An Organization For Small Church Leaders tagged: , , , ,

An Organization For Small Church Leaders

Posted by in Baptist Life

This is a copy of a post from my personal blog “Joining God in His Work.” I thought the topic deserved wider coverage and so I offer it here.

I was invited to attend the Southern Baptist Bivocational Ministers Association (SBBMA) Coordinating Council meeting in Brentwood, TN on August 26-27, 2008. Only recently had I become aware of this organization and I was happy to attend the meeting to better understand who they are and what they are doing.

What I learned is that even though their name only mentions “bivocational” ministers, they are actually working to include all smaller membership churches in their work. They currently define a “smaller membership” church as less than 125 in average Sunday morning worship attendance.

Their mission statement is “The mission of the Association is doing whatever it takes to encourage, promote and serve bivocational and smaller membership churches, ministers, and families in Christ’s kingdom service within local congregations and communities,the Southern Baptist family, and the larger Christian movement.” I believe this a worthy mission and one in which I have been laboring for the past couple of years. However, SBBMA has been engaged in helping small church leaders for many years. How are they helping small church leaders?

They provide networking via state conventions as well as SBBMA conferences. They also partner with educational institutions to provide affordable education for pastors with limited financial resources. I was impressed by vision of having Regional Resource Centers for small church leaders to meet, learn, and network together.

SBBMA is also working to develop online training materials to assist small church leaders. One of these is the “Servant Leaders Today,” website. They are also involved in promotion of the Adrian Rogers Pastor Training Institute . SBBMA has recognized the absence of practical ministerial training for small church leaders in our convention and is actively working to provide solutions.

Not only did I learn more about the great value of SBBMA to small church leaders, but I was privileged to meet very dedicated small church leaders from all over the country. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to insights from these great men of God.

I heartily recommend SBBMA to all small church pastors. Don’t let the word “bivocational” throw you. They are much more than a bivocational resource. They are a wonderful resource for all Southern Baptist small church leaders. I plan to work with SBBMA on future Small Church Leadership Conferences. Thank you, SBBMA, for what you do to encourage and support leaders from small churches across the entire Southern Baptist Convention.