The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a
Christian denomination based in the United
States. With more than 15 million members
as of 2015, it is the world's largest Baptist
denomination, the largest Protestant denomination
in the United States, and the second-largest
Christian denomination in the United States
after the Catholic Church.The word Southern
in Southern Baptist Convention stems from
it having been organized in 1845 at Augusta,
Georgia, by Baptists in the Southern United
States who split with northern Baptists over
the issue of slavery, specifically whether
Southern slave owners could serve as missionaries.
After the American Civil War, another split
occurred when most freedmen set up independent
black congregations, regional associations,
and state and national conventions, such as
the National Baptist Convention, which became
the second-largest Baptist convention by the
end of the 19th century. Others joined new
African-American denominations, chiefly the
African Methodist Episcopal Church, which
was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
in the early 19th century, as the first independent
black denomination in the United States.
Since the 1940s, the Southern Baptist Convention
has shifted from some of its regional and
historical identification. Especially since
the late 20th century, the SBC has sought
new members among minority groups and to become
much more diverse. In addition, while still
heavily concentrated in the Southern United
States, the Southern Baptist Convention has
member churches across the United States and
41 affiliated state conventions. Southern
Baptist churches are evangelical in doctrine
and practice. As they emphasize the significance
of the individual conversion experience, which
is affirmed by the person having complete
immersion in water for a believer's baptism,
they reject the practice of infant baptism.
Other specific beliefs based on biblical interpretation
can vary somewhat due to their congregational
polity, which allows local autonomy.The average
weekly attendance is 5,200,716.
== History ==
=== Colonial era ===
Most early Baptists in the British colonies
came from England in the 17th century, after
the established Church of England persecuted
them for their dissenting religious views.
The oldest Baptist church in the South, First
Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina,
was organized in 1682 under the leadership
of William Screven. A Baptist church was formed
in Virginia in 1715 through the preaching
of Robert Norden and another in North Carolina
in 1727 through the ministry of Paul Palmer.
The Baptists adhered to a congregationalist
polity and operated independently of the state-established
Anglican churches in the South, at a time
when non-Anglicans were prohibited from holding
political office. By 1740, about eight Baptist
churches were in the colonies of Virginia,
North Carolina, and South Carolina, with an
estimated 300 to 400 members. New members,
both black and white, were converted chiefly
by Baptist preachers who traveled throughout
the South during the 18th and 19th centuries,
in the eras of the First Great Awakening and
Second Great Awakening.Baptists welcomed African
Americans, both slave and free, allowing them
to have more active roles in ministry than
did other denominations by licensing them
as preachers, and in some cases, allowing
them to be treated as equals to white members.
As a result, black congregations and churches
were founded in Virginia, South Carolina,
and Georgia before the American Revolution.
Some black congregations kept their independence
even after whites tried to exercise more authority
after the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831.
=== American Revolution period ===
Before the Revolution, Baptist and Methodist
evangelicals in the South had promoted the
view of the common man's equality before God,
which embraced slaves and free blacks. They
challenged the hierarchies of class and race
and urged planters to abolish slavery. They
welcomed slaves as Baptists and accepted them
as preachers.Isaac (1974) analyzes the rise
of the Baptist Church in Virginia, with emphasis
on evangelicalism and social life. A sharp
division existed between the austerity of
the plain-living Baptists, attracted initially
from yeomen and common planters, and the opulence
of the Anglican planters, the slaveholding
elite who controlled local and colonial government
in what had become a slave society by the
late 18th century. The gentry interpreted
Baptist church discipline as political radicalism,
but it served to ameliorate disorder. The
Baptists intensely monitored each other's
moral conduct, watching especially for sexual
transgressions, cursing, and excessive drinking;
they expelled members who would not reform.In
Virginia and in most southern colonies before
the Revolution, the Church of England was
the established church and supported by general
taxes, as it was in England. It opposed the
rapid spread of Baptists in the South. Particularly
in Virginia, many Baptist preachers were prosecuted
for "disturbing the peace" by preaching without
licenses from the Anglican church. Both Patrick
Henry and the young attorney James Madison
defended Baptist preachers prior to the American
Revolution in cases considered significant
to the history of religious freedom. In 1779,
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute
for Religious Freedom, enacted in 1786 by
the Virginia General Assembly. Madison later
applied his own ideas and those of the Virginia
document related to religious freedom during
the Constitutional Convention, when he ensured
that they were incorporated into the national
constitution.
