Featured Baptist Groups in the USA

Many years ago I posted on BaptistBoard my list/outline of Baptist groups in the USA
I am going to update it. It is hard to keep up with the changes that take place among Baptists, and I haven't worked on it so much in the last 10 years (been doing other things). But I've tried to rework and update it and will post it on BaptistBoard.

 

BAPTISTS IN THE USA

I. REGULAR BAPTISTS (NORTHERN-ORIENTED)

A. ECUMENICAL MAINLINE
1. American Baptist Churches in the USA
a. American Baptist Evangelicals (maybe now Cornerstone Church Network?)
b. Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists

B. CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL
2. Baptist General Conference
3. Baptist World Mission
4. Conservative Baptist Association of America (CBAmerica)
5. Growing Healthy Churches (formerly American Baptists of the West)
6. North American Baptist Conference
7. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference
8. Transformation Ministries (an affiliation of over 180 former ABCUSA Baptist Churches in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii)

C. SEPARATIST FUNDAMENTALIST
9. Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International
10. General Association of Regular Baptist Churches
11. Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America
12. New England Evangelical Baptist Fellowship
13. Related Northern Fundamental Baptist Fellowships
a. New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches
b. Association of Fundamental Baptist Churches of Northern California
c. Association of Independent Baptist Churches of Illinois
d. Dakota Baptist Association
e. Grace Baptist Fellowship
f. Independent Fundamental Baptist Association of Michigan
g. Indiana Fundamental Baptist Association
h. Inter-Mountain Baptist Fellowship (MT, WY)
i. Minnesota Baptist Association
j. Mountain States Baptist Fellowship (CO)
k. Northeast Fellowship (formerly Empire State Fellowship)
l. Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches
m. Wyoming Fellowship of Baptist Churches

II. REGULAR BAPTISTS (SOUTHERN-ORIENTED)

A. CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL
14. Southern Baptist Convention

B. ECUMENICAL
15. Alliance of Baptists
16. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

C. LANDMARK MISSIONARY BAPTIST
17. American Baptist Association
18. Baptist Missionary Association of America
19. Independent Landmark Associations and Churches
a. California Missionary Baptist Association
b. Central (TX)
c. Landmark (AR)
d. Mt. Pisgah (MS)
e. Southern California
20. Interstate and Foreign Landmark Missionary Baptist Association
21. Old Time Missionary Baptists
"Middle Tennessee" Correspondence
a. Baptist Old Path (MO)
b. Bethel (IN)
c. Big Bear Creek (AL)
d. Cane Creek (MO)
e. Cedar County (MO)
f. County Line (MO
g. Dallas County (MO)
h. Enon (TN)
i. Old Time Camden County (MO)
j. Polk County (MO)
k. Siloam (KY)
l. Southwestern District (TN)
m. St. Clair County (MO)
n. Wiseman (TN)
Other Associations
a. Barren River (KY)
b. Edmonson (KY)
c. Mt. Carmel (AL)
d. Mt. Pisgah (WV)
e. Original Smyrna (GA)
f. Pine Mountain (KY)
g. Pleasant Grove (GA)
h. Second North Concord (KY)
i. Wayne Trail (OH)
22. United Baptists - Landmark
a. Green River (KY)
b. South Concord (KY)
c. South Fork (KY)
d. Stockton Valley (TN)
e. West Union (TN)

D. SEPARATIST FUNDAMENTALISTS
23. Baptist Bible Fellowship International
24. Global Independent Baptist Fellowship
a. Missouri Valley Concord of Independent Baptists
b. Northwest Baptist Fellowship
25. Independent Baptist Fellowship International
26. Liberty Baptist Fellowship
27. Northwest Baptist Fellowship (possibly regional related to GIBF)
28. Southwide Baptist Fellowship
29. World Baptist Fellowship

 

III. BLACK BAPTISTS (HISTORICALLY BLACK BAPTIST BODIES)

A. NATIONAL BAPTISTS
30. Institutional Missionary Baptist Conference of America
31. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
32. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.
33. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
34. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
Semi-autonomous bodies
a. Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention
b. National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul-Saving Assembly
[I have listed these two here, because they do not seem to be independent bodies but relate back to some one or the other of the National Baptist Conventions.]

B. BLACK PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS
35. National Primitive Baptist Convention, Inc.
36. Primitive Baptist - independent black local associations
a. Antioch (GA, FL)
b. Bethlehem
c. Beulah
d. Chestnut Knob (NC, VA)
e. Coopergrove (NC)
f. Corresponding (NC)
g. Cub Run (NC, VA)
h. Ephesus
i. Flint River (GA)
j. Friendship
k. Little Lott’s Creek (GA)
l. Mount Calvary (GA, NC)
m. Mount Calvary #2
n. Mount Olive (GA)
o. Mount Pleasant (GA)
p. Mount Pleasant #2
q. Mount Ramah (GA)
r. Northeastern (PA, DC, NY, CT)
s. Northwestern (PA, OH, MI, IL)
t. Ocmulgee District (GA, NC)
u. Old Original Mt. Pleasant
v. Old School Roanoke (VA)
w. Piedmont
x. Pine Light (AR, LA, MO)
y. Radicue (NC)
z. Salem (GA)
aa. Sandy Ridge (VA)
bb. Sipsey River (AL)
cc. Spring Hill Union (AL)
dd. Union (GA)
ee. Union Line (NC)

