On November 12–13, 1996, fifteen Reformed Baptist churches met at Heritage Church in
Fayetteville, Georgia to begin the planning of a national association of churches. Four months later on March 11, 1997, the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America was founded in
Mesa, Arizona by 24 member churches from 14 states. In the mid-2010s, a debate among Reformed Baptists regarding the confessional views on
Divine impassibility (with those either holding a "classical" or "modified" position) resulted in a number of churches, that were in favor of the modified position, leaving the organization after it voted to approve and publish a position paper that was in favor of the classical position. Many of the churches that had left ARBCA over the issue later formed the
Reformed Baptist Network in 2016, which accommodates for either view. During the end of the 2010s and the beginning of the 2020s, more ARBCA churches would later leave to join the
Reformed Baptist Network following the aftermath of the association's alleged past mishandling/coverup (in 2000–1) of admitting a church into the association with a pastor who was later found to be under criminal investigation for
sexual abuse (following the publicizing of letters evidencing that some on the association's councils had known about such abuse at the time, and had sealed reports on the matter). In 2022, the remaining churches in the organization moved to legally dissolve the current organization, and created a new organization headquartered in
Mansfield, Texas named "Confessional Baptist Association" along with a new set of bylaws for the new association. In 2023, the association held its first general assembly at Oak Grove Baptist Church in
Angier, North Carolina, which consisted of the 13 founding member churches of the new association. ==Theology==