The struggle for religious toleration erupted
and was played out during the American Revolution,
as the Baptists worked to disestablish the
Anglican church in the South. Beeman (1978)
explores the conflict in one Virginia locality,
showing that as its population became more
dense, the county court and the Anglican Church
were able to increase their authority. The
Baptists protested vigorously; the resulting
social disorder resulted chiefly from the
ruling gentry's disregard for public need.
The vitality of the religious opposition made
the conflict between 'evangelical' and 'gentry'
styles a bitter one. Kroll-Smith (1984) suggests
that the strength of the evangelical movement's
organization determined its ability to mobilize
power outside the conventional authority structure.
=== National unification and regional division
===
In 1814, leaders such as Luther Rice were
able to help Baptists unify nationally under
what became known informally as the Triennial
Convention (because it met every three years)
based in Philadelphia. It allowed them to
join their resources to support missions abroad.
The Home Mission Society, affiliated with
the Triennial Convention, was established
in 1832 to support missions in frontier territories
of the United States. By the mid-19th century,
numerous social, cultural, economic, and political
differences existed among business owners
of the North, farmers of the West, and planters
of the South. The most divisive conflict was
primarily over the deep sectional issue of
slavery and secondarily over missions.
==== Divisions over slavery ====
Slavery in the 19th century became the most
critical moral issue dividing Baptists in
the United States. Struggling to gain a foothold
in the South, after the American Revolution,
the next generation of Southern Baptist preachers
accommodated themselves to the leadership
of southern society. Rather than challenging
the gentry on slavery and urging manumission
(as did the Quakers and Methodists), they
began to interpret the Bible as supporting
the practice of slavery and encouraged good
paternalistic practices by slaveholders. They
preached to slaves to accept their places
and obey their masters. In the two decades
after the Revolution during the Second Great
Awakening, Baptist preachers abandoned their
pleas that slaves be manumitted.After first
attracting yeomen farmers and common planters,
in the 19th century, the Baptists began to
attract major planters among the elite. While
the Baptists welcomed slaves and free blacks
as members, whites controlled leadership of
the churches, their preaching supported slavery,
and blacks were usually segregated in seating.Black
congregations were sometimes the largest of
their regions. For instance, by 1821, Gillfield
Baptist in Petersburg, Virginia, had the largest
congregation within the Portsmouth Association.
At 441 members, it was more than twice as
large as the next ranking church. Before the
Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831, Gillfield
had a black preacher. Afterward, the state
legislature insisted that black congregations
be overseen by white men. Gillfield could
not call a black preacher until after the
American Civil War and emancipation. After
Turner's slave rebellion, whites worked to
exert more control over black congregations
and passed laws requiring white ministers
to lead or be present at religious meetings
(many slaves evaded these restrictions).
In addition, from the early decades of the
19th century, many Baptist preachers in the
South argued in favor of preserving the right
of ministers to be slaveholders (which they
had earlier prohibited), a class that included
prominent Baptist Southerners and planters.The
Triennial Convention and the Home Mission
Society adopted a kind of neutrality concerning
slavery, neither condoning nor condemning
it. During the "Georgia Test Case" of 1844,
the Georgia State Convention proposed that
the slaveholder Elder James E. Reeve be appointed
as a missionary. The Foreign Mission Board
refused to approve his appointment, recognizing
the case as a challenge and not wanting to
overturn their policy of neutrality on the
slavery issue. They stated that slavery should
not be introduced as a factor into deliberations
about missionary appointments.In 1844, Basil
Manly Sr., president of the University of
Alabama, a prominent preacher and a major
planter who owned 40 slaves, drafted the "Alabama
Resolutions" and presented them to the Triennial
Convention. These included the demand that
slaveholders be eligible for denominational
offices to which the Southern associations
contributed financially. These resolutions
failed to be adopted. Georgia Baptists decided
to test the claimed neutrality by recommending
a slaveholder to the Home Mission Society
as a missionary. The Home Mission Society's
board refused to appoint him, noting that
missionaries were not allowed to take servants
with them (so he clearly could not take slaves)
and that they would not make a decision that
appeared to endorse slavery. Southern Baptists
considered this an infringement of their right
to determine their own candidates. From the
Southern perspective, the Northern position
that "slaveholding brethren were less than
followers of Jesus" effectively obliged slaveholding
Southerners to leave the fellowship.
