Affiliation
At Open Arms, we voluntarily cooperate with other like-minded churches in the Hudson Region. There are over 25 other churches that make up the fellowship of the Hudson Baptist Association (HBA).
We are an independent church that makes its own decisions in every area of church life. No denomination, ecclesiastical authority, or outside organization chooses the pastoral staff, worship style or our direction as a church. All financial decisions belong to the church membership alone.
While we are an independent church, we are affiliated with and voluntarily cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC); the largest denomination in America outside of the Catholic Church. The SBC is comprised of over 40,000 churches in the U.S. alone (16 million members). On Sunday, here in the state of New York, there are over 400 Southern Baptist Churches meeting.
Open Arms chooses to cooperate with this larger body because by doing so we are a part of the largest missionary force in the world. At least 10% of undesignated funds received at Open Arms go back out to promote the cause of Christ throughout the capital region and the world. We are supporting missionaries, church planters, and helping other ministries locally and around the world.
Open Arms is part of what is called the Cooperative Program. We are partners in sponsoring more than 5500 missionaries in 137+ Countries. We also help support nearly 5700 church planters and missionary personnel here in the U.S. Open Arms has been directly involved in planting nine churches in the Capital Region. Three of those churches have been started with members of Open Arms as part of their core group.
We are an independent church that makes its own decisions in every area of church life. No denomination, ecclesiastical authority, or outside organization chooses the pastoral staff, worship style or our direction as a church. All financial decisions belong to the church membership alone.
While we are an independent church, we are affiliated with and voluntarily cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC); the largest denomination in America outside of the Catholic Church. The SBC is comprised of over 40,000 churches in the U.S. alone (16 million members). On Sunday, here in the state of New York, there are over 400 Southern Baptist Churches meeting.
Open Arms chooses to cooperate with this larger body because by doing so we are a part of the largest missionary force in the world. At least 10% of undesignated funds received at Open Arms go back out to promote the cause of Christ throughout the capital region and the world. We are supporting missionaries, church planters, and helping other ministries locally and around the world.
Open Arms is part of what is called the Cooperative Program. We are partners in sponsoring more than 5500 missionaries in 137+ Countries. We also help support nearly 5700 church planters and missionary personnel here in the U.S. Open Arms has been directly involved in planting nine churches in the Capital Region. Three of those churches have been started with members of Open Arms as part of their core group.