West Hills Affiliations
Who are we affiliated with?
Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference)
Converge Worldwide (BGC) traces its roots to Swedish immigrants who came to America looking for religious freedom and personal opportunity in the mid 1800's (The Evangelical Free Church of America and the Evangelical Covenant Church, historically our "Scandinavian Cousins", came into existence during the same time period and for the same reasons). The primary mission of the Conference at that time was the salvation of other Swedish people in America. When the churches came together for fellowship and encouragement, they were referred to as The Swedish Baptist Churches of America.
By 1950, the name and mission had changed. The new name of this fellowship of churches would be the Baptist General Conference. And the mission, while still being evangelistic in nature, was expanded to any and all ethnic groups needing to know the Savior. Church planting took on a new impetus. Today there are congregations in the U.S. comprised of and reaching out to Cambodians, Laotians, Vietnamese, Haitians, Filipinos, Chinese, Hispanics, African-Americans, Hmong, American Indian, Japanese, Thai, Russians and Jews.
In 2008 a new missional name for the BGC was adopted - Converge Worldwide. A note from our president, Jerry Sheveland, explains, "The idea is that we come together expecting God to guide us and empower us to accomplish his mission. This doesn't mean that we lose our formal name, Baptist General Conference. We will always be proud of our core convictions as Baptists and our rich history. The missional name and tag line will help us to focus on God's key work for us in this generation. When we use the word Converge, we picture connecting God's people to God's purposes so that lives and communities might be impacted by Christ's love worldwide."
In the U.S., Converge Worldwide/BGC is divided into 13 geographic districts, with over one thousand churches stretching from Hawaii and Alaska to Maine and Florida.. Our church belongs to Converge MidAmerica, along with about 120 other churches in Illinois, Indiana, eastern Missouri and southern Wisconsin. The national office is in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and the district office is in Park Ridge, Illinois.
WHY DO WE CHOOSE TO BE A PART OF CONVERGE WORLDWIDE?
First, it needs to be understood that we are an autonomous (self-governing) church. Our affiliation is for cooperative purposes only. Every church is completely autonomous and determines its own affairs. This means that we:
• choose our own pastors
• own our buildings and assets
• set our own budget
• develop our own ministries, objectives, goals
• determine our own missionaries to support, etc.
But we also believe there are significant benefits to associating with churches that share a common mission:
1. It allows us to identify with other Christians around the world who are known for their commitment to the Bible, which serves as our ultimate authority in both doctrine and practice.
2. It allows our church to participate in a world-class missionary organization. Through Converge Worldwide, we help support missionaries in every corner of the world:
• Argentina
• Bulgaria
• Brazil
• Cameroon
• Central Asia
• Cyprus
• Estonia
• Ethiopia
• France
• India
• Ivory Coast
• Japan
• Mexico
• Middle East
• Philippines
• Slovakia
• Thailand
• Uruguay
• Vietnam
3. It allows us to team up with 1000+ other BGC churches for the purposes of education, fellowship, training opportunities, and societal impact.
The Baptist General Conference institutions of higher learning include Bethel College and Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, Bethel West Theological Seminary in San Diego, and Bethel of the East currently conducting classes on three church campuses in Massachusetts, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The Midwest Baptist Conference (Illinois, western Indiana, eastern Missouri) offers various training and retreat opportunities throughout the year, including the Winter Warm-up for ladies, held in the Chicago area, the Leadership Summit which is offered for all church leaders, and other seminars pertaining to church ministry.
Websites:
Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference):
Converge MidAmerica:
http://www.convergemidamerica.org/
Videos of the history of the BGC:
http://www.convergeww.org/content/category/16/85/112/