What is an "Independent Baptist Church?"

[kobuk]

I know i could just google it and spend months researching just this one topic. But worth a lot more is the personal testimony of those within this alliance of independent baptist Local Churches.

I'm still looking for a safe Local Church to attend. I'm not interested in Southern Baptists anymore. Not interested in any of the other large chains of churches who also have much of their affairs being controlled by a centralized hub of clergymen. I don't believe that any such huge chain-church hierarchy design ideology is even slightly Scriptural. Another subject i won't dwell on again here.

Moving on then. Is see that David Cloud and many other true Fundamentalists are very welcomed throughout most, if not all Independant Baptist Churches. So these LC's must be honoring all of Scripture.

I realize all Local Churches have to be assessed by those seeking to join them on a case by case basis. But as a general guideline IB Churches sound like a great possibility to find a solid Local Church to call home.

All relevant comments will be greatly appreciated... ;)

[BigNorsk]

Well the general complaints on independant Baptist congregations are first of all they are independant, and many of them are set up as one man shows. So if the pastor is good, everything works. If he is not, no way to control him.

Secondly would be that they do not distinguish between doctrines often splitting over seemingly anything.

Lastly, the level of scholarship can be quite low. It can also be quite high.

Flip side of that is the independence means the congregation is not dragged along by a larger body where it shouldn't go.

Many good, many not so good. Since they are independent, you have no real way of knowing in advance.

Marv

[kobuk]

That was a good general wrap up of the situation with IB Churches.

It's made more clear to me the fact that i'll need some recommendations from true Fundamentalist Preachers who i've grown to trust, before i choose to get serious and consider joining any Church. The fact we do have a lot of IB Churches heavily frequented by guest preachers who are true Fundamentalists, means that contacting WayofLife Ministries for instance, could be a a great way to filter through the choices out there.

I've really been enjoying Ralph Ovadal's very excellent true Fundamentalist preaching. It's not an IB Church. But looks great nontheless.

http://www.pccmonroe.org/

Can someone give some examples of other excellent true Fundamentalist Preachers who are preaching from the pulpits of IB Churches, ....besides David Cloud?
http://www.pccmonroe.org/images/billboard.jpg (http://www.pccmonroe.org/Evangelism/gospel.htm)

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." ~Acts 3:19
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." ~Romans 5:1

[Vambram]

Kevin Kennedy, senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas.

http://www.trinityabilene.com/

[DesertScroll]

I do not have any recomendations, but I thought I would share this with you.

The church I am now attending is part of the SBC. The pastor is a former missionary who spent something like 11 years serving God in that capacity.

It was about 5 years ago when he was still in the mission field the SBC wanted him to sign what basically amounted to a creed, a statement of beliefs.

As a devoted scripture only adherent he refused to sign (as did many others) even though he could have agreed with the statements. And so they sent him home.

So we are still affiliated with the SBC, but we are very independent of the organization. How long that will last, God knows. But with our current pastor I am sure he would push to sever ties with the SBC if they ever wanted to push the issue. I never realized that some power hungry administrators had made their way into the SBC until after talking with this pastor.

They may have good intentions for these "creeds" but in the end they hurt more than they help. As the creeds take on an aura of authority in themselves instead of the focus, which is Jesus as told in the scriptures.

As far as protecting the mission field from heretical beliefs, as I understood it they already had the means to deal with these situations. So it does seem some in the SBC want to be more centralized from the top down.

May be old news to some, but thought I would share this. And since this pastor would still be a missionary if it were not for this change, I wouldn't have him as my pastor. God can still work good out of our downfalls.

[BBAS 64]

Well the general complaints on independant Baptist congregations are first of all they are independant, and many of them are set up as one man shows. So if the pastor is good, everything works. If he is not, no way to control him.

Secondly would be that they do not distinguish between doctrines often splitting over seemingly anything.

Lastly, the level of scholarship can be quite low. It can also be quite high.

Flip side of that is the independence means the congregation is not dragged along by a larger body where it shouldn't go.

Many good, many not so good. Since they are independent, you have no real way of knowing in advance.

Marv

Good Day, Marv

Very well put, as always.

In Him,

Bill

[annie1speed]

Since they are independent, they do not have a central governing body to answer to, so yes you don't know what you are getting until you visit a while. I believe that the independent model is completely scriptural. The apostles went about extablishing churches and appointing elders in each congregation to oversee the work of the Lord.