==== Missions and organization ====
A secondary issue that disturbed the Southerners
was the perception that the American Baptist
Home Mission Society did not appoint a proportionate
number of missionaries to the southern region
of the United States. This was likely a result
of the society's not appointing slave owners
as missionaries. Baptists in the North preferred
a loosely structured society composed of individuals
who paid annual dues, with each society usually
focused on a single ministry.Baptists in Southern
churches preferred a more centralized organization
of congregations composed of churches patterned
after their associations, with a variety of
ministries brought under the direction of
one denominational organization. The increasing
tensions and the discontent of Baptists from
the South regarding national criticism of
slavery and issues over missions led to their
withdrawal from the national Baptist organizations.The
Southern Baptists met at the First Baptist
Church of Augusta in May 1845. At this meeting,
they formed a new convention, naming it the
Southern Baptist Convention. They elected
William Bullein Johnson (1782–1862) as the
new convention's first president. He had served
as president of the Triennial Convention in
1841.
=== Formation and separation of black Baptists
===
African Americans had gathered in their own
churches early on, in 1774 in Petersburg,
Virginia, and in Savannah, Georgia, in 1788.
Some were established after 1800 on the frontier,
such as the First African Baptist Church of
Lexington, Kentucky. In 1824, it was accepted
by the Elkhorn Association of Kentucky, which
was white-dominated. By 1850, First African
had 1,820 members, the largest of any Baptist
church in the state, black or white. In 1861,
it had 2,223 members.
Generally, whites in the South required that
black churches be under the supervision of
white ministers and associations. In practice,
as noted above, in churches with mixed congregations,
blacks were made to sit in segregated seating.
White preaching often emphasized Biblical
stipulations that slaves should accept their
places and try to behave well toward their
masters.
After the Civil War and emancipation, blacks
wanted to practice Christianity independently
of white supervision. They had interpreted
the Bible as offering hope for deliverance,
and saw their own exodus out of slavery as
comparable to the Exodus. They quickly left
white-dominated churches and associations
and set up separate state Baptist conventions.
In 1866, black Baptists of the South and West
combined to form the Consolidated American
Baptist Convention. In 1895, they merged three
national conventions to create the National
Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.. With eight
million members, it is today the largest African-American
religious organization and is second in size
to the Southern Baptist Convention.
Free blacks in the North had founded churches
and denominations in the early 19h century
that were independent of white-dominated organizations.
In the Reconstruction Era, missionaries both
black and white from several northern denominations
worked in the South; they quickly attracted
tens and hundreds of thousands of new members
from among the millions of freedmen. The African
Methodist Episcopal Church attracted the most
new members of any denomination. White Southern
Baptist churches lost black members to the
new denominations, as well as to independent
congregations organized by freedmen.
During the Civil Rights Movement, most Southern
Baptist pastors and most members of their
congregations rejected racial integration
and accepted white supremacy, further alienating
African Americans. According to historian
and former Southern Baptist Wayne Flynt, "The
[Southern Baptist] church was the last bastion
of segregation."
=== 
Historical controversies ===
During its history, the Southern Baptist Convention
has had several periods of major internal
controversy.
==== Landmark controversy ====
In the 1850s–1860s, a group of young activists
called for a return to certain early practices,
or what they called Landmarkism. Other leaders
disagreed with their assertions, and the Baptist
congregations became split on the issues.
