Baptist Missionary Association of America

Baptist Missionary Association of America, association of independent, conservative Baptist churches, organized as the North American Baptist Association in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S., in 1950, in protest against the American Baptist Association’s policy of seating at meetings messengers who were not members of the churches that elected them. The present name was adopted in 1968. These churches cooperate in missions and have sent missionaries to several countries. An active publications department publishes Sunday school and other religious material, and a radio ministry produces programs that are heard in many places throughout the world.

The member churches of the Baptist Missionary Association of America share equally in the cooperative activities of the association and are autonomous. All the churches must, however, subscribe to a strict fundamentalist interpretation of Christian doctrine. They accept the statements of the Bible literally and expect the Second Coming of Christ. There is no cooperation or association with other groups who do not hold the same beliefs.

In 1997 the group reported 234,334 members and 1,342 congregations. Headquarters are in Little Rock.