Dear Nine Mile Churches and members,

The days are becoming more challenging as our Lord's return draws closer.  The author of Hebrews said it well, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25) (NIV)

As churches shrink and the world becomes darker, it will become even more important that those who belong to Christ deepen their love for Christ and each other. The Local Church and Association are designed to strengthen and support the churches and help them accomplish what they could not do on their own.

It is the same with the Local Church. The Church exists to equip believers to advance the gospel to every tribe, language, people, and nation. No one individual can do that, nor can any one Church accomplish that. It takes all of those who believe the Scriptures to stand together for the gospel so the nations can hear and respond to the call of Christ across our world.

To stand together, we have to know what we are standing on.

In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention published a statement of faith that defines what we are standing on for all Southern Baptists everywhere and why.  Over time, churches must reaffirm their commitment to the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.  (Jude 3)  

Marriages and organizations that stand the test of time have times when they reaffirm their mission statement and what they believe. This helps all to make a clear decision about why we are working together and why we consider this church organization important for us to invest our time and money.

For the past five decades, as an association, we have not taken the time to reaffirm our commitment to each other as a body of churches, nor have we taken the time to reaffirm what it is we believe holds us together as a functioning body of believing churches and an association.

As representatives of the Nine Mile Baptist Association Churches, we believe it is time for all NMBA Churches to gather at our annual NMBA Meeting to reaffirm our statement of faith and our commitment to each other.

We would covet your prayers as we consider how to best facilitate this reaffirmation of our churches. This will encourage us and help us clearly understand what NMBA does to help us all advance the gospel of our Lord Jesus these days.

We welcome your participation in any our monthly board meetings.  You can find the date and time of the next board meeting on our ninemileassociation.org website.

Your Nine Mile Baptist Associational Board Members

P.O. Box 224, Pinckneyville, Illinois 62274