Eventually, the disagreements led to the formation
of Gospel Missions and the American Baptist
Association (1924), as well as many unaffiliated
independent churches. One historian called
the related James Robinson Graves—Robert
Boyte Crawford Howell controversy (1858–60)
the greatest to affect the denomination before
that of the late 20th century involving the
fundamentalist-moderate break.
==== Whitsitt controversy ====
In the Whitsitt controversy of 1896–99,
William H. Whitsitt, a professor at Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, suggested that,
contrary to earlier thought, English Baptists
did not begin to baptize by immersion until
1641, when some Anabaptists, as they were
then called, began to practice immersion.
This overturned the idea of immersion as the
practice of the earliest Baptists as some
of the Landmarkists contended.
==== Moderates–Conservatives controversy
====
The Southern Baptist Convention conservative
resurgence (c. 1970–2000) was an intense
struggle for control of the SBC's resources
and ideological direction. The major internal
disagreement captured national attention.
Its initiators called it a "Conservative Resurgence",
while its detractors have labeled it a "Fundamentalist
Takeover". Russell H. Dilday, president of
the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
from 1978 to 1994, described the resurgence
as having fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship
and as being "far more serious than [a controversy]".
Dilday described it as being "a self-destructive,
contentious, one-sided feud that at times
took on combative characteristics". Since
1979, Southern Baptists had become polarized
into two major groups: moderates and conservatives.
Reflecting the conservative majority votes
of delegates at the 1979 annual meeting of
the SBC, the new national organization officers
replaced all leaders of Southern Baptist agencies
with presumably more conservative people (often
dubbed "fundamentalist" by dissenters).Among
historical elements illustrating this trend,
the organization's position on abortion rights
within a decade had shifted radically from
a pro-abortion position to a strong pro-life
one:
In 1971 (two years before Roe v. Wade), the
SBC passed a resolution supporting abortion,
not only in cases of rape or incest – positions
which even some Southern Baptist conservatives
would support – but also as "clear evidence
of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained
evidence of the likelihood of damage to the
emotional, mental, and physical health of
the mother" – positions not supported by
the conservative wing.
In 1974 (the year after Roe v. Wade) the SBC
passed another resolution affirming its previous
1971 resolution, saying that it "dealt responsibly
from a Christian perspective with complexities
of abortion problems in contemporary society"
while also in the same resolution claiming
that the SBC "historically held a high view
of the sanctity of human life".
But once the conservatives won their first
election, the following year (1980) they passed
a resolution which completely reversed their
prior positions on abortion, condemning it
in all cases except to save the life of the
mother.
All subsequent resolutions on the issue have
followed the 1980 trend of being strongly
against abortion and have gone further into
opposing similar issues such as fetal tissue
experimentation and RU-486.
=== Recent history ===
In 1995, the convention voted to adopt a resolution
renouncing its racist roots and apologizing
for its past defense of slavery, segregation,
and white supremacy. This marked the denomination's
first formal acknowledgment that racism had
a profound role in its early and modern history.
By the early 21st century, numbers of ethnically
diverse congregations were increasing within
the convention. In 2008, almost 20% were estimated
to be majority African American, Asian, or
Hispanic. The SBC had an estimated one million
African-American members. The convention has
passed a series of resolutions recommending
the inclusion of more black members and appointing
more African-American leaders. In the 2012
annual meeting, the Southern Baptist Convention
elected Fred Luter Jr. as its first African-American
president. He had earned respect by his leadership
skills shown in building a large congregation
in New Orleans.The increasingly national scope
of the convention has inspired some members
to suggest a name change. In 2005, proposals
were made at the SBC Annual Meeting to change
the name from the regional-sounding Southern
Baptist Convention to a more national-sounding
"North American Baptist Convention" or "Scriptural
Baptist Convention" (to retain the SBC initials).
