Sandy wrote:Those are mostly "in town" churches, though if you look through the BGCT and SBTC annuals, there aren't as many SBC churches in the rural areas compared to Central, West and North Texas. I would say that's because of the many ABA and BMA congregations scattered in the rural areas of East Texas.
A lot of this goes back to the history of the early 20th century division of the BGCT. A lot of the unhappiness with the BGCT was centered in East Texas,and the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas was originally formed as the East Texas Baptist Convention before leaders from other parts of the state convinced them to make it a state organization.
Sandy wrote:But the "town" churches tend to be larger in attendance and membership than SBC churches in similar sized communities in other parts of the state. Most of the larger East Texas SBC congregations have stayed with the BGCT, but there are only two in the whole region that have affiliated with CBF--Austin Heights in Nacogdoches, which is the "college church" close to the Stephen F. Austin State Univ. campus, and FBC Lufkin. Many of the rural congregations have joined SBTC.
One influence that may have also helped enlarge these town churches, originally, would be a scenario like in our county. The BMAT (and ABA which it joined in 1924) pretty much "owned" the county, church-wise -- except they did not have a church in the county seat! When a Missionary Baptist family moved to town, guess where they had to join? In our county it was nearly 50 years after the split before the ABA folks figured they had better get a church in Henderson. I'm not familiar with FBC, Lufkin, but am with Austin Heights. I have a friend who sings Sacred Harp who is a member there. They are quite a different church from the rest of the churches in the county, imo -- though, if I remember correctly, they still are part of the local Shelby-Doches Association.
Sandy wrote:I wonder, these days, how many people making casual observations would even be able to tell the difference between a rural SBC congregation in East Texas, and an ABA or BMA congregation. The older members are probably much more well versed in the differences. A number of years ago, an older lady who was a member of an ABA congregation in Arkansas sternly lectured me and filled me in on why the ABA were the closest to the Bible, and Southern Baptists were lining up at the very gates of hell when I suggested that I couldn't really tell the difference. But I believe the ABA, at least in Texas, has now entered into some kind of relationship, perhaps even a merger of sorts, with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC).
I don't think it is altogether just a matter of casual observations. A lot of the ABA and BMA churches have progressed to where there is little noticeable difference between them and SBC churches -- mainly in where their financial support goes, other than a few hard line holdouts (and I'd say Arkansas is a little different case than Texas). It is the BMAT, rather than the ABA, that has established a relationship with the SBTC. The Jacksonville College has a relationship with the SBTC now, and, IIRC, the BMAT and SBTC held a joint annual meeting a few years back.