Theme Interpretation: One Legacy. One Faith. One Future.

For 240 years, churches throughout our region have chosen to associate together for the sake of the gospel and for the glory of Christ.

It can be difficult to appreciate just how much history is contained in 240 years. That makes the Holston Baptist Association just ten years younger than the Declaration of Independence, and ten years older than the state of Tennessee. In 1786, when the association was founded, the United States Constitution had not yet been written, and George Washington was still three years away from becoming the nation’s first president.

That comparison is striking, and even so within our own Baptist history. In 1786, William Carey was only twenty-five years old and just beginning his pastoral ministry. The Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) in England would not be founded until six years later, helping launch the modern Baptist missionary movement of which our own commitment to cooperative missions is an heir. And the BMS would not assist in sending Carey out for almost another decade. Adoniram Judson, who would become one of the best-known Baptist missionaries in American history, had not even been born. 

When the association was founded, the Triennial Baptist Convention (the convention from which the Southern Baptists split) would not be founded for another 30 years, and the Southern Baptist Convention for another 60 years.

Our association reaches back remarkably far into modern history!

Since 1786, generations of churches have committed themselves to glorifying Christ through cooperative efforts. For generations, our pastors have preached the Word, churches have gathered to worship, believers have come together to pray, missionaries have been sent out, leaders have been developed, and autonomous congregations have chosen again and again to cooperate for the spread of the gospel.

Our association represents countless men and women whose names we may never know, who labored for Christ's Name so the work we have inherited might continue for generations.

And now, that work has been entrusted to us.

So, as the Holston Baptist Association gathers this fall to celebrate its 240th anniversary, our theme is intended to help us reflect upon that remarkable history, while also considering the responsibility of stewardship that comes with receiving such a rich inheritance:

When we talk about an association with a history like ours, these three phrases belong together. They remind us where we’ve come from, what holds us all together, and what ought to guide us as we look forward to the years ahead.

One Legacy

The ministry we enjoy today did not begin with us, so it is fitting and important to begin by looking back. 

We have inherited the fruit of generations of prayer, sacrifice, conviction, and cooperation, and that ought to produce in us an enduring gratitude for the generations that have come before us.

We are not on an island, simply figuring out how to do ministry on our own. Rather, we are the beneficiaries of the faithfulness of many before us. So we should diligently consider what has already come to pass.

Where did past generations succeed? How were they faithful? Where did they glorify Christ’s Name greatly?

Where did those that went before us fall short? Where did they lose their first love? Where did they get distracted from what matters most?

What did they believe? What did they value? What led churches to turn from selfish pride, sacrifice for one another, and cooperate for the sake of the gospel?

Reflection on the lives and ministries of those who went before us can be of real value. But it must be done with charity towards those men and women we are looking back to.

And we also must remember that we cannot stop simply with reflection on the past. Our task is not just to remember what previous generations built, nor to preserve every ministry and method simply because we inherited it.

This legacy is valuable only insofar as it points us towards faithfulness to Christ and the mission He entrusted to us.

The best way to honor those who came before us is to ask these questions, to look at what convictions shaped their ministry, and then to pursue that same faithfulness in our own generation. 

One Faith

A shared history is meaningful, but history alone cannot sustain Christian cooperation.

Our deepest unity is not merely found in our history of cooperation, the geography we share, or the organizations with which we partner.

Rather, our deepest unity is found in the One to whom we all belong.

Communities can be built around geography, shared interests, common heritage, political concerns, social causes, or any number of other things - and we see people gathering around these things every day. And many of those communities can be genuinely beneficial.

But the church is unique because we belong to Christ.

So, we are united by one faith.

We worship the same Lord, submit ourselves to the same Word, and confess the same gospel. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only Name in whom salvation is found, that He purchased His people by His blood, and that He has commissioned His church to make disciples of all nations. And we believe that God is at work in the world for His glory!

That is what makes our cooperation Christian.

When Christians unite principally around something other than the gospel, they risk creating a community that could exist just as easily without the gospel. But when churches cooperate because they share a common confession of Christ, their fellowship bears witness to something greater than common interest or convenience.

This is why doctrine matters so deeply to associational life.

