The Pivotal Decade: Why SBC Associations Will Determine the Future—and What Must Change Now

A Strategic Call to State Conventions, Associational Leaders, and Church-Based Mission Partners

by David Stokes, Co-Executive Director of CKNB

Southern Baptist Associations will shape the SBC's future over the next decade, for better or worse. We must reshape the associational model and radically realign our cooperative investment priorities to thrive, not merely survive.

1. Associations Are the Linchpin of SBC Effectiveness

While national and state entities play essential roles, only local associations have the relational proximity, contextual knowledge, and missionary flexibility to walk alongside pastors and churches in real time. We must strengthen the associational structure to see renewal in normative-size churches, where most SBCs live. However, not all currently structured associations are positioned to lead effectively.

2. It’s Time to Right-Size Associations for Missional Health

The future requires associations of 40–50 churches, on average, large enough to support strong leadership and strategy but small enough to maintain deep relationships and responsiveness.

• Too small? Under-resourced, often reduced to fellowship-only roles.

• Too large? Impersonal, unable to provide tailored support, relationally thin.

• Just right? Engaged pastors, sustainable funding, focused strategy.

We don’t need more associations. We need fewer, stronger ones with leaders who function as mission strategists, not event planners or administrators.

3. State Conventions Must Reinvest—Now

For state conventions to remain relevant, they must move beyond surface-level partnership and become investors in strategic associational leadership.

A minimum threshold is a 33% investment in the total compensation of qualified AMSs.

Why?

• It builds mutual trust and accountability.

• It empowers true collaboration.

• It avoids “top-down” programs that don’t work.

Without it, state conventions will be increasingly disconnected from the local church. They will default to “one size fits all” programming—too generic to be helpful, too late to be fruitful.

4. Boots on the Ground or Program in the Cloud?

Churches do not need another downloadable resource or online event. They need a leader who knows their field, walks with their pastor, prays over their town, and tailors strategy for their setting.

That’s the work of a healthy AMS—and it requires shared investment.

5. A Fork in the Road

We have a choice:

Delay change and risk irrelevance, or Lead boldly and restructure for future fruitfulness.

Associations and state conventions must link arms now:

• Restructure associations to ~40–50 churches.

• Recast AMS roles as strategic field leaders.

• Redirect state funding to empower contextual, local mission strategy.

If we do, we will see new partnerships, healthy pastors, revitalized churches, and long-term sustainability.

If we don’t, we will see decline disguised as tradition and have no one to blame but ourselves.

Conclusion: A Final Word to State Leaders and Associational Strategists

Now is the time for courage. The SBC does not need more structures. It requires strategic, Spirit-filled leaders with the authority and resourcing to act. Associations are not relics of the past. They are the runway for the future. Let’s invest accordingly.