Southern Baptist Convention
Cornerstone is an autonomous local church that cooperates with Southern Baptist churches for missions and theological education.
Local Authority
The local church governs itself under Christ and Scripture.
Shared Conviction
SBC churches cooperate around basic theology and mission.
Gospel Partnership
Cooperation helps send missionaries, plant churches, and train leaders.
Local
Autonomous Church
Cornerstone is governed locally by its congregation and elders, not by a denominational hierarchy.
Shared
Common Work
Southern Baptist churches cooperate for missions, theological education, and gospel advance.
Mission
More Together
Cooperating churches can send and support work that no one congregation could do alone.
Why are we Southern Baptist?
Cornerstone is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. What does that mean? A Southern Baptist church (such as CCC) is simply a local church that has chosen to be “in friendly cooperation with the Convention and sympathetic with its purposes and work.” That language comes straight from the SBC Constitution.
Though it may be surprising, that is all that it means to be a Southern Baptist church. The SBC is simply an organization comprised of thousands of local churches who share a basic theology and choose to cooperate together for the advancement of missions, through the SBC's two mission boards, and education, through the SBC's six seminaries. Therefore, the Southern Baptist Convention is a very undenominational denomination. There is no hierarchy where the convention makes binding decisions that are passed on to the local churches, but rather each local church is autonomous, governing itself, owning its own building(s), paying its own staff, and worshiping in a manner they believe to be most consistent with the Bible. Should a church cease to fall within the parameters of practice acceptable for those churches belonging to the SBC, the church would simply be asked to stop cooperating with the SBC.
How do churches cooperate with the SBC?
Churches cooperate with the SBC in two ways. The first is by sending representatives to the annual meeting of the convention. For two days each year, each church in the convention is able to send a few representatives who vote on matters affecting the agencies operated by the SBC. The second way churches cooperate with the SBC is by sending financial resources to the convention which allow the convention to meet its annual operating budget.
What about Cornerstone and the SBC?
Cornerstone is in cooperation with fellow Southern Baptist churches at three levels. At the national level, we help support the work of the Southern Baptist Convention. At the state level, we help support missions and education in Tennessee through the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. At the local level, we help support the work of the Madison Chester Crockett Association. We are thankful for the opportunity to partner with other churches for the advance of the gospel to all nations and the training of laborers for the harvest field.