Our Affiliations

In this page, you will learn about the groups that were influential in starting Northside Baptist Church, specifically the Southern Baptist Convention.  You will also learn about our autonomy and why we have chosen to affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention.

When Northside was started, three groups and one key church gave us financial help and prayer support. As a result, we now wholeheartedly support these groups in their effort to help start many other new churches.

• The North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention: 40,000 churches that cooperate together in a world-wide effort of missions.
  
  
• The State Convention of Baptists in Ohio: 600+ churches that fellowship together with the goal of evangelizing our state.
  
  
• The Miami Valley Baptist Association: 17+ churches that fellowship together and work together to reach the Miami Valley for Christ.
  
  
• Pennyroyal Baptist Church in Franklin, Ohio
  
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The Southern Baptist Convention

Because of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) influence in helping to begin our church and because of our theological positions, we have chosen to align ourselves with the Southern Baptist Convention.  Following are some facts about the Southern Baptist Convention:

• It is the largest association of Christian churches in Ohio and in America. About one out of every 10 churches in America is affiliated with the SBC (40,000 churches and 15 million members - more than most other denominations combined.)
  
  
• It is the most diverse association of churches. SBC churches include every race, nationality, and ethic group. Each Sunday, services are held in over 100 languages in the U.S. One out of every three African-Americans in the U.S. is a Southern Baptist. In Cuyahoga County, our association includes a variety of language and ethnic churches - Polish, Hispanic, Korean, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Deaf, as well as African-American and Anglo.
  
  
• The SBC is the most ethnically diverse denomination in the world with 687 African-American churches, 500 Hispanic churches, and 673 Asian churches (1999 statistics).
  
  
• It is one of fastest growing groups. The SBC baptizes over 1,000 new Christians a day in the U.S. and begins nearly 5 new churches a day!
  
  
• The SBC is boldly committed to missions and evangelism. The SBC has the largest domestic and foreign missions agencies in the world. The International Mission Board (IMB) with headquarters in Richmond, Virginia and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia are two SBC missions agencies that we enthusiastically support.  Currently, the IMB supports over 5,000 overseas missionaries who serve in over 127 countries. The IMB also has strategies impacting people groups in 184 countries. In addition, 18,000 volunteers serve in overseas mission work. The NAMB has over 5,000 commissioned missionaries serving throughout North America.  It's exciting to be a part of that vision.

Some might ask why we have chosen to align ourselves with the Southern Baptist Convention when we could just be an independent church.  The truth is we are an independent church!  In fact, every SBC church is completely independent.  There is no denominational control or hierarchy, as there is in most other denominations.  Each church is self-governed and determines its own affairs.