“Associational mission strategists tend to come from pastorates or from church or denominational staff. Thus, they may believe the key to deep, meaningful fellowship is people like them. It is not,” writes George Bullard.
Baptist associations should commit to “discern next” in 2025 to achieve the lead role within Baptist life and fulfill the Great Commission.
In the world of Southern Baptists, Baptist associations are advanced Christianity. For them to thrive, you’ve gotta want them bad, ‘cause it’s gonna be a challenging journey.
This is the first of a series of columns that will explain various strategies that could be used to experience the next wave of Kingdom progress.
“The approach of an “all-in” family of congregations is ideally represented by a Baptist association and helps keep the Kingdom synergy intact.” —George Bullard
George Bullard explores why a Baptist association is not an office building to which people go.
“We should never wish for hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires and other disasters. Yet when they happen, it is a great time to show our very best as a fellowship of congregations fused together as an association.”
George Bullard shares five things that would be different if Baptist associations cease to exist.
George Bullard asks, “What does it mean to be categorized as a soaring, strong, stumbling, struggling or spiritless association? Is your association stuck in a virtual escape room because of its assessment?”
A spiritless Baptist association is possible. In my opinion, a spiritless association emerges when an assortment of primarily uninspired congregations make up the majority of its membership.
