The Frontier Baptist Story

The first Southern Baptist Church in the northeast, LaSalle Baptist Church, was constituted June 24, 1955 in Niagara Falls, New York. Representatives of five churches and two chapels organized the Frontier Baptist Association on September 23, 1958. In the early years, churches throughout upstate New York and northwest Pennsylvania composed the association. As new associations were organized, its territory became smaller. After the last association (Rochester) was organized in 1970, there were ten churches and 932 members in the eight counties composing Frontier Baptist Association.

We are presently 42 churches that account for over 2500 members of Southern Baptist work in Western New York. We are composed primarily of newly converted native North-easterners, many of our congregations are only beginning to develop a clear understanding of Southern Baptist beliefs and practices.

The major religious group in western New York is Roman Catholicism, with 75 percent of the public in some areas professing to be Catholic. We currently have a Pakistani Christian church, a Spanish church, a Vietnamese congregation,a Nepali Church, a Burmese congregation along with a Canadian mission.

No church sets out from the start to become the dead-end link on the Great Commission chain. Yet, sadly, recent history shows us the vast majority of evangelical churches have never reproduced. It doesn’t have to be this way.

What’s next? The Frontier Baptist Association is committed to partner with one another to see God’s Kingdom advanced both in unified ways initiated by centralized leaders, as well as in unique ways directed by localized leaders. The question remains, will you play a part?

We dream of a different future, shaped and embodied by churches and leaders that clearly know what direction they are headed, and how they will get there.

God is currently writing the next page of our story. Join us.