Baptist congregations voluntarily associate with other congregations to form associations. The first clear example of Baptist congregations acting associationally involves seven Particular Baptist churches in London that gathered in 1644 around a confession of faith called The London Baptist Confession.
Other more formal associations arose shortly thereafter. For example, in 1651, 30 General Baptist congregations in the Midlands formed an association around a confession called The Faith and Practice of Thirty Congregations, Gathered According to the Primitive Pattern.
The first General Baptist general assembly that I am aware of convened in 1654 “to consider how and which way the affairs of the Gospel of Christ, so far as it concerns them, might be best promoted.”* Then in 1660, General Baptists produced what is known as the Standard Confession, which Thomas Grantham and Joseph Wright presented to King Charles II in July of that year.
Among Particular Baptists, the Midland Association was founded in 1655 on its own Sixteen Articles and adopted the Second London Baptist Confession (2LBF; 1677/89) after 1689.
In other words, Baptists immediately wrote confessions partially as a form of unity for association. While individual congregations were thought to be a city unto themselves (so the 1644 London Baptist Confession, art. 47), congregational autonomy existed alongside voluntary association with other confessionally similar congregations. “Baptists,” writes William Lumpkin, “were never independent, strictly speaking” (Confessions, 160).
The rest of this article surveys how early Baptists developed and defined associations. My goal is simply to provide a basic recovery of the Baptist doctrine of associationalism to resource Christians today who would like to understand the reasons for voluntary associations (sometimes called fellowships by Baptists today).
Distinguishing Associations from Societies and Conventions
Associations are made up of congregations who voluntarily associate with one another, usually around a confession of faith. A society comprises individuals from congregations who willingly associate together for a common end (missions, political causes, etc.). A convention unites societies together with a voluntary association. For the most part, Baptist bodies today are conventions, rather than voluntary associations. However, these historical distinctions have become less clear in the last 100 years.
To illustrate the point, the Southern Baptist Convention brings cooperating churches together, through their messengers, to pursue societal ends (missions, education, political lobbying, etc.); state conventions and local associations, however, remain separate, autonomous bodies. So these various layers of organizations exist alongside each other.
Given that most Baptist groups include both associational and societal ends today, we should likely default to thinking that most are conventions. That said, any convention, fellowship, or whatever term a Baptist group uses still emerged from a Baptist doctrine of congregational autonomy within associations of congregations. So this foundational theological impulse exists in these structures.
Theologically, most early Baptists pointed to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 as precedent for a regular association of congregations to deal with matters that go beyond just one local church. They also pointed to Pauline passages about duty to one another across geography (e.g., Rom 15:26–27). Last, and perhaps most important of all, early Baptists recognized that Christ was the head of every congregation, and thus we all served under one Lord.
So while each congregation was a city unto itself, it existed in the domain of its Lord, Jesus Christ. And so like any city, it must work side by side with the various towns, villages, and metro-centres of its kingdom.
In light of these sorts of arguments, both Particular and General Baptists in England wrote confessions and regularly met together at associational meetings to discuss relevant topics. For the most part, early associations centred on confessions to identify themselves amongst their Protestant peers.
Later on, associations began to respond to new challenges which involved broad-scale partnerships for worldwide missions and otherwise. Congregations within associations generally dealt with issues proper to congregations (church discipline, appointing church officers, formulating church covenants which governed the social and moral life of congregations, and so on).
Sometimes associations could aim to influence other congregations outside of their regional association. For instance, Thomas Monck principally authored the Orthodox Creed (1679) with 54 messengers, elders, and brethren. The goal, in part, was to affirm General Baptist orthodoxy against the views of Matthew Caffyn, who questioned the Trinity and promoted the view of Christ taught by the Anabaptist Melchior Hofmann (and held by some Anabaptists after him), namely, that he did not take flesh from Mary; instead, God created his flesh in heaven before he incarnated so that Christ avoided the stain of sin.
Within General Baptist associations, key leaders often became “messengers” who represented congregations within regional or general assemblies that met once or twice a year. Messengers could have bishop-like authority, although even here the authority existed within a voluntary association. Particular Baptists generally did not have authoritative positions for messengers as General Baptists did. Particular Baptists also sent messengers to associational meetings, as the Second London Confession (§26.15) shows below, but these messengers held no authority over the churches.
Early Baptists on Associationalism
With all that said, it is worth looking at the key confessions that speak about voluntary associations. They provide the best entry points for understanding why Baptists associated, since most were written either to encourage association or as the natural outcome of associating to define why congregations chose to work alongside each other at a large scale.