These initial proposals were defeated.The
messengers of the 2012 annual meeting in New
Orleans voted to adopt the descriptor "Great
Commission Baptists". The legal name of the
convention remains "Southern Baptist Convention",
but churches and convention entities can voluntarily
use the descriptor.Almost a year after the
Charleston church shooting, SBC approved Resolution
7 which called upon member churches and families
to discontinue the flying of the Confederate
flag.The SBC approved a Resolution 12 titled
"On Refugee Ministry", encouraging member
churches and families to welcome refugees
coming to the United States. In the same convention,
Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Ethics
and Religious Liberty Commission quickly responded
to a pastor who asked why a Southern Baptist
should support the right of Muslims living
in the United States to build mosques. Moore
responded, "Sometimes we have to deal with
questions that are really complicated... this
isn't one of them." Moore states that religious
freedom must be for all religions.The SBC
officially denounced the alt-right movement
in the 2017 convention. On November 5, 2017,
a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist
Church of Sutherland Springs. It was the deadliest
shooting to occur in any SBC church in its
history and in modern history, an American
place of worship.
== Theology and practice ==
The general theological perspective of the
churches of the Southern Baptist Convention
is represented in the Baptist Faith and Message
(BF&M). The BF&M was first drafted in 1925
as a revision of the 1833 New Hampshire Confession
of Faith. It was revised significantly in
1963, amended in 1998 with the addition of
one new section on the family, and revised
again in 2000, with the 1998 and 2000 changes
being the subject of much controversy, particularly
in regards to the role of women in the church.The
BF&M is not considered to be a creed, such
as the Nicene Creed. Members are not required
to adhere to it, and churches and state conventions
belonging to the SBC are not required to use
it as their statement of faith or doctrine,
though many do in lieu of creating their own
statement. Despite the fact that the BF&M
is not a creed, key leaders, faculty in SBC-owned
seminaries, and missionaries who apply to
serve through the various SBC missionary agencies
must affirm that their practices, doctrine,
and preaching are consistent with the BF&M.In
2012, a LifeWay Research survey of SBC pastors
found that 30% of congregations identified
with the labels Calvinist or Reformed, while
30% identified with the labels Arminian or
Wesleyan. Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay
Research, explained, "historically, many Baptists
have considered themselves neither Calvinist
nor Arminian, but holding a unique theological
approach not framed well by either category".
Nevertheless, the survey also found that 60%
of SBC pastors were concerned about Calvinism's
impact within the convention. Nathan Finn
notes that the debate over Calvinism has "periodically
reignited with increasing intensity", and
that non-Calvinists "seem to be especially
concerned with the influence of Founders Ministries,"
while Calvinists "seem to be particularly
concerned with the influence of revivalism
and Keswick theology."Historically, the SBC
has not considered glossolalia or other Charismatic
beliefs to be in accordance with Scriptural
teaching, though the subject is not even mentioned
in the BF&M. Although officially few SBC churches
are openly Charismatic, at least one Independent
Baptist author believes the practice to be
far greater than officially discussed.
=== Position statements ===
In addition to the BF&M, the SBC has also
issued the following position statements:
Autonomy of local church — Affirms the autonomy
of the local church.
Cooperation — Identifies the Cooperative
Program of missions as integral to the Southern
Baptist Convention.
Creeds and confessions — Statements of belief
are revisable in light of Scripture. The Bible
is the final word.
Missions — Honors the indigenous principle
in missions. The SBC does not, however, compromise
doctrine or its identity for missional opportunities.
Priesthood of all believers — Laypersons
have the same right as ordained ministers
to communicate with God, interpret Scripture,
and minister in Christ's name.
Sanctity of life — "At the moment of conception,
a new being enters the universe, a human being,
a being created in God's image"; as such,
it should be protected regardless of the circumstances
underlying the conception. As such, the SBC
opposes abortion and any form of birth control
which acts as an abortifacient.
Sexuality — They affirm God's plan for marriage
and sexual intimacy as a lifetime relationship
of one man and one woman. Explicitly, they
do not consider homosexuality to be a "valid
alternative lifestyle". They understand the
Bible to forbid any form of extra-marital
sexual relations.
Soul competency — Affirms the accountability
of each person before God.
Women in ministry — Women are of equal value
to men and participate on Southern Baptist
boards, faculties, mission teams, writer pools,
and professional staffs. However, women are
not eligible to serve as pastors.
