The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is affiliated with the

Baptist World Alliance The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) is the largest international Baptist organization with an estimated 51 million people in 2022 with 246 member bodies in 128 countries and territories. A voluntary association of Baptist churches, the BWA account ...

. The headquarters is in

Decatur, Georgia Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes ...

History

The Cooperative Baptist Association has its origins in a meeting in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

in 1990 of a group of

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

churches of the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

at odds with the denomination for its conservatism on issues such as opposition to the ordination of women. It was officially founded in 1991. As of 1996, the association had 1,400 churches and was still affiliated with the

. In 1998, it began ordaining chaplains. In 2002, it officially left the

and became a member of the

. According to a denomination census released in 2020, it claimed 1,800 churches and 750,000 members.

Beliefs

The denomination has a

confession of faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, like the Southern Baptist Convention from which it split, does not enforce particular beliefs upon congregations, as is congruent with traditional Baptist theology. The Fellowship's "understanding of

faith and practice is expressed by

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offic ...

emphasis on freedom in biblical interpretation and congregational governance, the participation of women and men in all aspects of church leadership and Christian ministry, and religious liberty for all people." CBF also ascribes to the "Four Fragile Freedoms" as developed in ''The Baptist Identity: Four Fragile Freedoms'' by Walter Shurden. CBF interprets these freedoms as: * Soul Freedom: We believe in the priesthood of all believers and 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 the freedom of religion, freedom for religion, and freedom from religion. We support the separation of church and state. Affirmation of women in ministry was one of the founding principles of the Fellowship. Most CBF members agree that both men and women may be ordained as ministers or deacons and serve as pastors of churches. On social issues, the CBF does not issue position statements. CBF members agree that as it is a fellowship of autonomous churches, issuing statements would be beyond its purpose. It does have an organizational policy on

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

behaviour.However, CBF policies are not binding on individual congregations which make their own decisions regarding any issue; neither can a congregation be excluded from the CBF for disagreeing with core values or policies. In 2016, the CBF co-sponsored a conference on sexuality and initiated the "'Illumination Project' approved by the Governing Board (formerly the Coordinating Council) to develop models for the Fellowship community to air differences not only about the hiring ban but also other hot-button issues dividing churches, denominations and society". In 2018, the Affirming Network for full LGBTQ inclusion and affirmation was founded.

State and regional organizations

There are CBF-affiliated churches in 43 out of the 50 states. Alongside the national CBF, there are 19 state and regional organizations that are affiliated with CBF and help provide churches with resources at a more local level

Affiliated seminaries

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has had ministers educated at a wide variety of Seminaries and Divinity schools. Institutions both Historically Baptist and those with other denominational affiliations.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Christian organizations established in 1991 Organizations based in Atlanta Baptist denominations in the United States Baptist denominations established in the 20th century 1991 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)