,
We all pretty much agree…on the major things…and on denominational distinctives. Of course, no one agrees with everything that someone else believes……except, of course, I agree with everything Debbie says! 😉
David
Debbie!?
But I thought me, you and CB had the Vulcan mind meld thing going on. 😉
lol
Seriously,
In our association we had various pastors who didn’t agree with us in such essentials as exclusivity of Christ, the gospel, and biblical inerrancy. Also, we had differences over denominal distinctives such as believers baptism by immersion.
That’s not to mention some of those dudes stances on homosexuality and female pastors….(in my experience these stances are symptoms of the more major deviations from Orthodoxy listed above)
Yea, we pulled out of financal and offical partnership.. Still fellowship with some of he churches in Assoc. and we pick and choose which events we get involved in (basically if like minded pastors are planning it).
Ya just can’t walk with those whom you disagree so profoundly over such important issues.
Tarheel
Where generally are you? I mean, that sounds like the area you’re in is crawling with CBF’ers or something. I appreciate you standing strong against those kinds of churches and those kinds of christians.
🙂
🙂 As I do you as well David.
Affinity is the reality on the ground in the SBC and there is nothing that will diminish it. So, it doesn’t matter if one sees it as a negative; it is here to stay. How can our existing organizations and structures adapt?
State papers have been declining for decades and we are at a place where most? SBCers, pastors especially get their denominational news and interaction on blogs and social media. I haven’t seen the papers doing much to regain their audience. Among SBC entities, only NAMB, some of the seminaries, and LifeWay seem to recognize, engage, and purposefully use these means of communication.
I know of nothing I associations that is much beyond simple email lists and a website, but perhaps my exposure here is limited.
I would ask David and John how their association adds value to their church beyond arranging mission trips and providing a forum for ministerial fellowship.
They provide a forum for fellowship with the laity as well. There is WMU and there are fellowship opportunities for others as well as deacons.
Our local association also teaches fully accredited courses from Oklahoma Baptist University at about a third of the cost of going on campus. Our local association is also the base for our disaster relief efforts and training. They provide training for Sunday school workers and for putting on VBS. Also, I have three young preachers in training that our affiliation with the local association assists them in securing speaking opportunities. I could list several more things that demonstrate the value that the local association brings to our local church.
I would like to add that I’m not against the local association. I am most positively for it. I have had great associational experiences in the past. I even came very close to becoming an Associational Missionary. I have also worked within the structure of an association as a staff member. It was that latter ministry that convinced me that being in such a position is not something I fit, though I appreciate many of the DOM’s I have known and I respect the work they do.
William, I hope you are wrong about affinity. Otherwise, we are done for.
Coalescing around others whose ministry model, style of worship, or particular theological bent isn’t inherently wrong, unless it becomes an idol that prohibits meaningful engagement and cooperation with other kinds of churches. It is precisely that willingness that has been the fuel for cooperative Baptist missions for decades. Christ is not divided, so while I can’t help but agree with you that this is a “reality on the ground,” I can’t simply go along with it–anymore than I can turn a blind eye to anything else that inhibits our continued work together under the common banner of the Gospel.
I suspect that there is a affinity continuum and it is as natural as moving from oral communication to written communication to various media. Structures and institutions have to adapt. I think it is a huge positive in many ways. We will always have associations in some fashion, I would guess but they will probably not demand the funding nor the attention they once did. Just my ten cents worth.
When David and John speak positively of their association, I am reminded of a couple in my experience. The question for me is of the opportunity costs to my church’s budget. Is the association worth 3%? Highly unlikely. Is it worth 1%? Depends. Is staff 80% of the association’s budget? Is it worth something? Certainly.
Like most things, it depends on the local leadership and needs of the churches. I am thankful that my association, Concord Association in Arkansas, is very relevant. We have a great DOM and have had before. The association is especially helpful to small churches and bi-vocational pastors. It is critical to keep fellowship and communication between the churches and pastors. We do joint evangelism and fellowship projects. It is true that the large churches often have less need and participate less than the medium size and smaller churches but I believe it would be to their benefit to take part also. I am sorry for those of you that are not part of a dynamic Baptist association.