The roots of this Association are found within the Conservative Baptist Association of America and growing dissatifaction among its strong fundamentalists during the 1950s and 1960s. Certain members desired that the Conservative Baptist Association represent a more Baptistic and separatist viewpoint, as well as be clearly premillennial and pretribulational in its eschatology. As this movement grew, representatives gathered at Marquette Manor Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois in 1964 to consider a course of action. A committee was elected to make plans for an association. The New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches was provisionally constituted May 28, 1965 at Beth Eden Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado. Formal organization was concluded June 10, 1965 at Eagledale Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, with 27 churches participating. A Constitution and a Confession of Faith were adopted.
The NTAIBC was planned as a national organization for independent fundamental separatist Baptist cooperation, though its greatest strength is found in the midwestern United States. Several local associations and fellowships are similar theologically and ideologically, such as the Association of Fundamental Baptist Churches of Northern California, Association of Independent Baptist Churches of Illinois, Dakota Baptist Association, Independent Fundamental Baptist Association of Michigan, Inter-Mountain Baptist Fellowship (Montana, Wyoming), Minnesota Baptist Association, Mountain States Baptist Fellowship (Colorado), and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches. Though there is no formal union, there is cooperation between these churches, and the whole represents a much greater number than actually affiliate with the NTAIBC. In 1995 the New Testament Association had 104 member congregations. The official publication of the NTAIBC is Testimonies. The leading figure in the movement was Richard V. Clearwaters, a pastor for 42 years in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founder of the Central Baptist Theological Seminary in 1954. Present leaders include Earle E. Matteson, Virgil Arrowood, and Clarke Poorman.
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