1850-Present
Judson Missionary Baptist Association
Abbeville, Alabama AL
On April 12, 1850, Adoniram Judson died on board the Aristide Marie and was buried at sea just northwest of the Andaman Islands. It took four months for the news to reach his wife Emily in Burma but the news got to America before it arrived in Burma.
That fall, October, 1850, nine churches in southeastern Alabama, met to form an association and named their newly formed group Judson Missionary Baptist Association. Two of those nine churches however had already honored their missionary icon by selecting his name to identify their congregations. Adoniram Baptist Church had organized in 1844 (see entry 1844-Present) and was pastored by W. B. Lacey. The Judson Baptist Church had organized in 1850 (see entry 1850-Present) and was pastored by Edwin Cody. Both pastors and congregations remained strong leaders in the Judson Missionary Baptist Association (JMBA).[1]
Middleton Brooks was appointed missionary of the Judson Association in 1857 and “took to the field about the first of March.” In his first report to the association he gave the following information of his activities. “Baptized forty-six people, constituted two churches, ordained three deacons, and sold two hundred and eighty-nine volumes….” His report for 1860 shows the following service, “Worked two hundred and fifteen days, received twenty-eight by baptism, and eight by letter. Assisted in the ordination of two ministers, and re-organized one church, and preached one hundred and fifty-nine sermons.”[2]
The association had its ups and downs like any living organism does.
+By 1872 the JMBA could report that “every Baptist family has a church in his community in reasonable traveling distance where he could be exposed to the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”[3]
+A year later the fellowship was divided over a circular letter sent out on Election and Predestination.[4]
+In 1875, “The association urged the Mission Committee to work among the Colored people of the community.”[5]
+By 1880 the women had organized to take an offering for “their suffering sisters” in China but by 1884 a majority of the churches withdrew from JMBA to form the Columbia Association leaving the old Judson Association with a “lax spirit”.[6]
+“It was in 1912 at the Headland Church that Mrs. Stokes made her own report. (Prior to this, women would write up the report and it would be handed to a man to read the report.)”[7]
+On the 100th anniversary of the death of Adoniram Judson and the formation of JMBA, 1950, the JMBA reported that “for the first time missionaries were using airplanes for transportation. When it formerly took days to go by boat or donkey in foreign fields, it then took only a matter of hours by plane.”[8]
Today the Judson Baptist Association serves the 17,000 people in Henry County, Alabama, through 21 churches and two ministry centers while serving the wider world through the Alabama Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention. Rev. Brandon Turner serves these churches as Director of Missions and also serves the Judson Baptist Church as pastor. “It is a challenging job to fill both roles but one that identifies me as ‘one of them’ even though I cannot visit and support all those 21 congregations on Sunday mornings.”[9]
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[1] R. J. Lee and Larry Smith, History of Judson Missionary Baptist Association, unpublished manuscript available from 532 Ozark Road, Abbeville, Alabama 36310, p. 1.
[2] https://usgenwebsites.org/flgenweb/FLHolmes/families/dscbrooksjonathan1-3.html, pp. 1-2.
[3] Ibid., p. 4.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid., p. 5.
[6] Ibid., pp. 8-9.
[7] Ibid., p. 9.
[8] Ibid., p. 11.
[9] Telephone conversation with Brandon Turner, October 18, 2022.