Bessemer Association votes to enter partnership with Birmingham Metro

Bessemer Baptist Association’s executive committee voted July 9 to enter into a one-year partnership with Birmingham Metro Baptist Association.

If approved by Birmingham Metro Association’s executive board July 29, the agreement will bring the 177 churches of the two associations, along with their ministries, resources and volunteers, into partnership to engage in the gospel, said Chris Crain, executive director of Birmingham Metro Association.

Crain said Bessemer Association associational mission strategist Barry Cosper was instrumental in making the partnership possible.

Under the one-year agreement Bessemer Association will maintain its existing governance with the goal of establishing a permanent arrangement by September 2020.

Crain noted the Birmingham Metro Association was formed in 1833 in Bessemer and said the reuniting of the two associations in missions partnership “will set an example for other associations across the Southern Baptist Convention.”