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Baptist polity beyond the local church: associations

This is a blog post about the church polity (organisational structure) of Baptist churches.

Baptists are independents, in the sense that we believe that each local church is a church in its own right, with all the relevant powers and privileges, and is free to manage its own affairs without interference from outside. 

Here, for example, are the words of the 1644 First London Confession: 

"That being thus joined, every Church has power given them from Christ for their better well-being, to choose to themselves fitting persons into the office of Pastors, Teachers, Elders, Deacons, being qualified according to the Word, as those which Christ has appointed in His Testament, for the feeding, governing, serving, and building up of His Church, and that none other have to power to impose them, either these or any other." (First London Confession of 1644, Article 36)

However, as Baptists, we have also always believed in fellowship and cooperation between local churches. Here, once again, is an excerpt from the same 1644 First London Confession: 

"And although the particular congregation be distinct and several bodies, every one a compact and knit city in itself; yet are they [namely, particular congregations] all to walk by one and the same Rule, and by all means convenient to have the counsel and help one of another in all needful affairs of the church, as members of one body in the common faith under Christ their only Head." (Ibid, Article 47) 

Historically, there have been two main streams of Baptists: General (Arminian in their theology, emphasising free will), and Particular (Calvinist in their theology, emphasising God's sovereign grace). General Baptists first began among English exiles in the Netherlands in 1609, Particular Baptists first emerged in London about 1638. 

During the 17th century the above principles of "[having] counsel and help one of another" were expressed among Baptists by the formation of associations of Baptist churches. The first such association appears to have been formed in 1624, bringing together five General Baptist Churches. Associations were regional groupings of like-minded churches that sprang up across the country. These regional groupings of churches were geographically close enough together to meaningfully be involved in one another's lives. The term "association" was also used to denote Civil war-era military areas. 

In 1689, shortly after religious toleration was decreed by King William, a national Assembly of Particular Baptist churches was convened in London, with local churches sending "messengers" (representative delegates). However, after this one-off event, it is a generally accepted fact of history that, while there were regional associations, there was no national body of Particular Baptists until 1832. This is attested by Dr. Michael Haykin and many other Baptist historians writing from a range of perspectives. 

This practice of local associations continued after 1689. One very notable and influential association of particular Baptist churches was the one in Northamptonshire, associated with names such as Andrew Fuller and William Carey. It was these men and others who led to the creation of the Baptist Missionary Society in the late 18th century. 

The received terminology of Baptist polity historically and worldwide is that "association" denotes a regional grouping of Baptist churches, while "assembly" or "union" denotes a national meeting or body. In the USA and Canada the latter is known as a national "convention". This reflects similar structures in the polity of General Baptists (local churches, regional associations and a national General Assembly), and also Presbyterian polity (churches, presbyteries, synods and a national General Assembly). The equivalent of a Baptist association in an episcopal polity would be a diocese or eparchy with a bishop at its head. 

At a later time, a Baptist leader called John Howard Shakespeare was General Secretary of the Baptist Union 1998-1924, and introduced the concept of a "superintendent" overseeing a Baptist association. 

At the present time the Particular Baptist churches in the United Kingdom have associations only in some parts of the country, such as the South-East, Suffolk and Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire and the East Midlands. 

The national body is the Grace Baptist Assembly which meets once a year in May. 

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