Associations

 

SSBC supports and is associated with the local Stone Baptist Association, the Tennessee Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Stone Association consists of members from 45 churches and missions in the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee.  The mission of the Stone Association is to plant churches, train leaders and spread the gospel through mission work around the world.

The Tennessee Baptist Convention (TBC) consists of members from about 2,800 Baptist churches across Tennessee.  The TBC seeks to influence Tennessee for Christ and to spread the gospel around the world by supporting International Mission Board missionaries.  The TBC also seeks to help and strengthen Southern Baptist churches in Tennessee.

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) consists of about 16 million members from about 45,000 Baptist churches in the southern United States.  It is the largest and one of the fastest growing groups of Christian churches in America, holding Sunday services in over 110 language groups, baptizing more than 1,000 new Christians per day in the U.S. and planting an average of 5 new churches a day.  The purpose of the SBC is to help all Baptist Christians spread the Gospel.  The mission of the churches in the SBC is to present the Gospel to every person in the world and to make disciples of every nation.  The SBC supports thousands of missionaries through the International Mission Board and the giving of individual members of Southern Baptist churches.  These missionaries serve in the US and in more than 150 countries around the world.  Leaders from Southern Baptist churches meet each year to discuss important issues.  This meeting is also called the Southern Baptist Convention.

 

The advantages of associating with the SBC:

 

• It allows SSBC to connect with other Christians around the world. The Bible is the only creed of the SBC, and its members are known for their commitment to God’s Word.
• It allows SSBC to participate in the SBA’s “Cooperative Program”, the world’s largest missionary organization. Through this program, Southern Baptist churches, including SSBC, support more than 9,000 career missionaries in many different countries.
• It allows SSBC to help mobilize more than 100,000 Southern Baptist church members every year to participate in disaster relief and short-term mission projects in the U.S. and abroad.
• It allows SSBC to participate in the training of about 12,000 pastors and other vocational ministers each year through six seminaries.