Founded 1997 | ||
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Headquarters Pennsylvania, United States Similar General Association of Regula, National Association of Congre, Conservative Congregational Christian, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Fundamental Baptist Fellowshi | ||
The Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America (ARBCA) is an association of Reformed Baptist churches that was founded in 1997.
Contents
History
On November 12–13, 1996, fifteen Reformed Baptist churches met in Fayetteville, Georgia to begin the planning of a national association of churches. Four months later on March 11, 1997, the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America was founded in Mesa, Arizona. ARBCA was founded by 24 member churches from 14 states.
Theology
The association's churches all subscribe to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. The association's General Assembly has noted that their adherence to this Confession means "the model for (association) churches is Puritan and not one of a number of competing contemporary ones." With respect to worship, they "eschew the following models: Roman, Lutheran, Anglican, high church liturgical, Brethren, seeker-friendly, charismatic, evangelical, etc."
Theological training
ARBCA founded the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies (IRBS) at Westminster Seminary California which provides training for seminarians as part of studies toward a Master of Divinity degree program.
Missions
In 2000, ARBCA merged with the Reformed Baptist Mission Services (RBMS), a foreign missions organization. RBMS, though founded 12 years before the ARBCA, now acts as the foreign mission arm of the association.
The association is recognized by the U.S. Department of Defense as an endorsing agency for United States military chaplains.