=== Ordinances ===
Southern Baptists observe two ordinances:
the Lord's Supper and believer's baptism (also
known as credo-baptism, from the Latin for
"I believe"). Furthermore, they hold the historic
Baptist belief that immersion is the only
valid mode of baptism. The Baptist Faith and
Message describes baptism as a symbolic act
of obedience and a testimony of the believer's
faith in Jesus Christ. The BF&M also notes
that baptism is a precondition to church membership.The
BF&M holds to memorialism, which is the belief
that the Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of
obedience in which believers commemorate the
death of Christ and look forward to his Second
Coming. Although individual Southern Baptist
churches are free to practice either open
or closed communion (due to the convention's
belief in congregational polity and the autonomy
of the local church), most Southern Baptist
churches practice open communion. For the
same reason, the frequency of observance of
the Lord's Supper varies from church to church.
It is commonly observed quarterly, though
some churches offer it monthly and a small
minority offers it weekly.
=== Gender-based roles ===
The Southern Baptist Church subscribes to
the complementarian view of gender roles.
Beginning in the early 1970s, as a reaction
to their perceptions of various "women's liberation
movements", the SBC, along with several other
historically conservative Baptist groups,
began as a body to assert its view of the
propriety and primacy of what it deemed "traditional
gender roles". In 1973, at the annual meeting
of the Southern Baptist Convention, delegates
passed a resolution that read in part: "Man
was not made for woman, but the woman for
the man. Woman is the glory of man. Woman
would not have existed without man." In 1998,
the SBC appended a male leadership understanding
of marriage to the 1963 version of the Baptist
Faith and Message, with an official amendment:
Article XVIII, "The Family". In 2000, it revised
the document to reflect support for a male-only
pastorate with no mention of the office of
deacon.
==== In the pastorate ====
By explicitly defining the pastoral office
as the exclusive domain of males, the 2000
BF&M provision becomes the SBC's first-ever
official position against women pastors.As
individual churches affiliated with the SBC
are autonomous, local congregations cannot
be compelled to adopt a male-only pastorate.
Though neither the BF&M nor the SBC constitution
and bylaws provide any mechanism to trigger
automatic removal ("disfellowshipment") of
congregations that adopt practices or theology
contrary to the BF&M, some SBC churches that
have installed women as their pastors have
been disfellowshipped from membership in their
local SBC associations; a smaller number have
been disfellowshipped from their SBC state
conventions.The crystallization of SBC positions
on gender roles and restrictions of women's
participation in the pastorate contributed
to the decision by members now belonging to
the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to break
from the SBC in 1991.
==== In marriage ====
The 2000 BF&M now prescribes a husband-headship
authority structure, closely following the
apostle Paul's exhortations in Ephesians 5:21–33:
Article XVIII. The Family. The husband and
wife are of equal worth before God, since
both are created in God's image. The marriage
relationship models the way God relates to
his people. A husband is to love his wife
as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given
responsibility to provide for, to protect,
and to lead his family. A wife is to submit
herself graciously to the servant leadership
of her husband even as the church willingly
submits to the headship of Christ. She, being
in the image of God as is her husband and
thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility
to respect her husband and to serve as his
helper in managing the household and nurturing
the next generation.
=== Worship services ===
Most Southern Baptists observe a low church
form of worship, which is less formal and
uses no stated liturgy. The form of the worship
services generally depend on whether the congregation
uses a traditional service or a contemporary
one, or a mix of both—the main differences
being with regards to music and the response
to the sermon.
In both types of services, there will be a
prayer at the opening of the service, before
the sermon, and at closing. Offerings are
taken, which may be around the middle of the
service or at the end. Responsive Scripture
readings are not common, but may be done on
a special occasion.
