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Featured Baptist Groups in the USA

Discussion in 'Baptist History' started by rlvaughn, Jul 26, 2016.

  1. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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.
     
  2. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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
     
  3. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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
     
  4. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  5. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
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    Russian speaking Evangelical Christian-Baptists have immigrated and settled out West and in many other parts of the country. They are pretty much split between a SBC orientated grouping
    • The Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association (PCSBA).
    • The American branch of the Council of Evangelical Christian-Baptist Churches (CEC-BC). The CEC-BC is headquartered in Moscow. It is the organization of the formerly underground and still unregistered churches.
    There aren't any real doctrinal differences between the groups. However, the PCSBA's newer men have come out of the registered churches.
     
  6. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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.
     
  7. Squire Robertsson

    Squire Robertsson Administrator
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    Yes. As to the PCSBA, at one time the local SBC association shared facilities with First Slavic Baptist of San Francisco. It has since moved.
    Georgi Vins was one of the founders of the Council along with Gennadi Krychkov and others.

     
  8. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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.
     
    #8 rlvaughn, Jul 27, 2016
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2016
  9. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    So the term "Heinz 57 varieties of Baptists is now obsolete?
     
  10. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    Salty, if Heinz wants to keep up with the Baptists, they'd better get busy!
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  11. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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.)
     
  12. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
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    I've been away from the area for a bit, but I know that there are two existing Native American Baptist churches in Oklahoma Seminole country (one is in the building occupied by First Baptist, Seminole, before it constructed a new building on the north side of town) that are part of the local Southern Baptist Association. The first Baptist church in Seminole County (founded circa 1860), in fact, was pastored for many years by two Seminole chiefs. I believe it is now a mixed congregation, but with a largely American Indian congregation; each of its first six pastors was Seminole or Creek. From personal experience (although years ago) some Seminoles attended predominantly white churches and it was not uncommon for Seminole lay preachers to fill the pulpit for those churches from time to time.

    There is also another association in fellowship with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (Southern Baptist) that is composed of traditionally Native American congregations — the Muskgoee-Seminole-Wichita Baptist Association (The Creeks and Seminoles I can explain because they are basically of the same ancient heritage, but I can't venture a guess as to how the Wichitas, a Plains tribe, or collections of tribes, are connected.)

    Many years ago there were Seminole congregations that met in simple buildings or in brush arbors (one was just down the street from my aunt's house, and I always was fascinated by the permanent brush arbor.) I suspect that some of these may be independent or affiliated with the Native American association.

    BTW: The primary missionaries among the Southeastern tribes that were removed to Indian Territory (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole) were from the northern Baptists, although the Southern Baptists had made some inroads. Evangelization among the western tribes was primarily by the Northern Baptists. The oldest Baptist church in my county, a mission to the Comanches, was planted by the Northerners, although it is now a member of the local Southern Baptist Association as well as an ABC-USA association.

    The oldest continuing school of higher education in Oklahoma is Bacone College, founded by the Baptist Home Missionary Society (Northern Baptist) in 1880. It's in Muskogee, traditional Muscogee-Creek country, and thus related to the Seminoles.

    First American Indian Baptist Church of Hobart is affiliated with the ABC-USA, as are a number of other Native American Baptist churches of many tribes. In fact, the ABC-USA has a separate association for Oklahoma Native American churches, mostly on the western side of the state.
     
  13. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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.
     
  14. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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
     
  15. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    ARBCA recently lost many of its churches in a dispute over interpreting some article in The Confession. It's down to 50 something churches now. Among those departing were ARBCA Coordinator Bob Selph and his predecessor Gordon Taylor. They are starting the "Reformed Baptist Network". The RBN Constituting Conference in November at Grace Baptist, Taylors, SC will feature an address by Mark Dever:

    http://reformedbaptistnetwork.com/
     
  16. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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    What about the "Baptist Friends" outfit run by Clarence Sexton? Has an annual conference and a listing of 10K+ Independent Baptist churches:

    http://baptistfriends.org/
     
  17. Jerome

    Jerome Well-Known Member
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  18. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    From the Link: "The organization exists as a progressive counter to the more traditional Sword of the Lord group."

    But in reality, is it that the IBF is progressive or is it that the Sword of the Lord has moved to extreme fundamentalism? Another words - which group has really moved their position?
     
  19. rlvaughn

    rlvaughn Well-Known Member
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    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.
     
  20. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Include it, but with an asterisk
    I notice also on the list I C 10 was GARBC
    and then on the list I C 13 k Northeast Fellowship (formerly Empire State Fellowship)
    this group is the affilated State Fellowshiop of the GARBC - and I'm sure that other state fellowships are also listed - and as well should have an asterisk
     
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