The Meaning of a Covenant Community

The Conservative Baptist Association was established in 1947 as an association of churches. The association operated with a General Director and three Regional Directors, one each for the East, Central and West Regions. This configuration fostered the development of our separate state associations.

MACBA: Mid-Atlantic Conservative Baptist Association was formed in 1996 through the merger of CBA of PA/WV and CBA of New Jersey. This merger was the result of extensive discussions that began in 1995. In 2007, as the result of an Identity Task Force, MACBA became Mission Mid-Atlantic: A diverse fellowship of churches united by Biblical Mission.

Each year at our Annual Meeting our pastors and churches sign our Covenant which begins in the following manner: As an association of Conservative Baptist Churches in the Mid-Atlantic region and in the presence of our Lord, we covenant to partner with our fellow Mission Mid-Atlantic churches in the following ways.

At the outset, it is important to define what this covenant relationship is. Our covenant is based upon our understand of what the Bible says about covenant relationships that should exist in the body of Christ.

No church exists in and of itself. We are all part of the Body of Christ and that is reflected within our covenant community. Therefore, we live out these responsibilities through our covenant and through our partnerships in the Gospel. These partnerships are lived out in a variety of ways.

Our covenant is expressed as pastors meet in area clusters for encouragement and prayer, as we unite together for leadership and church health training and as we plant new churches. In future posts, we will explore other aspects of our Covenant and how to nurture our covenant community.

How do you see us living out our covenant relationships?

~ Jim