Who is the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina?
Written by Wesley Smith, Associational Missionary
This is part two of “This Is Us.” Last article we answered the question, “What is a Baptist Association.” In this article we will answer the question, “Who is the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.”
The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) is made up of over 4,000 baptist churches in the state. The churches of the convention also help make up the 47,272 baptist churches that make up the Southern Baptist Convention. The convention began in 1830 with seven pastors and seven lay people, a total church membership of 15,000, and 14 local associations.
The mission of the BSCNC is to assist churches in their divinely appointed mission. Their vision is, “By God’s grace, we will become the strongest force in the history of this Convention for reaching people with the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” –Milton A. Hollifield Jr, Executive Director-Treasurer
The current strategy of the BSCNC is to impact lostness through disciple making.
“In keeping with its stated mission, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina will assist the churches in evangelizing all people groups in every ethnic and/or cultural context by developing and applying disciple-making ministry models with an Acts 1:8 focus. North Carolina Baptists commit to accomplish this by strengthening and planting churches through creating a disciple-making culture, utilizing a relationship-driven consulting model incorporating generalists and specialists, starting in the most concentrated areas of lostness located in eight population centers.”
Associations and Conventions seek to help churches be healthy, Christ centered, and gospel driven. Healthy focused churches bring glory to God, make disciples, and bless their communities. They also make healthy, focused association and conventions.
Baptists have been working together for over 150 years. The Cooperative Program is our collaborative missions giving. Baptist putting their money together to share the gospel in North Carolina, North America, and around the world. You can find a breakdown of the CP here.
There are several ministry partners that are agencies of the BSCNC. North Carolina Baptist Hospital, North Carolina Baptist Children’s Homes, Baptist On Mission (formerly NC Baptist Men), The Biblical Recorder, and the North Carolina Baptist Foundation. The North Carolina Baptist Aging Ministry (NCBAM,) is also a agency of the convention.
The BSCNC have identified 250 pockets of lostness in NC. These pockets make up the total estimated 5.7 million lost people in NC. Part of the strategy of impacting lostness through disciple making is working with local associations and churches to reach those in these pockets. Pockets of Lostness are identified using demographic information from a company called MissionInsite. The convention is working with associations to help churches identify the lost and unreached in their communities. We have five pockets of lostness in Cleveland County, three of those are in the top 150 pockets of lostness in the state.
There will be more to come on the Pockets of Lostness. We are thankful for the partnership and collaboration of the convention. We are better together!
