What is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship?

Origins and Historical Context

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) formed in 1991 as a network of Baptist churches and individuals who sought to collaborate in missions and ministry, in part due to disagreements within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). These differences arose at a time of heightened discussion about biblical authority, denominational control, and the role of women in church leadership. The CBF organized around ideals of local church autonomy and a comparatively moderate theological approach.

As a united entity, the CBF grew steadily in the 1990s, establishing its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. While originating in the United States, the Fellowship has also engaged in global missions through partnerships with international congregations and mission agencies. Their name underscores a spirit of “cooperation” and “fellowship,” reflecting a collective aim to respect diversity within Baptist life.

Core Theological Beliefs

The CBF’s congregations typically emphasize a moderate—some would say centrist—interpretation of Scripture, though the Fellowship officially claims no binding creed over its members. Many churches within the CBF draw from historic Baptist confessions, especially the 1963 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message, which highlights the primacy of the Bible, the priesthood of all believers, and congregational governance.

1. Scripture as Authoritative

Though interpretations vary, CBF-affiliated congregations hold to the Bible as greatly significant to Christian faith and practice. Some churches affirm a stronger view of Scripture’s inspiration; others allow for a looser interpretation of various passages. The balance they seek is often explained in light of local church autonomy, emphasizing that each congregation’s leadership and membership wrestle with doctrine and practice. This range can set CBF churches apart from more confessional Baptist bodies that specify stricter guidelines on biblical inerrancy. Scripture itself testifies: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Interpretive diversity in CBF congregations reflects their historical tension between freedom of conscience and traditional Baptist distinctives.

2. Salvation and Christology

The Fellowship professes core Christian doctrines regarding the Savior, including His crucifixion and resurrection as the foundation of redemption. Yet among CBF affiliates, there can be variety in how salvation and the atonement are explained or emphasized. While some proclaim a clearly defined conservatism regarding His atoning sacrifice, others allow for broader theological nuances, typically uniting around the truth that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

3. Autonomy and Priesthood of Believers

A hallmark of Baptist tradition is the belief in congregational autonomy, where each local body governs its own pastoral leadership, mission partnerships, and doctrinal stances—understood in light of the biblical principle “You are a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship continues this priority, showcasing a loose denominational structure that does not enforce uniform creedal statements but instead offers suggested guiding principles.

Role of Women in Ministry

A key difference that precipitated the formation of the CBF revolved around women in ministry. Many CBF-affiliated churches fully affirm and ordain women as pastors, following an interpretation of passages such as Galatians 3:28, which states, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” These churches see in this verse a principle that transcends specific contexts of biblical instructions, placing the emphasis on unity and spiritual gifting.

However, critics within other Baptist circles point to passages instructing spiritual order in the church, such as 1 Timothy 2:12, and highlight centuries of Christian practice that have limited the pastoral office to men. In the CBF, leaders often affirm that local congregations should discern their own practices, thus resulting in a diversity of praxis across individual churches.

Organizational Structure and Missions

CBF leadership is housed primarily in the national office, with coordinating councils and assemblies that discuss missions, funding, and cooperative projects. The Fellowship’s mission arm focuses on global ministries—including church planting, disaster relief, and sustained community development—often partnering with other mission agencies. Their approach, distinct from more centralized denominations, allows local congregations significant discretion in how they engage missions while still providing mutual encouragement and resourcing.

Prayer, community development, and educational initiatives also shape the CBF’s outreach. For example, several orphans’ homes and social ministries receive CBF support, seeking to reflect the biblical call to care for the vulnerable, in line with James 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress…”

Differences from Other Baptist Bodies

1. Identity and Cooperation

While the SBC, from which many early CBF leaders emerged, has a more confessional stance on inerrancy and male-only pastoral leadership, the CBF fosters a broader scope of fellowship, sometimes described as “biblically based but freedom-centric.”

2. Approach to Social Issues

The CBF tends to adopt more moderate positions on social matters, allowing congregations to take unique stances rather than issuing sweeping denominational statements. This contrasts with Baptists who prefer more explicit resolutions and declarations on moral issues for denominational unity.

3. Theological Education

Historically, many who align with the CBF studied at seminaries that prized a broader academic approach. While still holding Scripture as central, these institutions often welcomed a range of historical and literary scholarship, open discussions on creation (young earth vs. old earth perspectives), and critical textual analysis of Scripture’s manuscripts.

Contemporary Criticisms and Concerns

Some Baptists (and other evangelical Christians) have expressed concerns that the CBF’s commitment to theological diversity might risk diluting certain core doctrinal matters such as the exclusivity of Christ for salvation (John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”). They suggest that, unmoored from a stronger confessional base, churches may drift away from historic Christian orthodoxy. Others within the Fellowship contend that their stance is a continuation of Baptist distinctives—freedom of conscience and local church autonomy—applied in fresh ways to reach a changing culture.

Furthermore, the question arises whether their more flexible approach on some biblical matters could underplay traditional understandings of miracles or historic Christian teachings on creation. While there are CBF-affiliated leaders who still champion young-earth creation, others in the Fellowship lean toward theistic evolution or old-earth creationism, reflecting a broader acceptance of scientific theories. This diversity can cause tensions with more conservative Baptists who hold a literal, young-earth view based on genealogical timelines in Genesis.

Involvement in Global Baptist Networks

The CBF nurtures relationships with the Baptist World Alliance and other global ecumenical movements. This collaboration supports interdenominational efforts in crisis relief and local evangelical missions. Such efforts allow them to join with other believers to affirm essential Christian doctrines while keeping denominational identity somewhat open-ended.

Practical Ministries and Community Impact

Local CBF churches often focus heavily on community-based ministries, such as after-school programs, food banks, refugee and immigrant support, and prison outreach. They see these works as reflecting the imperative of James 2:17, “So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.” Individual congregations mobilize lay teams for service within their immediate areas, and each church decides its own level of involvement in national and international mission initiatives.

Summary and Final Observations

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship represents a network of Baptist congregations that values cooperative missions, local church autonomy, and a moderate scope of theological diversity. It emerged against a backdrop of debate within the SBC, emphasizing the importance of freedom in interpretation, particularly in matters such as women’s ordination. Nevertheless, it professes to stand within the larger Baptist tradition, upholding a high view of Scripture, the necessity of Christ for salvation, and the importance of active missions engagement.

For those examining the Baptist landscape, the CBF’s narrative underscores broader conversations about how Christians relate to Scripture, define denominational identity, and engage the world. Though moderates and conservatives often discuss these issues from contrasting standpoints, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship continues to play a sizable role in shaping how various congregations understand congregational life, global missions, and shared belief in the gospel message of Christ’s resurrection—“He is not here; He has risen!” (Luke 24:6).

Ultimately, whether one comes from a background of conservative or moderate leanings, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s distinctives offer a glimpse into the ongoing discourse about how Baptists can collaborate in mission and ministry while holding varied perspectives on biblical interpretation and church governance.