Widespread understanding of the relationships between churches, associations, state/area conventions, and the Southern Baptist Convention used to be a given within our particular family of believers. In recent years, however, there has been an uptick in the use of seemingly benign, but inaccurate, expressions of the nature of these relationships. Whether due to lack of awareness, or imprecision of expression, important lines have become blurred, even within our own circles, and inaccurate assumptions and misunderstandings have been perpetuated and reinforced in non-Baptist circles — and even the broader, secular world.
Clearly and accurately articulating how we relate to one another is important, and I’ve seen this firsthand, in talking with non-Baptist Christians who have been prospective members of the church I serve. I’ve had multiple conversations with people who were familiar with bishops and dioceses, synods, districts, presbyteries, superintendents and even popes, but whose faces betrayed confusion when I tried to explain churches, associations, and conventions. When these folks from other backgrounds have come to understand these things, they have quickly embraced them, often with appreciation and relief.
In this context, the term “denomination” is best understood to be a named (and discrete) population/tradition of Christians distinguished by shared theological/biblical convictions and practice, such as Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc. When people ask me what denomination I am, I answer, “Baptist.”
I am a Baptist Christian, pastoring an independent Baptist church. (I’ve never met a Baptist church that isn’t independent.) The independent Baptist church I serve voluntarily cooperates with an independent local association of other independent Baptist churches (the Reedy River Baptist Association), and two independent conventions of other independent Baptist churches: the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Baptist Christians come together to organize local, autonomous Baptist churches. These churches are congregational in polity, meaning that the local church constitutes and governs itself, presumptively under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of His perfect, all-sufficient Word.
Baptist churches often cooperate voluntarily with other nearby Baptist churches, forming Baptist associations, with neither church nor association exercising any authority over the other. That said, each church — and any Baptist association with which it may cooperate — is fully autonomous, which includes the right of either one to end the relationship unilaterally, for its own reasons. That is mutual independence.
Baptist churches often cooperate voluntarily with other Baptist churches in the same state or broader region, and/or even nationwide, forming Baptist conventions, with neither church nor any convention exercising authority over the other. Again, each church and any Baptist convention with which it may cooperate, is fully autonomous, which includes the right of either one to end the relationship unilaterally, for its own reasons. That, too, is mutual independence.
The fact is, there is no hierarchy that controls churches within Baptist life. The SBC is not at the top, with state conventions down a notch, and associations down another notch, with local churches at the bottom. The SBC, state conventions, associations and churches are all on the very same level, each independent of all of the others. Each is free to set parameters for cooperation with any/all of the rest.
So, in Southern and South Carolina Baptist life, we are not chained together — we are holding hands, which is a very blessed tie, the kind that binds our hearts together.