What is the History of the LBA?

On 10 November 1865 at the age of 31, with his two ministerial friends Charles Brock and William Landels, Charles Haddon Spurgeon ("the Prince of Preachers") established the London Baptist Association (LBA) at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

The primary purpose for establishing the LBA was mission - as well as fellowship amongst Baptists. The coming together as an Association was for the sharing and promoting of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. The aim of the LBA was to plant one new Baptist church per year in the Capital or suburbs. In fact in the first 11 years of the LBA, 62 new churches were founded, 53 of these as a direct result of help from Spurgeon's students at his College.

In 1907 the LBA had grown to 199 churches with a membership of over 57,000! By 2008, the LBA had grown to 288 churches but its membership had declined by 55% to just over 26,000.