The Most Important Dynamic--Sitting as a Church

The Sandy Creek Baptist Church, under the leadership of Shubal Stearns used the concept of sitting as a church to great advantage. According to Robert Devin, the author of the History of the Grassy Creek Baptist Church, Sandy Creek would birth a church in this manner: Members would journey to a needy area and sit as a church under the preaching of a man of God. They would sit to encourage the work; they would work to bring people to the services and they would win converts. When the proper time would come, a preacher would be ordained to pastor the new church. Then they would move on. This work went on continuously with several missions occurring simultaneously. Sitting as a church means simply: The members of an established church visit the services of a sprouting church and lend physical, mental and especially spiritual strength to the sprouting church.