The Impact of Associational National Convocations

I’m delighted to be here for several reasons.

1. This is the 5^th national convocation on associations. The first four significantly impacted the life and work of associations – and I know that this one will too.
2. This convocation represents a reversal of the gradual decline in involvement with associations by national agencies that has been going on for around 20 years.
3. There has always been a special vitality in the national convocations because associational missionaries/directors of missions come together from all across the country. We can learn a tremendous amount from one another.

In these brief minutes, I want to share with you something of the impact of the four previous convocations, to express some thoughts about the challenges that lie before us, and to express my optimism that associations will develop the innovations needed to address those challenges.

The Impact of Associational Convocations

Over a period of about 25 years, associational national convocations provided major benchmarks in understanding and working in, with, and through associations.

Then, there was a 20 year gap between the 1989 convocation and the one we are currently experiencing.

There are a several major values I want to share with you regarding both the previous and current convocations. They serve as benchmarks, springboards, and iron-sharpeners.

1. The convocations are useful benchmarks that seemed to capture the spirit and productivity of an era.

2. They serve as springboards to send us in new directions or to elevate us to new levels in associational understandings and actions.

3. They are iron-sharpeners in the sense that iron sharpens iron. Possibly the most important result you will carry away is what you pick up in a conversation with a colleague you meet from somewhere across the country from where you minister.

Consider the Impact of Each of the Previous Convocations

1-The Impact of the Gulfshore Conference on Associational Missions (1963)

1. For the first time, the denomination listened to associational missionaries.

2. In The Associational Guidebook, which was published in 1959, the association’s function was stated to be to develop an understanding of the denominational program of work in the churches. The association was to promote all of the programs of the denomination and teach methods for carrying out those programs. That was a view that was prevalent at the time.

One of the actions of the Gulf Shore conference was to repudiate that philosophy. This produced a 180 degree shift in the philosophy of the role of associations from serving as an instrument of the denomination to return to an understanding that associations are a fellowship of churches associated for mutual benefit. Associations are for meeting the practical needs of the churches rather than for meeting the promotional needs of the denomination. (Ironically, perhaps, the denomination benefits most by this church orientation.)

3. The legacy of the Gulfshore Conference included these four affirmations:

1. That associations are a constituent part of our total task force for world missions and not a sub-part or instrument of any other entity. (This was in accord with our polity all along, but it was not consistent with what was practiced.)

2. That there is a vital inter-dependence of the association with other entities.

3. Associational missions is a part of the total world mission program. (cf. Acts 1:8)

4. The associational missionary should be considered as belonging fully to the Southern Baptist family of missionaries. (The fundamental issue is not what an associational missionary – or any other missionary – does [tasks] nor where his compensation comes from – but who he is in terms of his identity and calling. I am an associational missionary and I serve on the mission field to which God has assigned to me.)

2- The Impact of the National Convocation on the Southern Baptist Association (1974)

1. It reinforced the philosophy of associations as a fellowship of churches

2. It positioned associations as full partners in denominational efforts – not merely as program promoters.

3. The convocation was a benchmark in an era of significant developments in associationalism.

a. Several doctoral dissertations on associations were completed at SBC seminaries.

b. This was an intense time of publication of associational materials. There were notable books and there were special issues of scholarly journals on the Baptist Association.

4. The legacy of the 1974 convocation is that associations by that time could be described as a full partner in Southern Baptist life.

3- The Impact of Mission in Context: A National Conference on the Association (1981)

1. Thinking Nationally; Acting Locally was the theme, and there was great optimism for evangelizing and congregationalizing through Bold Mission Thrust.

2. Major emphasis was given to the essential role that context played in mission strategy.

3. The Association: A Base for Mission Strategy was a prominent emphasis. It recognized that an association has the basic responsibility for developing a comprehensive mission strategy for its particular area.

4. Directors of Missions were urged and equipped to be mission strategists.

5. There was a growing consensus and specific agreements among the SBC agencies, state conventions, and associations regarding basic associational philosophy and methods.

6. There were new materials including books, manuals, and articles.

7. Leadership training for associational leaders was intensified.

8. The Associational Bulletin and the Associational Leader Notebook were published with the director of missions as the specific, intended reader.

9. The theme, The Association: Base for Mission Strategy, was implemented through major strategic planning projects such as Mega Focus Cities, Metro Thrust, Town & Country Thrust, and the PACT process.

4 - The Impact of the Our World, Our Mission Associational Convocation (1989)

1. The focus on missions continued and expanded. Whereas associations were generally agreed to be churches on mission in their setting (a legacy from Gulfshore), and associations worked in full partnership with other entities of the denomination (a legacy of the 1974 Convocation), and associations were recognized as a base for mission strategy within a framework of thinking nationally and acting locally (a legacy of the 1981 meeting), the 1989 convocation went further.

2. The 1989 Convocation asserted that associations of churches were to be on mission beyond all boundaries and barriers. This is a view that’s obedient to the versions of the Great Commission given in both Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8.

Now, The Big Question Is:

What Will Be the Legacy – the Impact -- of This Convocation?

What will they say at the next two or three convocations -- whenever they are held, but hopefully no more than 10 years apart – about the benchmarks set here and the legacy left by this particular group?

I hope they will say that those of us who are here will use this event as a springboard into new levels of missional understanding, actions, and leadership.

