I love the KBC. While that is my sentiment, it is also what I hear back regularly and consistently from Kentucky Baptist ministry leaders and church members from across the state. Kentucky Baptists are enjoying a sweet season of unity, joy, provision and gospel impact.
At the 188th Annual Meeting in Cold Spring we had much to celebrate. We praised God for strong Cooperative Program giving, high baptism numbers, new churches affiliating with the convention and much more.
If you are not familiar with the Kentucky Baptist Convention, let me offer seven reasons you might love it as well.
1. Our Origins: The Kentucky Baptist Convention was organized in 1837 by churches for churches to help churches reach Kentucky and the world for Christ. Those early Baptists organized their work around four priorities: distributing Bibles in Kentucky, advocating for the education of pastors and lay leaders, advocating for pastors pay and funding foreign missions. We have an inspiring history and have remained faithful to our original vision.
2. Our Mission: The KBC mission, “created by churches for churches to help churches reach Kentucky and the world for Christ,” is a church-centric mission. The local church is God’s plan for reaching the world for Christ, and we want to help churches thrive. The local church has one mission, the Great Commission, and Kentucky Baptists are Together for the Mission.
3. Our Makeup: The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a “Big Tent” convention. By “Big Tent” we mean theologically faithful Baptist churches who believe we can do more together than any singular church can do alone. We may not agree on every secondary or tertiary issue, but we do agree that the Bible is the word of God, the Great Commission is our mission, the Baptist Faith & Message defines our doctrinal distinctives and we are at our best when we work together to reach Kentucky and the world for Christ by funding our work through the Cooperative Program. There are roughly 2,350 Kentucky Baptist churches that fit happily under that tent, and we pray for more to join us.
4. Our Impact: God is using the churches of the Kentucky Baptist Convention to make a gospel difference in Kentucky and around the world. Last year, KBC churches baptized more than 12,600 people and sent $22,389,000 to fund ministry and missions through the Cooperative Program. Together we are funding gospel-advancing entities, agencies and institutions and the return on our investment of lives changed by the gospel is amazing.
5. Our Commitment: Following the Annual Meeting in Cold Spring, I received an unusually high number of texts and phone calls commenting on the unity and celebratory spirit of our meeting. Many young and first-time attendees went away with both an understanding and appreciation for our cooperative approach to gospel ministry. This reality bodes well for the future of our work.
6. Our Desire: Kentucky Baptists work and pray for the day when every KBC church is a thriving church and every leader is a cared-for leader. Our convention is not about big churches or smaller churches — but about all churches experiencing their best days of gospel impact and all leaders being valued and cared for.
7: Our Power: The KBC thrives and survives because of the providing and sustaining grace of God. We stay unified by the grace of God. We remain focused and fixated on our mission by the grace of God. And we make a gospel-advancing difference by the grace of God. By God’s grace and for His glory we can do all God calls us to do together until Jesus returns or calls us home.
If you would like to know more about the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the work we do together, then please reach out and let us share how you and your church can be more engaged. Email me at todd.gray@kybaptist.org and let’s have a conversation about how we can partner to help churches reach Kentucky and the world for Christ.
Dr. Todd Gray 