Featured Unaffiliated independent Baptists

In Baptists in America, historian Bill Leonard addresses your definitional error :

https://books.google.com/books?id=Le7LEWFTNGUC&pg=PA114

In his encyclopedia, he defines as Independent Baptist those independent of the Conventions, including loosely associated groups such as Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, Baptist Bible Union, General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, Baptist Bible Fellowship, Southwide Baptist Fellowship, New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches, etc.:

https://books.google.com/books?id=vnWE00YVeJQC&pg=PA387

 

In his 1970 Convention speech hyping the denomination's "great program", SBC President W.A Criswell warned of the danger that "we shall dissolve like a rope of sand" were Southern Baptist churches to flag in their devotion to cooperative missions:

Baptist Press, June 1, 1970

"Our world-wide mission program holds us together like cables of steel."

 

Yeah, that was the one of the parting sentiments of onetime SBC Executive Committee Chairman Brooks Wester who stepped down in 1980 as the fundamentalist takeover ramped up:

Baptist Press, June 12, 1980

 

I agree with you, at least in theory every Baptist Church is independent and in practice almost all of them are. I say at least in theory because there are a few Baptists that practice some form of connectionalism that inserts a bit of limitation on local churches that most of us aren't used to -- for example, some Free Will Baptist associations have a standing presbytery that operates somewhat independently of the churches, such as in ordaining ministers.

I used the term unaffiliated to refer to churches that have neither formal nor semi-formal affiliation. I have no idea of the numbers other than to suspect your 99% quite a bit too much. There are many Baptist churches that have no connection to any kind of association or fellowship, and do all their mission work through direct support -- either giving directly to the missionary or his sending church. Some of the "least independent" Baptist churches are the independent Baptists who are dominated by a dictatorial pastor. In those cases it is usually the pastor who is independent, rather than the churches.

My question in the other thread was related to finding out what kind of independent Baptists the author of the OP was talking about. He obviously didn't mean all Baptists. There is a lot of fluidity of usage and meaning when one speaks of "independent Baptists". I can't speak for others, but the churches I have been in that participated in associations were independent, controlled their own affairs and did what they pleased whether or not it pleased the association.

It can be hard to compare some of these associations and fellowship. For example, the BMAA (which Salty mentions above) is an association of churches. The BBFI and the SBF (unless they have changed recently) are not associations of churches, but fellowships of preachers. By this I don't mean one is more independent than the other -- but that they are structured in very different ways.

 

Yes, FBFI originated as a sort of a caucus in the Northern Baptist Convention (the Fundamentalist Fellowship), then in the CBA when it went independent from the NBC in the 1940s. Members don't have to be preachers, do they?

 

BBFI's Constitution and Bylaws make it clear it is intended to be a fellowship of pastors.

This style of fellowship/governance may be more typical of the Southern fellowships than the Northern ones. Some of this may reflect the stamp of J. Frank Norris.

 

I think Leonard's distinction is good, and highlights something that we need to understand when discussing Baptists. We are sometimes speaking in terms of "independent" as a matter of polity -- each local Baptist church is independent and autonomous. And then there are times we discuss churches which name or describe themselves as "Big I" Independent. In our area BBFI churches have always been big on the "Independent" descriptor (and yet I have found many of their rules more restrictive and less attractive to my "independent" taste than the SBC). I started using "unaffiliated" to go further and describe churches that do not participate in any fellowships such as BBFI, WBF, SBF. I did this when doing some research on independent churches and needing a further question and identification -- since most all of these churches used the term "Independent" in much the same way.

For understanding the varied Baptist landscape in the U.S., I highly recommend the books of Albert W. Wardin -- Baptist Atlas and The Twelve Baptist Tribes in the USA: a Historical & Statistical Analysis -- and for worldwide Baptists -- Baptists Around the World. Baptist Atlas is somewhat outdated, but the introductory material is very helpful in understanding how and why Baptists in the U.S. break down into the different sub-groups that they do.

 

Not necessarily. In some cases they may come out much the same, but notice the BBFI bylaws. You can't be an officer or a representative unless you are a pastor. In the past (and probably still that way) a church could get a vote if the pastor could not attend or they did not have a pastor -- after going through a process to gain approval for the substitution through the executive powers that be.

 

I have one as well, though not the most recent one (and I don't keep it on my desk ). BBFI churches in the church directory would be a list of churches that support the BBFI missions or schools, but "affiliation" is stated in the bylaws to be for pastors.