Baptist Missionary Association of America

The Baptist Missionary Association of America (BMAA) is a fellowship of autonomous Baptist churches for the purpose of benevolence, Christian education, and missions.

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After leaving the American Baptist Association over church representation matters, the association was formed at Little Rock, Arkansas in 1950 as the North American Baptist Association, the Baptist Missionary Association of America adopted its current name in 1969. Its concentration is in the Southern United States, but as a result of its mission work, the association has churches across the United States and throughout the world. According to the BMAA Missions Department, "the sun never sets on BMA Missions." The BMAA currently supports the most missionaries around the world than ever before in the association's history.

The BMAA owns the Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary, with campuses in Jacksonville, Texas, Conway, Arkansas, and online. The association also operates Lifeword Media Ministries and DiscipleGuide Church Resources, located in Conway, Arkansas. The missions department offices are also located in Conway, Arkansas. Most churches participate in local and state associations as well as this national/general body. However, each state and local association is autonomous. As of 2010, there were 1,272 congregations and 137,909 members in the United States.

Foreign countries with churches that associate closely with BMAA churches generally also have a national association in their respective country. This includes the rapidly growing BMA of Africa, and the BMA of the Philippines, which has begun sending out its own foreign missions personnel to neighboring East Asian nations.

Sources
  • Association minutes
  • Baptists Around the World, by Albert W. Wardin, Jr.
  • Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States, 2000, Glenmary Research Center
  • Baptist News Service

Footnotes
  • A Texas Baptist Power Struggle: The Hayden Controversy, Joseph E. Early, Jr., University of North Texas Press, 2005; ISBN 1-57441-195-0
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