So what will be the legacy of this convocation? In its barest form, let me ask, what difference will this make? Well, it’s up to each of us to take full advantage of what is offered here and then to go back home to utilize fresh insights. I hope our impact and legacy will include something like these:

1. Consistent with our nature, we will innovate to solve pressing problems & seize opportunities.

Let me share an observation as to why I think that associations might have some of their greatest days ahead. (Not necessarily my association or your association, but associations.)

Throughout Baptist history, associations have been at their best when there were perplexing issues or problems that couldn’t be handled by the usual approaches. It was when the usual answers were applied – even with greater commitment and expertise – but when those great answers were ineffective, and maybe even pernicious; when not only the answers, but the questions changed. Associations have flourished during difficult times – and when that was settled, they tended to drift downward – only to be reinvigorated when issues arose where new answers were needed or where there were new questions to be addressed.

Associations represent some 1200 centers of potential innovation. It is the nature of innovation to bubble-up, not to trickle down. A major strength of associations is adaptability and flexibility. Associations cannot be both pioneers and settlers. An association can be either one or neither one, but it can’t be both. The inherent nature of associations is to be a pioneer – adaptable and flexible.

2. We Will Reinvent Our Associations and Whatever Else as Needed.

Some associations are already at some stage in the process – and it is still in the future for some. We live in a time when every institution in society is challenged. This includes churches, associations, and every other organization in Baptist life – and in the broader society. Associations, like others, must justify themselves to every new generation and every new people group. Remember that memories are short. We deal with many people whose question is What have you done for me lately?

Here are some examples of innovation and invention by associations of churches.

The Modern Missions movement was started by William Carey in the Nottingham Baptist Association in England.

When the impact of Carey’s emphasis on missions came to America around 1800, associations got busy trying to figure out the best ways of engaging in missions. Baptist associations experimented with various approaches including acting directly as a mission board and developing missionary societies. In addition, six associations in the Charleston area formed the first state convention in the South – the Baptist State Convention of South Carolina – because they recognized the need for an organization dealing with a larger area than the associations and specifically devoted to missions advance. (Note that it was associations, not messengers from the churches that created that convention.)

There were many other things done which resulted from associations that, when they confronted something that should be done, they figured out a way of doing it. As soon as success seemed assured, they usually passed it off to others such as societies and state conventions. In order to protect their strengths of adaptability and flexibility, they generally avoided tying themselves down with institutions or long term commitments. Their approach was to find a need and fill it and to practice the art of the possible.

Associations have

• Published curriculum & hymnals
• Started Baptist colleges, hospitals, and children’s homes
• One association purchased a slave in order for him to preach the Christian gospel to the other slaves (the laws of manumission prohibited the freeing of slaves)

It is useful to remember that association was a verb before it became a noun. Churches associated to do something. They didn’t form an organization and then try to figure out what it was to do.

3. We Will Respond to the Condition of the Churches with Both Affirmation and Innovation as Appropriate

There are several drivers of innovation in associations, but let me focus for a few minutes on just one of these – the needs of the churches.

There is a lot that’s right in the churches today – and that should be affirmed-- but there are a number of issues that call for innovation. You can easily count some of the things – but not others. For example:

1. The primary missionary force – the churches – has cumulatively grown weaker as indicated by these facts:

a. 80% of churches are in a non-growth pattern – either on a plateau or declining

b. Of the 20% that are growing, only 1% is growing by reaching people for salvation. The other 19% are presumably growing as people transfer from declining churches.

c. The number of baptisms is declining.

d. The number of churches relative to population is declining.

e. The number of Baptists, as well as other Christians, in relation to population Declining.

2. The most important things in the world are not measurable, but, are nevertheless observable. For example:

a. There is a growing biblical illiteracy – both in the churches and in society.

b. Some churches are victimized by spiritual amnesia – they neither know who they are (Body of Christ, etc.) nor whose they are. Their primary operational theology is church autonomy rather than the Lordship of Christ.

c. There is a shrinking leadership pool – you can get plenty of helpers, but leaders are in short supply.

d. Some have been diverted from the main task by important, but lesser issues. The greatest enemy of the best is usually not the bad, but the merely good. The direct, easily understood commands of Jesus should not be side-tracked in order to pursue lesser issues.

4. We Will Commit to Follow the Holy Spirit – the Cosmic Director of God’s Mission.

If we had understood the questions or problems adequately, we would have already addressed these and other issues effectively. However, we must consider these in terms of challenges, not achievements.

We all probably know it, but we might need to be reminded from time to time that whatever we do in associations or churches, that we are not in charge. The book of Acts makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is the Cosmic Director of God’s Mission. The Holy Spirit is not our resource – we, and the churches, are His instruments for accomplishing His mission in the world.

The issue is not what the future will be like, but how we will participate with God in co-creating the future. When we recognize that it is God’s mission, we realize that prayer must be Strategy #1.

Expect Great Things from God; Attempt Great Things for God.

I know of no better admonition to us all as we address the challenges in our own fields of missionary service than those given by William Carey in his famous message to his colleagues in the Northampton Baptist Association, Expect Great Things from God; Attempt Great Things for God. I hope and pray that the legacy of this convocation will be that because we expected great things from God, that we attempted great things for God.

J.C. Bradley, Associational Missionary

Central Triad Baptist Association

High Point, NC

jcb@ctbanc.org