Doctrine can often be treated as though it belongs in one category, while ministry belongs in another. But Scripture doesn’t seem to allow us to separate the two so neatly. In the Word, the pattern presented to us shows that our doctrine - our theology - shapes how we work.

What we believe necessarily shapes what we proclaim, how we worship, how we disciple, how we understand the church, how we approach missions, and what we believe faithfulness in ministry actually requires of us.

To proclaim Christ faithfully, we ought to know who He is, what He has accomplished, what Scripture teaches about sin and salvation, and what response His gospel demands.

So, when we talk about One Faith, we are not saying that every church in the Holston Baptist Association is identical. Far from it!

We are autonomous congregations, serving different communities. We have individual histories, ministry contexts, and traditions. And we even have different convictions on low-secondary and tertiary matters!

Christian unity does not require uniformity, and neither does associational cooperation. 

But beneath our differences, we have to recognize a bond far deeper than anything history or friendship could produce:

A shared submission to the Word of God, and a common confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ - a historic confession which has been held to since long before the Holston Baptist Association was ever a thought!

That common faith allows distinct churches to labor together without ceasing to be distinct churches.

And it’s that cooperation, rooted in that faith, which connects our legacy to our future.

One Future

We are stewards of something that does not belong to us.

We have received these things - the gospel, the doctrines of the faith, and the inheritance handed down to us by those who have gone before us - from Christ, through His Word, and we are responsible to carry them faithfully, and then hand them to the generations that follow us.

That is why we need to speak of One Future.

We do not know when Christ will return, so we need to be good stewards at every moment that we may be found faithful in the Day. But, if He tarries, we cannot know what ministry in Northeast Tennessee will look like fifty years from now, much less another 240 years from now. Our communities will change drastically, new challenges will rise, and new opportunities to share the gospel of Christ will appear. Many of the methods and structures that serve us well today will inevitably give way to others.

But the mission of Christ will not change. He will still be Lord, His Word will remain true, His gospel will continue proving effectual for salvation, and His church will still be called to make disciples of all nations.

So, our responsibility is not simply to ensure that the Holston Baptist Association continues to exist. The institution itself is of little eternal significance apart from the churches it serves, because Christ has entrusted His mission to His church.

Those things matter. But they matter because they serve Christ’s purpose to glorify Himself through His church.

So our hope for the future should not merely be that another generation inherits the association. Our hope should be that they inherit churches firmly rooted in Scripture, clearly committed to the gospel, serious about the Great Commission, and willing to labor together for the glory of Christ.

That is a future worth pursuing together.

The decisions we make, the convictions we hold, the ministries we build, the churches we strengthen, and the gospel we proclaim will shape what another generation receives from us.

So the question is not whether we will leave a legacy like those who went before us.

Until the Lord returns, each generation will leave a legacy.

The question is what kind of legacy we will leave.

Will the generation after us inherit churches that know the Word of God deeply, savor Christ wholly, and proclaim the gospel boldly? 

Will they look back and, by God’s grace, see strong churches and healthy patterns of cooperation, and find that we were faithful with what had been entrusted to us?

Or will they look back and find that we were self-interested in our mission, unintentional in our love, unclear in our doctrine, and cowardly in our proclamation?

These questions, though difficult to ask, are worth asking as we celebrate 240 years because the ministry we shape today will one day become someone else’s legacy tomorrow.

One Legacy. One Faith. One Future.

This is why these three phrases belong together:

Our legacy reminds us that we did not begin this work, and gives us cause for reflection.

Our faith reminds us what holds us together and why cooperative work matters.

And our future reminds us that what we have received must not end with us.

Two hundred and forty years is a remarkable legacy.

But the greatest thing we can do with that legacy is not simply celebrate it.

It is to steward it faithfully for the glory of Christ.

So, as we gather for the 2026 HBA Fall Meeting and the celebration of 240 years of cooperative work, may we remember our great legacy and our common faith, and may we look forward to the future with faithfulness and confidence in the Lord. And, through it all, may the Lord continue to strengthen our churches, deepen our commitment to His Word, unite us around the gospel, and use our cooperation for the glory of Christ and the advance of His kingdom for generations to come.