A Brief Statement on Baptists and Inter-Church Relations

Baptists believe that the New Testament model for inter-church relations does not allow for any ecclesiastical authority outside the local church. Each congregation is under the direct headship of Christ. According to Chapter 26 in the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, when members from various churches meet together to consider matters that may be of mutual concern to many congregations, delegates from the individual churches are simply named “messengers”, and “these messengers assembled are not entrusted with any church-power (properly so called), or with any jurisdiction over the churches themselves.”