Our church supports the mission efforts of 2 national agencies: The Southern Baptist Conventrion (SBC) based in Nashville, TN. and The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) based in Atlanta, GA. We also support our local association of baptist churches, (The Richmond Baptist Association) and our state association (The Virginia Baptist Mission Board).

The SBC is the oldest and largest of the 2 national groups. The CBF, while not a denomination, is a fellowship of like minded churches that are either part of the SBC or wholey aligned just with the CBF.

It is the “like minded” that creates the distinction between the 2 groups.  I recommend that you visit their websites to fully understand what each supports.

These 2 wonderful Baptist agencies provide resources and support to thousands of churches world wide. They both send missionaries, both locally and internationally. And our church members support both.

The SBC has 2 seasonal mission offerings, The Annie Armstron Easter Offering for national missions and The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. The CBF has a year long mission offering entitle The Global Mission Offering that supports all their mission work.

During our worship services we will use materials to promote both agencies efforts.

Recently, there has been confussion as to which agency we support. There was even discussion in some circles that the pastor decided to support one and not the other. Let’s clear this up…we, the church and pastor, support both national groups. All of our mission gifts are funnelled through the Virginia Baptist Resource Center to the various recieving bodies.

Continue to pray for the leadership and servants of our partners around the world and down the street, as they pray for us, the local church, as well.