In a traditional service, the music generally
features hymns, accompanied by a piano or
organ (the latter has been generally phased
out due to fewer people playing that instrument)
and sometimes with a special featured soloist
or choir. Smaller churches generally let anyone
participate in the choir regardless of actual
singing ability; larger churches will limit
participation to those who have successfully
tried out for a role. After the sermon, an
invitation to respond (sometimes termed an
altar call) is given; people may respond during
the invitation by receiving Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior and beginning Christian discipleship,
seeking baptism or requesting to join the
congregation, or entering into vocational
ministry or making some other publicly stated
decision. Baptisms may be scheduled on specific
weekends, or (especially in buildings with
built-in baptisteries) be readily available
for anyone desiring baptism.
In a contemporary service, the music generally
features modern songs led by a praise team
or similarly named group with featured singers.
Choirs are not as common. Usually, no altar
call is given at the end; instead, interested
persons are directed to seek out people in
the lobby who can address any questions. Baptismal
services are usually scheduled as specific
and special events. Also, church membership
is usually done on a periodic basis by attending
specific classes about the church's history,
beliefs, what it seeks to accomplish, and
what is expected of a prospective member.
Controversially, a member may be asked to
sign a church covenant, a quasi-legal document
that, among other things, does not permit
a member to voluntarily withdraw from membership
in lieu of church discipline. A Dallas-Fort
Worth church was forced to apologize to a
member who attempted to do so for failing
to request permission to annul her marriage
after her husband admitted to viewing child
pornography.
== Statistics ==
=== Membership ===
The SBC reports having 15.74 million members
in 46,125 churches throughout the US in 2013.
On average, 37% of the membership (5,834,707
members, guests and non-member children) attend
their churches' primary worship services.The
SBC has 1,161 local associations and 42 state
conventions, and fellowships covering all
fifty states and territories of the United
States. The five states with the highest rates
of membership in the SBC are Texas, Georgia,
North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee. Texas
has the largest number of members with an
estimated 2.75 million.Through their Cooperative
Program, Southern Baptists support thousands
of missionaries in the United States and worldwide.
=== Trends ===
Data from church sources and independent surveys
indicate that since 1990 membership of SBC
churches has declined as a proportion of the
American population. Historically, the convention
grew throughout its history until 2007, when
membership decreased by a net figure of nearly
40,000 members. The total membership, of about
16.2 million, was flat over the same period,
falling by 38,482 or 0.2%. An important indicator
for the health of the denomination is new
baptisms, which have decreased every year
for seven of the last eight years. As of 2008,
they had reached their lowest levels since
1987. Membership continued to decline from
2008 to 2012. SBC's statistical summary of
2014 recorded a loss of 236,467 members, their
biggest one-year decline since 1881.This decline
in membership and baptisms has prompted some
SBC researchers to describe the convention
as a "denomination in decline". Former SBC
president Frank Page suggested that if current
conditions continue, half of all SBC churches
will close their doors permanently by the
year 2030. This assessment is supported by
a recent survey of SBC churches which indicated
that 70 percent of all SBC churches are declining
or are plateaued with regards to their membership.The
decline in membership of the SBC was an issue
discussed during the June 2008 Annual Convention.
