A fellowship of independent Baptist churches known for aggressive church planting, large congregations, and a strong emphasis on evangelism and missions.
The Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI) was founded in 1950 in Springfield, Missouri, by a group of pastors who separated from the World Baptist Fellowship over disputes about leadership and the direction of Baptist Bible Seminary. The BBFI quickly became one of the most influential forces in American fundamentalist Baptist life, producing some of the largest churches in the country during the mid-20th century. Jerry Falwell Sr.'s Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, was a BBFI church, and the fellowship's church-planting model helped establish hundreds of large independent Baptist congregations across the South and Midwest.
The BBFI is not a denomination in the traditional sense — it is a fellowship of autonomous churches that cooperate voluntarily for missions and fellowship. Each church is fully self-governing. The fellowship is theologically conservative, holding to biblical inerrancy, premillennial eschatology, and the King James Version of the Bible (in many churches). It places a strong emphasis on local church evangelism, bus ministries, and aggressive outreach.
BBFI churches tend to be larger than average independent Baptist congregations, with a culture of growth, evangelism, and missions giving.
BBFI churches are distinguished by their emphasis on church growth, evangelism, and missions giving. They share the autonomy and separatism of Independent Baptist churches but tend to be larger and more outward-focused. The fellowship model allows cooperation without denominational hierarchy.
Traditional to conservative — hymns or traditional gospel music, expository preaching, altar calls, and a strong emphasis on evangelism. Many BBFI churches have large Sunday school programs and bus ministries.
Springfield, Missouri, 1950.
Producing some of the largest independent Baptist churches in America and its aggressive church-planting and missions model.