Featured Baptist Groups in the USA

Interesting. Then Northeast Fellowship should move to I C 10 under the GARBC. I found no mention of the GARBC on the Northeast website, but since you mentioned this I went on the GARBC website and find they mention Northeast. Thanks!

At some point in the past I removed the former Baptist groups that had moved to the Pentecostal movement, such as PFWBC and Christian Baptist Church of God. IIRC, the PFWBC looks to other Pentecostal type groups for fellowship rather than towards Baptists.

 

The GARBC site list 21 state/regional bodies:

1. Arizona Association of Regular Baptist Churches
2. Baptist Network Northwest (ID,OR,WA)
3. California Association of Regular Baptist Churches
4. Crossroads Fellowship: A Baptist Network of Churches, Inc. (IN)
5. DelMarVa Baptist Fellowship (DE,MD,VA)
6. Freedom Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches (WV)
7. Garden State Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches (NJ)
8. Illinois/Missouri Association of Regular Baptist Churches (IL,MO)
9. Iowa Association of Regular Baptist Churches
10. Lone Star Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches (TX)
11. Mid-Continent Association of Regular Baptist Churches (KS,MO,OK)
12. Michigan Association of Regular Baptist Churches
13. Minnesota Association of Regular Baptist Churches
14. Montana Regular Baptist Fellowship
15. Nebraska Association of Regular Baptist Churches
16. Northeast Fellowship-a Network of Independent Baptist Churches (NY)
17. Ohio Association of Regular Baptist Churches
18. Ozark Association of Regular Baptist Churches (AR)
19. Rocky Mountain Association of Regular Baptist Churches (CO)
20. Sunshine Baptist Fellowship (FL)
21. Wisconsin Association of Regular Baptist Churches

 

Yes, I think that is the technicality and the reality for how a lot of Baptist groups work -- that is, affiliation at the state and local level doesn't make one a member of the national body, but most churches who participate with others usually think of themselves as part of the larger group. I know where I grew up there were quite a few churches that participated mainly in the local association, but considered that they were part of the American Baptist Association. On the other hand, I pastored a church once where we participated with churches in a local association but did not wish to be consider a part of the state and national bodies that most of them participated in. This is a fine point about which most don't think very much.

I ran into something interesting today regarding the new Growing Healthy Churches organization in California and Nevada. It is the old American Baptists of the West and is described (in news accounts) as a sort of split from the ABCUSA. Yet, looking at their constitutions and by-laws, I find they have two types of members, categorized as either “Cooperating Churches” (in GHC and still in the ABCUSA) or “Affiliating Churches” (in the GHC only).

 

Does anyone know the status of the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, which operates under the ministry arm name Churchnet? I thought they were aligned with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, but they are not listed on their web site. They seem to be independent of groups such as ABCUSA, CBF, SBC, but affiliated with the BWA.

 

I decided to start a list of Holiness and Pentecostal "Baptists". All of the groups listed below either use Baptist in their name and/or came out of Baptist bodies. Many of them probably do not consider themselves Baptists in the way we would think of Baptists, and probably look to Holiness and Pentecostal bodies for their fellowship, rather than Baptists. It can be hard to get current information on some of the smaller bodies. But I am learning that many that don't have any official web site have some kind of presence on Facebook!

Holiness and Pentecostal Baptists
Bethel Ministerial Association, aka Bethel Baptist Assembly, Inc. (org. 1934) *
Christian Baptist Church of God (org. 1931)
Church of God Mountain Assembly (org. in 1906 by ministers and churches excluded from the South Union Association of United Baptists; the following came out of CGMA)

• Church of God General Assembly (org. 1914)
• Church of God of the Union Assembly (org. 1920)
• Church of God of the Original Mountain Assembly (org. 1946)

Evangelical Free Baptist Church (org. unknown)
Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship (org. 1994)
General Conference of the Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc. (org. 1935)
Holiness Baptist Association (org. 1894; the following came out of HBA)

• Calvary Holiness Association (org. 1977)

Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church (org., from previous groups, in 1959)

* Not sure of BBA, Inc's connections to Baptists. The founder, Albert F. Varnell, seems to be a Pentecostal who came out of the Azusa Street revival. Perhaps he was a Baptist before then.