C. BLACK FREE WILL BAPTISTS
37. National Convention of Free Will Baptists, USA
a. Northeast Free Will Baptist Conference
b. Unified Free Will Baptist Denomination
c. Unison Free Will Baptist Conference, Inc.
d. United American Free Will Baptist Denomination, Inc.
e. United American Free Will Baptist Conference
f. Western Division Free Will Baptist, Inc.

D. OTHER
38. Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship
39. Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association

IV. PRIMITIVISTS

A. PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS (PREDOMINANTLY WHITE ASSOCIATIONS)
40. Primitive Baptist - Absolute Predestinarian
41. Primitive Baptist - Progressive
a. Birdwood College Related Churches
b. Eastern District Association (no longer holds 5 points)
42. Primitive Baptist - Limited Predestinarian
a. Old Line
b. Progressive Old Line
43. Primitive Baptist – Universalist
National Primitive Baptist Convention, Inc. (see 35 above)
Primitive Baptist - independent Black local associations (see 36 above)

B. REGULAR BAPTISTS
44. Old Regular Baptists
"New Salem" Correspondence
a. Mud River
b. New Salem
c. Northern New Salem
d. Old Friendship
e. Old Indian Bottom
f. Philadelphia
g. Sardis
h. Union
Other Associations
a. Bethel
b. Friendship
c. Indian Bottom
d. Little Dove
e. Mountain #1
f. Mountain #2
g. Original Mountain Liberty
h. Sovereign Grace
i. Thornton Union
45. Regular and Union Baptists
a. East Washington
b. Enterprise
c. Little River
d. Little Valley
e. Mountain Union
f. Original Mountain Union
g. Primitive
h. Union

C. OTHER
46. Central Baptist Association
47. General Association of Baptists ("Duck River & Kindred")
a. Duck River (TN)
b. East Union (TN)
c. Mt. Pleasant #1 (AL)
d. Mt. Pleasant #2 (AL)
e. Mt. Zion (TN)
f. New Liberty (TN)
g. Pleasant Hill Church (KY)
h. Union (TN)
48. Georgia Old Time Associations
a. Chestatee
b. Coosawattee
c. Ellijay
d. Jasper
e. New Hope
f. Pleasant Valley
49. Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists
a. Trinity River Association
b. 1 independent church
50. United Baptist - Regular
a. Blaine Union (KY)
b. Iron Hill (KY)
c. Laurel River (KY)
d. Little Friendship (IN)
e. Mt. Zion (KY)
f. New Bethel (OH)
g. New Hope (KY)
h. Paint Union (KY)
i. Old Bethlehem (WV)
j. Old Paint Union (KY)
k. Red Bird River (KY)
l. Town Creek (AL)
m. Tri-State Zion (KY)
n. Union Bethlehem (WV)
o. Wills Creek #1 (AL)
p. Wills Creek #2 (AL)
q. Zion (KY)

V. GENERAL BAPTISTS

A. FREE WILL BAPTISTS
51. Independent Free Will Baptist Associations
a. Eastern Stone
b. French Broad
c. Jack’s Creek
d. John-Thomas
e. Mt. Mitchell
f. Muscle Shoals
g. Original Grand River (OK)
h. Original Stone
i. Stone Association of Central Indiana
j. Tennessee River
k. Toe River
l. Western
m. Western Stone
52. National Association of Free Will Baptists
53. Original Free Will Baptist Convention
Black Free Will Baptists (see 37 above)

B. GENERAL BAPTISTS
54. General Association of General Baptists
55. General Six-Principle Baptist Church

C. OTHER
56. Separate Baptists in Christ
General Association of Separate Baptists
a. Central Indiana
b. Christian Unity (VA)
c. Mt. Olive (TN)
d. Nolynn (KY)
e. Northeast Florida
f. South Kentucky
g. West Virginia
Unaffiliated Separate Baptists
a. Ambraw (IL)
b. Northern Indiana
57. National Association of United Baptists (and Related Associations)
a. Ancient Christian
b. Bethel
c. Bethlehem
d. Central Missouri
e. Centerpoint
f. Mount Carmel
g. Northern United
h. Ohio Valley
i. Tri-State
j. Union
58. General Conference of the Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc.