The Somerset Confession of 1656 represents a significant group of early Particular Baptist churches (Thomas Collier’s Western Association) emphasizing the necessity of associating.
The word “duty” importantly shows the moral necessity of association; it is not merely a convenience. Likely, this word comes from a verse cited under the article, Romans 15:26 (KJV): “For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.” The next verse then speaks of the “duty” to support non-local congregations. Such biblical passages, along with the universal headship of Jesus over all congregations, helped to solidify early Baptist thinking about associations.
At this point, the confession provides no purposes or activities for what an association ought to look like. That would shortly change. About 20 years later, the 2LBF underscored three reasons for associations: peace, increase in love, and mutual edification.
The Confession does not treat association as optional; it uses a verb of moral impulsion (“ought”). Baptists viewed local churches as congregations that comprise the universal church. In the nineteenth century, some Baptists began to think of local churches as the church, and bypassed the notion of the church. This position is known as Landmarkism, and Baptists did not adopt this view early on, nor do many today. Early Baptists saw themselves as a renewal movement within Protestantism, as I argue in “You Can Be Deep in History and Remain Baptist.”
The next paragraph in the Second London Confession explains the particular activities of associations:
In short, in matters that concern the whole fellowship or in matters that one congregation cannot solve on its own, messengers gather together to “give their advice in or about that matter in difference” and report this advice to their congregations (usually, through a circular letter).
Since associations had no ecclesial power in and of themselves, this meant that advice and consensus were important for such congregations.
While Particular Baptists generally worked from this consensus-driven approach, General Baptists sometimes saw associations as having more authority.
For example, the General Baptist confession called the Orthodox Creed (1679) states:
Notice here the emphasis on how various congregations “make but one Church.” For this reason, assembly representatives of various churches can “act in the Name of Christ.” The purposes of such associations then are “to preserve Unity, to prevent Heresie, and Superintendency among, or in any Congregation whatsoever within its own Limits, or Jurisdiction.” Superintendency here refers to the way in which General Baptists had bishop-like leaders such as Thomas Monck, the principal author of the Orthodox Creed.
The assembly then has the power to correct injustice, heresy, and schism, and to excommunicate:
These two versions of voluntary associations (General and Particular Baptist) played themselves out over the centuries. On the one hand, centralized associations can provide clear leadership and act fast. Yet on the other hand, less centralized associations seem to respect the Baptist principle of local church autonomy somewhat better. That said, no early Baptist thought of autonomy apart from associationalism. We should be careful not to import our modern assumptions back into Baptist history.
With all that said, I will hazard to pass over the centuries following in which Baptists associated, except to say what a great boon such associationalism was and is; for example, it contributed to the worldwide missions movement of William Carey and others.
Carey’s mission itself began in 1792, when ministers of the Northamptonshire Association formed a society, the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel amongst the Heathen.
How Voluntary Associations Work Today
Today, Baptists sometimes call their associations denominations or fellowships. The term denomination, however, best describes a movement (Baptists in general). So it is better not to use that term for an association or fellowship (or even a convention!). Whatever word one uses, it is important to note what associations are and how they work.
First, an association represents churches that gather together around a form of unity, usually a confession of faith. Often, such associations might be made up of smaller regional associations. Within such nesting, local congregations possess their own proper authority. For example, the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada have within themselves various regions composed of congregations, all in voluntary association. Fellowship Baptists in the Central Region have a similar arrangement. It should be noted that national associations also exist and may exist either as the largest confessional association or simply as a notional unity.
Second, congregations voluntarily associate with each other, based on a confession of faith and/or constitution. This means that when congregations can no longer associate around such forms of unity, they may choose to associate elsewhere. Occasionally, a fellowship will have to ask congregations to withdraw if they do not willingly choose to do so.
At its best, this process preserves unity in the body of Christ since it says a congregation cannot voluntarily associate with one group of churches due to theological differences, not that this congregation is outside of the kingdom. As I have argued elsewhere, a denomination by definition denominates around secondary issues, not the gospel itself. Voluntary associations can effect greater unity by allowing congregations to associate with various fellowships of churches, seeing one another as “in Christ” but not able to associate for one reason or another.
Third, associations help congregations to do things together that they could not easily do apart. This includes creating organizations to support missionary work, seminaries, chaplaincy, legal services (e.g., charitable incorporation), and financial services (pensions, etc.). Basically, associations do things that work best for a large-scale community. That leaves local churches to do the work that is proper to their domain: preaching, encouragement to love and good deeds, baptism, communion, and more besides.
