Become a CBA Church

By affiliating with the Columbus Baptist Association, you will become affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and the Southern Baptist Convention. The process of becoming a CBA church is three-fold:

Step 1: Request Affiliation

Write a letter, approved according to your church’s polity, on your church stationary to the Columbus Baptist Association requesting that the Credentials Committee initiate and proceed with the process of membership.

Step 2: Submit Your Church Documents and Application

The church must send a complete set of church documents to the Association for review. If the church is new or does not have certain necessary documents, the church can request assistance from the Association in drafting those documents. Include the following documents in your request:

A Copy of Your Articles of Incorporation
A Copy of Your Statement of Faith
A Copy of Your Church Constitution and Bylaws
Your Latest Annual Church Profile
Your Completed Application for Affiliation (Complete the application below for submission.)

Step 3: Review and Recommendation by the Credentials Committee

After all documentation has been received, the Credentials Committee of the Columbus Baptist Association will meet to review all submissions. The Associational Missionary will contact you to schedule an in-person interview with your church’s pastor and key leaders. A recommendation will then be made at the next Annual Meeting of the Association for a vote from the body.

Application for Affiliation with the Columbus Baptist Association

Church Name(Required)

Address(Required)

Street Address City State / Province / Region ZIP / Postal Code

This church hereby makes request for affiliation and fellowship with the Columbus Baptist Association for the purpose of cooperating in the preaching of the gospel and promoting the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ at home and around the world.

We were constituted as a Baptist Church on(Required)

Please select the date.

The church was constituted by ______ members.(Required)

Please enter a number from 1 to 100.

Please select the number of members.

Please provide the location the church was consituted.(Required)

Portions of the Columbus Baptist Association By-Laws are stated below as they concern credentialing as well as churches applying for membership.

Article III – Membership Membership in the ASSOCIATION shall be on the following basis of church membership: four (4) messengers for each church, and for those churches contributing financially to the ASSOCIATION one (1) additional messenger for every fifty (50) members or fractional part thereof, such messengers to be selected from the membership of the respective church congregations, and not to exceed twelve (12) messengers from any one church. All churches are expected to support missions by giving to the Columbus Baptist Association and through the Cooperative Program. By the opening of the regular annual meeting of the ASSOCIATION, messengers from each affiliated church shall present their Annual Church Profile document to the ASSOCIATION. Messengers, Credentials, and Seating Each church shall select messengers through their chosen process to attend the annual fall meeting in accordance to Article III, Section 1. Messengers will present themselves at the registration table at the annual meeting. Messengers will be seated upon the motion of the Clerk. Any church desiring to be received into the fellowship of the ASSOCIATION shall apply by letter at least thirty (30) days prior to the annual meeting, making a statement of its faith and practices, and giving evidence of cooperation with this body. Southern Baptist Churches transferring from another Southern Baptist Association, or missions sponsored by member churches, may be accepted into membership at the annual meeting in the year of presentation. All other requests shall be taken under watch-care for a period of at least one (1) year before recommendation for full membership. During this period of watch-care, the Credentials Committee shall act as the liaison between the ASSOCIATION and the petitioning church until such time as action is taken by the ASSOCIATION. The church shall be encouraged to participate in all ongoing activities of the ASSOCIATION, not to include voting and elected positions. Upon the recommendation of the Credentials Committee, and when the ASSOCIATION has voted by a three-fourths (3/4) majority vote of the messengers present to receive the church, the Moderator shall declare the church received and messengers seated. The Columbus Baptist Association has affirmed its approval of the Baptist Faith and Message of 2000 by adopting it into the Columbus Baptist Association Constitution. This document serves as a written testament of the Associaton’s beliefs and practices. Each petitioning church will be required to affirm and sign this document. This should be received by the Credentials Committee at the time of interview with the petitioning church.