Osage River Baptist Association exists for our partnering churches. In fact, ORBA has no purpose apart from the local church. We are strategically for the local church. The Baptist Association is a grouping of like-minded churches in a geographical area working together to further the Kingdom of God by strengthening churches, encouraging church leaders, and equipping believers. We do this by leading our partnering churches to care for each other and to cooperate together in evangelism and missions. These two components, mutual care and cooperative missions, give us our distinct purpose as an association. "The local association is composed of churches who are motivated to work together because of their common mission, setting, and values, all built on a culture of trust and cooperation" (Ray Gentry, The Baptist Association p. 22). In this sense you are the association, at least very vibrant expression of it in your local church setting. We need one another and we are better together. Historically, Baptist Associations exist to do church planting and church revitalization, to promote church growth and church health, to help maintain doctrinal integrity, and to encourage praying, giving and going to support cooperative missions locally, within the state or region, nationally and internationally.