IBSA leadership nominations sought
The Nominations Committee will soon draft a slate of candidates for at least 30 elected positions in IBSA leadership. Organizers emphasize the important role committee members play in IBSA. In addition to IBSA’s six committees, the Nominating Committee will recommend people to serve on the Association’s three boards: IBSA, the Baptist Foundation of Illinois (BFI), and Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services (BCHFS).
Please pray about those you would recommend for service. The deadline to receive nominations is August 7, 2023.
2023 IBSA Viewbook
2022 Theme: Each Church a Missionary
2022 Partnership Report
Additional information
Founded in 1907, the Illinois Baptist State Association is a partnership of almost 1,000 churches, church plants, and mission congregations working together to advance the gospel in Illinois and around the world. IBSA and its member churches are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The 2021 IBSA Annual is an annual report on the partnership between IBSA and its member churches which includes such information as statistics, budgets, boards, and committees.
Through our ministries and missions, IBSA seeks to develop healthy, effective Baptist churches, sacrificially working together to advance the Gospel, make disciples of Jesus, and establish new churches throughout Illinois and the world.
Our goals are to
- Develop leaders who will guide IBSA churches and ministries to greater levels of effectiveness
- Inspire cooperation among Illinois Baptists, especially through participation in the SBC Cooperative Program and encouragement of strong Baptist identity
- Stimulate church health and growth by effectively training churches in discipleship and improvement of ministries, and
- Catalyze evangelistic church planting and missions by mobilizing volunteers from churches to their Acts 1:8 mission fields, and by multiplying evangelistic, cooperating Baptist churches and pastors throughout Illinois.
The Illinois Baptist State Association has three component parts:
- IBSA, the ministry teams and staff which work together with churches to advance the gospel (we call this work “Mission Illinois”)
- Baptist Foundation of Illinois
- Baptist Children’s Home and Family Services
In addition, IBSA operates two camps facilities
How We Function
IBSA is committed to Southern Baptist work in our state and worldwide through participation in the Cooperative Program. As Southern Baptists, we fully support the autonomy of the local congregation, but we also choose to work in association as a group of churches, and in partnership with SBC missions sending agencies.
We are also ministry partners with SBC entities and auxiliaries.
- SBC Executive Committee
- Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
- The Six Southern Baptist Seminaries
- LifeWay Christian Resources
- Guidestone Financial Services
- Woman’s Missionary Union
Download the brochure, “Meet Southern Baptists.”
IBSA Board and Committees
Messengers to the IBSA Annual Meeting elect members to the Board of Directors from a list of names submitted by the Nominating Committee to direct the affairs of IBSA between annual meetings. One third of the members of the Board are elected at each annual meeting for a three-year term. The Board is comprised of 33 members: 24 from six regions around the state and nine at-large. A minimum of one-third of the Board’s members are required to be laypersons.
View the list of current IBSA Board members.
The Board is organized into three committees – Administrative, Resource Development, and Strategic Planning.
Administrative Committee
The Administrative Committee will review Board policy and recommend adjustments to insure efficient operations of Board and staff in order that the various segments of IBSA can effectively work together to achieve our mission, vision and goals
Resource Development Committee
The Resource Development Committee shall assist the Executive Director to gather and recommend distribution of resources to meet the mission, vision and goals of IBSA. It will assist in budget development, allocation of cooperative program resources, long range financial planning, and management of all IBSA facilities.
Strategic Planning Committees
The Strategic Planning Committee will work directly with the Executive Director to assess the needs of churches and associations, to establish and recommend to the Board of Directors mission, vision and goal statements, to assist the Board of Directors in identifying end results that are desired from IBSA activities and ministries, to asses the effectiveness of IBSA delivery of services, to recommend effective communication channels and to recommend special ministry projects that will assist IBSA to accomplish its mission, vision and goals.
IBSA Committees of the Association
Credentials Committee
The Credentials Committee shall enroll all qualified messengers. It shall monitor enrollment by churches and dispense all official materials. It shall receive and review all petitionary letters, church constitutions, and operative documents, a statement of faith and other documents requested by the committee. It shall then make recommendations regarding churches requesting to cooperate with this Association. It shall be the responsibility of the Credentials Committee to count all ballots at the Annual Meeting.
Constitution Committee
The Constitution Committee shall review the Constitution annually. It shall submit a written report to the Association at the annual meeting containing an assessment of the work of the Association in light of constitutional and bylaw constraint and may include suggestions for adjustments. It shall consider and make recommendations on all proposed amendments to the Constitution. Interpretation of the Constitution shall be given upon request.
Resolutions and Christian Life Committee
The Resolutions and Christian Life Committee shall prepare and submit to the Association, at its annual meeting, all resolutions, which it deems appropriate for adoption, and report on all matters submitted to it by the Association, with or without recommendations or amendments. All proposed resolutions shall be referred to the Resolutions and Christian Life Committee no later than the second session of the annual meeting.
Committee on Order of Business
The Committee on Order of Business shall suggest a program including an order of business for the annual meeting. It shall provide time for the introduction of matters requiring a vote not scheduled on the agenda and shall fix a time for the consideration of the same. The Committee shall recommend the time and place for the annual meeting three (3) years in advance. The Committee shall recommend a speaker for the annual sermon for the Association’s succeeding annual meeting.
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee shall nominate members to the Boards. If vacancies occur between annual meetings, nominations of prospective members for said vacancies shall be made by the Nominating Committee to the appropriate Board for approval. While serving on the Nominating Committee, members shall be ineligible for nomination to the Boards.
Historical Committee
The Historical Committee shall procure and preserve historical records.
Committee on Committees
The Committee on Committees shall nominate to the Association in the annual meeting, persons for membership on all standing and ad hoc committees authorized by the Association with the exception of the Committees of the Board of Directors and Boards of Trustees. The Committee on Committees shall annually nominate persons to fill all vacancies. No church shall have more than one (1) member of an elected standing committee mentioned in Section 1 under Committees of the Association at the same time with no more than two (2) different members from one church on all stated committees. A member of a committee moving to a church which has a member on that same committee or two (2) members on all stated committees shall resign. Officers of the Association are excepted. If vacancies occur on a Standing Committee between annual meetings, nominations of prospective members for said vacancies shall be made by the Committee on Committees to the Board of Directors for approval. While serving on the Committee on Committees, members shall be ineligible for nomination to other standing Committees of the Association.
