Our Mission:

Shiloh Baptist Association is a body of churches cooperating to:

Located in the beautiful "Upper Piedmont" of Virginia, our Association is seated in the midst of an historic area. Brandy Station (where the largest cavalry battle in the western hemisphere was fought) and other important Civil War sites are within our boundaries. The home of James Madison, the president who was instrumental in getting religious liberty (separation of church and state) in the Bill of Rights, is in our southern area. Madison was influenced by John Leland, who served as pastor of Culpeper (then Mt. Poney) church for about a year. Prior to religious liberty, many Baptist ministers were arrested and jailed in our area for refusing to be licensed by the Anglican Church, then the official state church.

Likewise, many of our churches are old and historic. Our oldest church, Blue Run, was established in 1769. Elijah Craig, a prominent Virginia Baptist minister, was instrumental in the founding of the church. During the period 1769 to 1800, eight of our churches were established. During the 1800s, 21 churches were established; eleven between 1801-1850 and 11 between 1851-1900.

Only three churches were established in the early to mid 1900s; Lower Rapidan (est. 1905), which is no longer a Shiloh church; Novum (est. 1911), and Chester Gap (est. 1957). Chester Gap was formed in a joint effort between Shiloh and Virginia Baptists and remained a mission until 1987. A Hispanic church, Primera Iglesia Bautista Maranatha First Maranatha Baptist Church), was started in 1997 and became constituted as a church in February of 2001. Mountain View Community Church, led by Mark Jenkins, a “son” of Stevensburg Baptist Church, is a "seeker-friendly" church. Mountain View started officially on September 7, 2002. In its first year, it averaged 343 in attendance, and lately exceeds 500. Already, over 90 persons have been baptized. This church reaches out to those who were either “unchurched” or “dechurched,” meaning they previously attended church but dropped out. Others, who had been driving long distances, participate in this church because of its contemporary approach. We have had a predominately African American Church joined our Association, Beulah. We now are sponsoring one other new church, The River Community Church, a "church of small groups" that meets on Saturdays at 6 p.m.

Our churches are moderate to small, ranging from 1,000 in membership (Culpeper) to less that 100. Several of our churches are served by bi-vocational, “semi-retirees,” or student pastors. We have approximately 6,500 members in all of our churches combined, making us 29th among Virginia’s 43 associations. We are in a rapidly growing area, which is a challenge for our churches as they seek to reach out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the "newcomers," as well as to people who have lived in the area all their lives.

We are an association of churches voluntarily cooperating together, thereby "doing more together than we could do alone."