Fourth, associations can also support congregations by providing resources such as Sunday School curriculum, hymns, church-planting training, and other like resources. While that is less common today than it was in the last century, associations may still play a role here. Further, they will often run youth events, camps, chaplain services, retirement homes, or other operations that would not make sense for a congregation but may make sense for a communion of congregations to support.
Challenges for Voluntary Associations Today
Baptist congregations originally birthed voluntary associations to deal with practical problems. They could not live as ships alone in the dark. They needed to work together to fulfill the biblical injunctions towards unity. And they needed to define themselves among other Protestants. Further, sporadic persecution by authorities meant that they could provide encouragement and protection for each other.
Today, new problems exist that associations solve. Additionally, Baptist voluntary associations have increasingly adopted the structural patterns of other denominations. So they have lost some of their distinctiveness, even though denominationalism itself, with its voluntary membership, resembles the idea of voluntary associations.
What brings challenges to associations is that society has fragmented; and as society fragments, so do associations and denominations. Therefore, modern denominations have a new problem of unity, namely, how to hold together as churches fall away or close down.
Further, individualism and theological diversity have generally increased alongside societal fragmentation. Accordingly, denominations have to deal with theological diversity and the pressures of expressive individualism.
One way associations have responded to theological diversity is by simplifying statements of faith. Actually, this process of simplifying instruments of unity began in the eighteenth century. The detailed confessions of the seventeenth century had increasingly been reformed into simplified confessions.
From about 1752, for example, the Midland Association also used a shorter compendium of faith. A number of English associations followed them.
In Ontario, these compendia functioned as forms of unity for associations; and so Ontario associations admitted “such churches only as embrace in substance the following doctrines.” By 1900, 13 of the 16 Baptist associations in Ontario associated around the same Compendium of Faith. We can say that Baptists in Ontario and then out west used one of the oldest and most venerable forms of Baptist unity—used in various forms for about 200 years.
The pressures of individualism have been much harder to adapt to. Baptist doctrines of soul competency and local church autonomy nominally align with individualism. So the grammar of faith draws on two lexicons: traditional Baptist thought and contemporary anthropology. I expect no easy answers here.
In any case, while simplifying statements of faith helped the problem of unity, congregations within associations with fewer clear-cut boundaries sometimes find it hard to rub shoulders with each other. Some pastors prefer a bounded-set model of confessions, others a centred set, and still others a fuzzy set. Based on different conceptions of confessional unity, then, some congregations will tolerate greater diversity than others. The Ontario compendium offers one historical model here: a definite standard that churches embraced “in substance,” with the association judging whether a congregation’s beliefs agreed with it.
One Way Forward
In my view, one way forward is to remember why voluntary associations exist and what they are. We barely understand the original theology of associations today, and denominationalism has reduced Baptist distinctives to a generalized structure. My sense is retrieving a robust doctrine of associationalism out of biblical obligation in service to our Lord Jesus Christ would clarify the reasons for which we associate, of which there are many.
First, a voluntary association involves choice, hence voluntary. And such associations form groups of congregations with shared aims (encouragement, missions, theological unity, etc.). Augustine once defined a people as those who are bound together by common objects of love (City of God, 19.24). I think this defines a voluntary association essentially.
What this means is: associations need to remember that they associate around forms of unity (a statement of faith, constitution, etc.). And that means if a congregation can no longer associate due to diverse belief, it should voluntarily withdraw from the association. If an association asks a congregation to withdraw, this should not be viewed as condemning a congregation but as a recognition of the essence of a voluntary association.
In other words, withdrawals from association do not divide the unity of the Church but speak to how associations function as one means of unity, among others.
For instance, I may find it easy to worship alongside Presbyterians for a Good Friday service, but I could not pastor a Presbyterian church due to my stance on baptism. We are one in Christ, but have differing associations due to practical convictions. This does not destroy our unity in Christ but only specifies where and how we can associate practically.
That said, associations also form to solve problems that local congregations alone may not be able to address, such as missions, pastoral education, and chaplaincy. It may be that associations will disagree on how to allocate resources for such ends. In such a case, congregations should remain within an association to work out their differences through patience, discernment, biblical reasoning, and charitable leadership.
Other differences are not so easy to wait out, in which case the result could be that congregations no longer feel able to associate. Rather than seeing this possible outcome as dividing the body of Christ, it is best to see it as a function of voluntary associations.
Conclusion
As an effort in historical description, I hope that I have served readers by briefly recounting the origins and purpose of voluntary associations. I pray that Baptists continue to know their past while adapting their biblical ecclesiology to today’s challenges. Hopefully, this article fosters just such a spirit.
Further Reading
- Essay on the Power and Duty of an Association by Benjamin Griffith (1749)
- Six Baptist Confessions in Western Canada
