Translate

Thursday, November 04, 2021

What happened to the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma?

What happened to the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma? The Baptist Convention of Oklahoma (often called the New Baptist Convention, in contrast to the older Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, organized 1906) was organized October 5-6, 1920 at Chickasha, Oklahoma. In 1925 the Baptist Convention and Oklahoma Baptist State Association agreed to unify as one state organization. They held their first meeting as the new Baptist General Assembly of Oklahoma at the Ninth Street Baptist Church in Chickasha, Oklahoma, October 26-27, 1926.

After some controversy in the new body, especially (but probably not only) concerning the Orphan’s Home in Chickasha, some of the churches withdrew from the Baptist General Assembly and reorganized the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma, meeting in Chickasha, December 27, 1927. What happened to the convention after that time?

So far, I have only been able to find one newspaper mention of a meeting of the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma after 1927. Broxton Westside news in The Apache Review (Apache, Oklahoma, Friday, December 17, 1937, p. 4) mentions the Baptist Convention meeting in Chickasha that year.

Mr. and Mrs. Loyd Holland, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Onal Rice and Mrs. Ben Holcomb, attended the Baptist convention in Chickasha Friday.

The convention may have ceased to exist by 1941. At least by that time the Ninth Street Baptist Church is described as not belonging to any convention. After the death of Alonzo Nunnery, Ninth Street did not have a pastor until calling W. H. Cheney in February of 1941.[i] Cheney described the Ninth Street Church as “a plain, old-time Missionary Baptist Church, representing all that is best in Baptist doctrine and history” and that “we do not hold membership in any convention or association...”[ii]

It is possible that the Ninth Street Church had only withdrawn from the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma and that the convention still existed. However, the lack of mentions of the convention at least suggest that it ceased to exist between 1937 and 1941. In a report on the funeral of Alonzo Nunnery, Cass A. Reasor is described as a missionary of the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma (Chickasha Daily Express, September 26, 1939, p. 1). So the convention seems to have still existed then. Nunnery was a driving force in the convention. Perhaps after his death in 1939 others did not have the vision or desire to keep it going. Some churches may have gone back to the Baptist General Assembly of Oklahoma, some to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma,[iii] while others may have lined up with the Orthodox Baptist movement or simply ceased affiliating with any organized association, convention, or fellowship.

Some pastors who labored in the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma

[i] The Chickasha Daily Express, Tuesday, February 11, 1941, p. 1.
[ii] The Chickasha Daily Express, Thursday, 13 March 13, 1941, p. 8.
[iii] The Ninth Street Church joined the Chickasaw Baptist Association, affiliated with the BGC of Oklahoma, in 1945. The Chickasha Daily Express, Sunday, 02 September 2, 1945, p. 6.

No comments: