Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

Mission

Our mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.

Vision

Our vision is being the presence of Christ in the world.

Core Values

1. Baptist Principles

* Soul Freedom – We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We affirm the freedom and responsibility of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of creed or the control of clergy or government.
* Bible Freedom – We believe in the authority of Scripture. We believe the Bible, under the Lordship of Christ, is central to the life of the individual and the church. We affirm the freedom and right of every Christian to interpret and apply scripture under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
* Church Freedom – We believe in the autonomy of every local church. We believe Baptist churches are free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine their membership and leadership, to order their worship and work, to ordain whomever they perceive as gifted for ministry, and to participate as they deem appropriate in the larger Body of Christ.
* Religious Freedom – We believe in freedom of religion, freedom for religion, and freedom from religion. We support the separation of church and state.

2. Biblically-based Global Missions

All of us are called to be co-laborers in the task of fulfilling our Lord’s Great Commission. We believe the Bible teaches that…

* God is the one triune God, Creator of all people in God’s own image
* All people are separated from God by sin.
* Christ is the Savior and Redeemer for all peoples.
* The Holy Spirit convicts and converts all who believe in Christ, teaches the church in the voice of the Living Christ, and empowers the church and all believers for the mission of Christ in the world.
* Christ calls us to minister redemptively to the spiritual, physical, and social needs of individuals and communities.
* Every believer and every church is responsible for sharing the Gospel with all people.

We want to enable believers and churches to work cooperatively with other Great Commission Christians to activate this global missions calling in their communities and throughout the world.

3. Resource Model

We are committed to discovering and providing resources that will empower churches to fulfill their mission in their particular contexts and will equip individuals to fulfill their calling under the Lordship of Christ. We prefer to cooperate in mutually beneficial ways with other organizations rather than to establish, own, and control our own institutions.

4. Justice and reconciliation

We are committed to a biblical vision of justice and mercy. We believe the call of Christ extends to every area and relationship of life.

5. Lifelong learning and ministry

We believe in lifelong learning for laity and clergy for the ministry of the church. We are committed to Baptist theological education that affords intellectual and spiritual freedom to both students and professors in an atmosphere of reverence for biblical authority and respect for open inquiry and responsible scholarship.

6. Trustworthiness

We will organize, make decisions, and carry out our mission in ways that earn trust. United in our mission and our shared commitments, we will celebrate God’s gift of diversity among the individuals and churches of the Fellowship.

7. Effectiveness

We will organize in ways that encourage flexibility, responsiveness, and accountability. We will monitor our processes and organizational structures in light of our stated mission.The mission of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.