VI. REFORMED/SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTISTS

59. Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America
a. Reformed Baptist Mission Services
b. Southern California Association of Reformed Baptist Churches
60. Continental Baptist Churches
61. Gospel Standard Strict Baptist Churches
62. Sovereign Grace Baptist Association of Churches

ETHNIC/NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE BAPTISTS

Note: I do not list the black Baptists above as ethnic bodies. They exist mostly because of racial division, but their origin is usually (originally) from association with and/or membership within the General and Particular Baptist churches of British background. Many associations, conferences, and conventions exist separately from or within major conventions because of a difference in language. These groups usually relate in some way to larger national bodies and are therefore not usually counted as separate groups of Baptists. The following seem to be semi-autonomous:

ABCUSA related
Association of Evangelicals for Italian Missions
Czechoslovak Baptist Convention of the USA & Canada
Portuguese Baptist Convention of New England - org. 1903
Romanian Baptist Association of the US & Canada - Morton Grove, IL - org. 1913
Russian-Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Union, USA, Inc.
Union of Latvian Baptists in America

SBC related
Polish Baptist Association in the USA & Canada - org. 1913
Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention - org. 1946

Other
Hungarian Baptist Convention of North America, Inc. - org. 1908

 

I must apologize that the list is not as user-friendly as it might be. I lost the outline formatting when I pasted on to Baptist Board. I also had to break it into two posts because of the length.

Some of you may be able to supply much needed updates (e.g., from their web site it appears that Liberty Baptist Fellowship may not operate as a fellowship in the same sense as the Baptist Bible Fellowship or even the Southwide Baptist Fellowship). If you have any questions about why I have organized the list thusly, I'll try to answer as I have time. It can be hard to produce a valid comparison of different Baptist bodies, when you have the contrast of a large Baptist convention such as the SBC with another group that operates as a fellowship of pastors.

 

Thanks, Brother Robertsson. Am I correct to understand that the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association is related to the SBC, and that the Council of Evangelical Christian-Baptist Churches is an autonomous body? I found a piece on the CEC-BC HERE. Do you think it is accurate?

Also, I want to mention my inclusion of the National Association of United Baptist Churches of America with the Free Will, General and Separate Baptists. This is because this is a sort of "mixed" association in that some of the affiliated associations/churches believe in falling from grace, while some do not.

 

Thanks.

Here are some comments on some of the other listings.

I could not determine whether American Baptist Evangelicals is defunct or operating under another name. Apparently many of these churches/leaders withdrew from the ABCUSA circa 2006.

It is not certain whether all the Free Will Baptist conferences listed under No. 37 are actually in correspondence with one another. They all seem to have some relationship to the National Convention of Free Will Baptists, USA. Much more light is needed on this subject.

In the past I chose to use "Birdwood College Related Churches" to distinguish this group of Progressive Primitive Baptists, because they are the ones who started Birdwood College in Thomasville, Georgia in 1950. They are the only ones, so far as I know, that use Progressive in their name. The wording is outdated though, because the college officially severed relations with the Primitive Baptists several years ago, and is also now called Thomas College. Most of these churches are in Georgia. Their web site says, "The word 'Progressive' refers to their inclusion of musical instruments, bible studies, youth camps, mission and charity organizations that are rejected by other factions of Primitive Baptists, often referred to as 'old line' or 'old school'."

So far as I know the Eastern District Association of Primitive Baptists no longer correspond with any other Primitive Baptist associations, no longer hold limited atonement, and have adopted other more "progressive" stances, such as Sunday School. I still classify them as Primitive Baptists, though, because they call themselves Primitive Baptists.

"Progressive Old Line" is my choice of names, for the present, to describe a certain faction of the Old Line Primitive Baptists who have adopted some form of mission work and have Bible study somewhat like Sunday School. They do not consider themselves Progressive, but many of the Old Line churches have disfellowshipped them.

 

Salty, if Heinz wants to keep up with the Baptists, they'd better get busy!

 

There are also some Seminole Baptist churches in Oklahoma (and Florida, too, I think). I have no information on how they are organized (associations, conventions, etc.) and/or whether they are independent of all other Baptist organizations. (Seminoles as in Native Americans, not as churches or associations in towns or counties named Seminole.)

 

Thanks. That is very helpful. I have Jack Schultz's book The Seminole Baptist Churches of Oklahoma: Maintaining a Traditional Community, but I have not read it yet. The index appears to be "bare bones" and I didn't find "association" or "convention", etc. in it. But I found that it in on Google preview and searched it. He states that most of these churches he studied are independent, but three churches are members of the Muskgoee-Seminole-Wichita Baptist Association. See page 55 HERE.

 

So, to the "Other" category under Ethnic Baptist II think we can add:

Other
Council of Evangelical Christian-Baptist Churches (CEC-BC)
Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association (PCSBA).
Seminole Baptists of Oklahoma

 

I think the Reformed Baptist Network should be added once they have formed an organization

Independent Baptist Friends International seems to be on the same order as many other types of independent Baptist fellowships and should be included. It is a fellowship of pastors, evangelists, missionaries, etc. and churches do not join. But this is common of many of the IFB fellowships.

I'm not aware of the current status of International Baptist Network, but my inclination is to not include it. It seems to be an organization more on the order the Baptist World Alliance to promote cooperation between Baptists in various existing groups.