OUR FELLOWSHIP
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is a network of churches, individuals and partners inviting each other into deeper community, equipping each other for ministry and seeking the transformation of God’s world.
We pursue a bold and powerful witness in our communities and around the world that none of us can do on our own. As a Fellowship, we unleash all the powerful gifts we’ve been given to meet the urgent needs of our churches and our communities.
Our diverse community includes partners all over the world, and our Fellowship supports a wide range of missions and ministries that give people meaningful opportunities to put their faith to action. With a deep respect for freedom, diversity and equality, we encourage autonomy while inviting dynamic collaboration.
Our understanding of Baptist faith and practice is expressed by our 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 is innovative congregations, gifted and called field personnel bearing witness to Jesus Christ around the world, nearly 1,200 endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors, 17 state and regional organizations, dozens of theological schools and partner organizations and so much more.
As Cooperative Baptists, God invites us and equips us to share and spread the hope of Christ. Whether we’re feeding the hungry, advocating for the unheard, nurturing a young person’s calling to ministry, endorsing a chaplain to serve or helping families get back on their feet after a disaster, we and those with whom we minister experience transformation.
We invite you to join us. Become part of the story. Become part of this Fellowship.
LOCAL CHURCHES
CHURCH SUPPORT
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship exists to serve churches. CBF partner congregations contribute their unique gifts and draw strength from the community the Fellowship provides. Churches strengthen each other through collaborative partnerships of mutual equipping as they seek God’s transformation of the world. Through CBF, congregations of all types find opportunities for connection, identity and shared vision. Whether pastors, church staff, chaplains, committee members or Sunday school teachers, CBF seeks to help church leaders thrive, offering consultation, conversation, leadership development and resources for equipping, networking and renewal.
GLOBAL MISSIONS
SHARING GOD'S LOVE IN WORD & DEED
CBF Global Missions shares God’s message of hope and love in real ways to some of the most marginalized and vulnerable people in the world—people living in extreme poverty, refugee children and families fleeing violence in search of a safe haven, women who are trafficked, and families who have lost everything through a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we cultivate beloved community, bear witness to Jesus Christ and seek transformational development among people and places otherwise forgotten and forsaken. Our field personnel serve alongside congregations within three primary contexts: global poverty, global migration and the Global Church.
YOUNG BAPTISTS
Resourcing and networking Young Baptists for the Christian journey is at the heart of the Young Baptist ecosystem. Through experiences, internships, ministries, programs, connections and local church support, CBF is encouraging and creating an environment in which students and young adults can thrive, be energized and have opportunities to give life to the world around them as they use their gifts in service of God and others. Young Baptists matter to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and CBF is being shaped by their presence among us.
TOGETHER FOR HOPE
TRANSFORMING RURAL AMERICA
Together for Hope is a rural development coalition engaging the 301 counties of persistent rural poverty in America. We believe asset-based community development is the best first step in fighting poverty in rural spaces. To that end, we work with communities to hear their dreams and begin to take steps toward those visions. Within these communities, Together for Hope holistically fights poverty focusing on four priorities of hope: Education, Health & Nutrition, Housing & Environment and Social Enterprise.
CHAPLAINCY & PASTORAL COUNSELING
THE IMPACT OF COMPASSIONATE PRESENCE
Since 1998, CBF has endorsed nearly 1,200 chaplains and pastoral counselors to serve in specialized ministry settings. Endorsement denotes that a minister is ecclesiastically qualified and has been vetted as being spiritually, emotionally, educationally and clinically prepared to serve in specialized ministries. Ecclesiastical endorsement is an essential requirement of employment for chaplains and pastoral counselors. CBF-endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors represent our Fellowship with excellence, serving as a critical ministry of the Fellowship, embodying compassionate presence in our communities, offering God’s love and the hope of Christ to all, as together in fellowship, we work to further God’s kingdom.
OUTREACH & GROWTH
CBF FOUNDATION
SUPPORTING MISSION AND MINISTRY CAUSES
The CBF Foundation’s mission is to work alongside individuals, churches and organizations to cultivate, receive, invest and steward long-term sustaining assets and legacy gifts to support CBF mission and ministry causes. The CBF Foundation is actively addressing the current financial challenges that most of our congregations are facing through the creation of resources and training support. Through partnership with HighGround Advisors, it offers a comprehensive array of investment, legal and gift-planning expertise and services for churches, nonprofit organizations and individuals. Funding the work of the Great Commission and the Greatest Commandment within the Fellowship is the vision and ministry of the CBF Foundation.
ADVOCACY
CBF Advocacy is rooted in the same spirit and call that motivate our mission endeavors: to demonstrate the love of Christ by loving our most neglected and marginalized neighbors. As Christians dedicated to service, we often encounter situations and issues in need of a strong voice. Such encounters create passionate advocates in our churches and among those serving across the globe. CBF Advocacy is about encouraging, equipping and promoting the voice of advocates in our midst as they encounter need. In doing so, we strive to exercise responsible Christian citizenship by modeling a more effective, positive and inclusive public witness for the church.
CHURCH BENEFITS
YOUR BENEFITS ARE OUR MINISTRY
The Church Benefits Board, Inc. (CBB), is a ministry of CBF, created in 1998 by the General Assembly to provide retirement benefits for ministers and staff members of churches that are affiliated with CBF, along with CBF field personnel serving worldwide. Our mission goes beyond delivering a robust and comprehensive retirement plan benefit. CBB can help its clients maintain their benefit packages, including life and disability benefits, as well as provide medical insurance for international missions. CBB also recently launched the Financial Wellness Initiative to assist ministers in tackling debt and building a financial plan.
IDENTITY & EXPERIENCES
At the heart of our Fellowship is our work together to embrace our calling to support the thriving of congregations, to participate in Jesus’ mission and to offer a Christian public witness. Connection and community among the people and churches of this Fellowship thrive when we invite each other into relationships of equipping as we seek God’s transformation of the world. Fellowship Experiences, including General Assembly, held across CBF life, as well as the production of timely information, publications and resource content help communicate the values and identity of CBF.
STATES & REGIONS
Seventeen autonomous state and regional organizations (SROs) serve people and churches across the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. These SROs harness the geographic proximity they share with people and churches to form vital relationships. They provide grants to churches and organizations to support ministry, equip pastors and lay leaders, provide opportunities for growth for Young Baptists and support pastors and churches across a lifetime of ministry service. They do these things and so much more. CBF Global has sought to work alongside SROs, helping build their capacity to serve congregations and our Fellowship even better.
*This data is across participating state and regional organizations.