So I wouldn't let the Independent keep me away. The question is do they follow the pattern set forth in the Bible for doctrine and worship. Study your Bible and compare what the congregation says and does to what the Bible says. You can't go wrong if you do this.

Annie

[faithbeliever1]

Where does it say in the Bible that churches should be independent of each other?

[TwinCrier]

Independent churches aren't independent of the Body of Christ, they are independent of large conventions that collect dues from small local churches to build large administrative buildings. What benefit is there to a church to belong to some denominational convention?

True story: I know a family who belonged to a church that was shrinking and was unable to pay the dues and send delegates because of their diminished size. They turned to the headquarters of the denomination for help. The headquarters closed the church and sold it to another denomination. The congregation scattered to (ironically) other churches in the area of the same denomination. :doh:

[JacquelineDeane]

My church is Independent Baptist.

I will give you some information.

Our worship services are traditionalist in nature, meaning we do not use the drums or the electronic guitar -- not even the keyboards. The only two instruments we use in our worship services are the piano and the organ. We sing from traditional hymn books to the music -- sometimes we sing a capella -- meaning with no music. But we believe that incorporating drums, the electronic guitar, or the keyboards into our worship services is Satanic and is after the ways of the Devil. We believe that the drums especially makes people feel in a manner that causes their emotions to glorify themselves and thus emotionally sin against the Bible. And that the drums promotes the kind of dancing that is not accepted in our church (some people headbang to the drums which is inappropriate in our church so we thus do not include drums in our worship services because we do not want to encourage such like behaviors).

We are KJV-Onlyist in nature, meaning we strictly believe that the 1611 King James Version is the Word of God and that all modern translations of the Bible beyond the 1611 King James Version have been corrupted by Satan. My pastor (and the entire congregation) only reads from the 1611 King James Verison and we accept no other Bible translation in my church, sorry.

If you want to see directly inside an Independent Baptist church before you ever attend one, please read our beliefs: Go to...

h t t p : / / w w w . a m a z i n g g r a c e b a p t i s t c h u r c h . o r g / d o c t r i n e . h t m

Copy and paste the above into the address bar, but do not include any spaces like I have done!

Or perhaps you would want to call the my church long-distance if you want more information. Our phone number is on the website (I cannot gurantee the Pastor will be there or even the Secretary). It is called Amazing Grace Baptist Church and we are in Vancouver, Washington State, USA. Our sister church is Greater Portland Baptist Church is Portland, Oregon, USA. Sometimes I attend services over there, or I rotate between these two churches. They have the same exact beliefs as we do.

[JacquelineDeane]

Two other things. The following articles may provide more information:

h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / I n d e p e n d e n t _ B a p t i s t

h t t p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i / K i n g - J a m e s - O n l y _ M o v e m e n t

Again, include no spaces. Type it all together into the address bar.

If you think this is ridiculous just keep in mind that you asked.

[Project 86]

Please know that there are many Independent Baptist Churches that are not KJV only. I don't want people reading this thread thinking the 2 go hand in hand.

[Christian Soldier]

So we are still affiliated with the SBC, but we are very independent of the organization. How long that will last, God knows. But with our current pastor I am sure he would push to sever ties with the SBC if they ever wanted to push the issue. I never realized that some power hungry administrators had made their way into the SBC until after talking with this pastor.

I dispute your assertion that SBC administrators are "power hungry".

ALL churches and pastors affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention are there by their own choice. If they don't want to play by SBC rules, they are free to pick up their toys and go home---i.e. disassociate themselves from the SBC.

Many "independent" churches have "Gay is OK" policies regarding pastor and church staff positions, among many other unscriptural policies. The SBC is merely engaging in completely appropriate oversight, in order to keep sound Christian principles and beliefs intact in their churches and in the mission field.

The SBC does not own the buildings and land of their member churches, so it would be impossible for them to sell off the churches that fall into disagreement with them. Either the church or the SBC can voluntarily choose to disassociate from the other.

[shrewdsnake]

Independent means that the church governs itself with most members having a vote on issues regarding the church, that it is not part of a large group of churches. I have yet to be in one that isn't Bible believing, fundamentalist, conservative and support missions. That doesn't mean they are not out there. Simply ask the pastor of the church your interested in for a sit down. Most are pretty willing to let you know what they preach.