Smith, Brooks, Moran on Baptist associations

Allen Smith wrote a pamphlet titled “The Heritage of Baptist Associations.” Under what he calls “The Scriptural Concept,” he notes that the association as we know it was not fully developed in the New Testament times, but that there are New Testament principles on which it is based. He notes four examples: (1) the Jerusalem council of Acts 15, (2) the messengers from Jerusalem bearing the council message back to the Gentile brethren, (3) the general inter-relationship of the churches as illustrates in the church epistles, and (4) the inter-connectedness of the churches of Galatia, Achaia and Macedonia in a gathering a collection for the saints in Jerusalem. [Bro. Smith and the Continental Baptists with whom he was associated (which may have by now merged into the Sovereign Grace Baptist Association) are Calvinistic with a preference for the First London Confession, have a strong local church & autonomy orientation, but are not Landmark.]

In his book Scriptural Church Associations, Ray O. Brooks identifies what he believes constitutes churches associating Scripturally. (1) Scriptural church association requires voluntary association; (2) Scriptural church association requires equality in representation; (3) There can be no redelegation (of authority); (4) There can be no union of authority; (5) There can be no hetero-association; (6) Scriptural church association prohibits extra-church authority; and (7) Scriptural church association requires the sovereignty of each local church be recognized, honored and preserved. [Brooks is a Landmark Baptist in the American Baptist Association and long-time president of Texas Baptist Institute & Seminary. From "Scriptural Church Association", Ray O. Brooks, A. J. Kirkland Memorial Lectures, Dec. 1983.]

While looking for Brooks' book, I ran across a paper by Billy Moran of Kentucky. "The Basis for Fellowship and Cooperation between Churches of Like Faith" is a transcript of a lesson Moran taught at Old Union Baptist Ministers' School at Bowling Green, KY. He believed the minimum requirements for fellowship between churches were (1) Scriptural organization, (2) Scriptural practice on the plan of salvation, (3) Scriptural observance of the ordinances, and (4) Adherence to the principle doctrines. He further argued that fellowship and cooperation must honor each church's independence and equality. [Bro. Moran is an "Old Time" Missionary Baptist and can be considered a "Landmarker" on ecclesiology. But note that the Old Time Missionary Baptists, unlike some other Landmarkers, were content to cooperate (at least nominally) with their state conventions until they separated over issues related to soteriological practices, "easy-believism", etc.]