Curt Watke, a former researcher for the SBC,
noted four reasons for the decline of the
SBC based on his research: the increase in
immigration by non-European groups, decline
in growth among predominantly European American
(white) churches, the aging of the current
membership, and a decrease in the percentage
of younger generations participating in any
church life. Some believe that the Baptists
have not worked sufficiently to attract minorities.On
the other hand, the state conventions of Mississippi
and Texas report an increasing portion of
minority members. In 1990, five percent of
SBC congregations were non-white. In 2012,
the proportion of SBC congregations that were
of other ethnic groups (African American,
Latino, and Asian) had increased to twenty
percent. Sixty percent of the minority congregations
were found in Texas, particularly in the suburbs
of Houston and Dallas.The decline in SBC membership
may be more pronounced than these statistics
indicate because Baptist churches are not
required to remove inactive members from their
rolls. In addition, hundreds of large moderate
congregations have shifted their primary allegiance
to other Baptist groups such as the American
Baptist Churches USA, the Alliance of Baptists
or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship but
have continued to remain nominally on the
books of the convention. Their members are
thus counted in the SBC's totals although
these churches no longer participate in the
annual SBC meetings or make more than the
minimum financial contributions.In some cases,
groups have withdrawn from the SBC because
of its conservative trends. On November 6,
2000, The Baptist General Convention of Texas
voted to cut its contributions to SBC seminaries
and reallocate more than five million dollars
in funds to three theological seminaries in
the state which members believe were more
moderate. These include the Hispanic Baptist
Theological School in San Antonio, Baylor
University's George W. Truett Theological
Seminary in Waco, and Hardin-Simmons University's
Logsdon School of Theology in Abilene. Since
the controversies of the 1980s, more than
twenty theological or divinity programs directed
toward moderate and progressive Baptists have
been established in the Southeast. In addition
to Texas, schools in Virginia, Georgia, North
Carolina and Alabama were established in the
1990s. These include the Baptist Theological
Seminary in Richmond, McAfee School of Theology
of Mercer University in Atlanta, Wake Forest,
Gardner Webb and Campbell Divinity schools
in North Carolina and Beeson Divinity School
at Samford University to name a few. These
schools contributed to the flat and declining
enrollment at Southern Baptist seminaries
operating in the same region of the United
States. Texas and Virginia have the largest
state conventions identified as moderate in
theological approach.
== Organization ==
There are four levels of SBC organization:
the local congregation, the local association,
the state convention, and the national convention.
There are 41 affiliated state conventions
or fellowships.
The national and state conventions and local
associations are conceived as a cooperative
association by which churches can voluntarily
pool resources to support missionary and other
work undertaken by them. Because of the basic
Baptist principle of the autonomy of the local
church and the congregationalist polity of
the SBC, neither the national convention nor
the state conventions or local associations
has any administrative or ecclesiastical control
over local churches, although, they may disfellowship
a local congregation over an issue, they may
not terminate its leadership or members or
force its closure. Nor does the national convention
have any authority over state conventions
or local associations, nor do state conventions
have authority over local associations. Furthermore,
no individual congregation has any authority
over any other individual congregation, except
that a church may oversee another congregation
voluntarily as a mission work, but that other
congregation has the right to become an independent
congregation at any time.
Article IV. Authority: While independent and
sovereign in its own sphere, the Convention
does not claim and will never attempt to exercise
any authority over any other Baptist body,
whether church, auxiliary organizations, associations,
or convention.
The SBC maintains a central administrative
organization in Nashville, Tennessee. The
SBC's Executive Committee exercises authority
and control over seminaries and other institutions
owned by the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Southern Baptist Convention has around
10,000 ethnic congregations.
Commitment to the autonomy of local congregations
was the primary force behind the Executive
Committee's rejection of a proposal to create
a convention-wide database of SBC clergy accused
of sexual crimes against congregants or other
minors in order to stop the "recurring tide"
of clergy sexual abuse within SBC congregations.
A 2009 study by Lifeway Christian Resources,
the convention's research and publishing arm,
revealed that one in eight background checks
for potential volunteers or workers in SBC
churches revealed a history of crime that
could have prevented them from working.The
convention's confession of faith, the Baptist
Faith and Message, technically is not binding
on churches or members due to the autonomy
of the local church. Politically and culturally,
Southern Baptists tend to be conservative.
Most oppose the use of alcohol as a beverage,
homosexual activity, and abortion with few
exceptions.
=== Pastor and deacon ===
Generally, Baptists recognize only two scriptural
offices: pastor-teacher and deacon. The Southern
Baptist Convention passed a resolution in
the early 1980s recognizing that offices requiring
ordination are restricted to men. According
to the Baptist Faith and Message, the office
of pastor is limited to men based on certain
New Testament scriptures. However, there is
no prohibition in the Baptist Faith and Message
against women serving as deacons. Neither
the BF&M or resolutions are binding upon local
churches. Each church is responsible to prayerfully
search the Scriptures and establish its own
policy.
=== Annual meeting ===
The Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting
(held in June, over a two-day period) consists
of delegates (called "messengers") from cooperating
churches. The messengers confer and determine
the programs, policies, and budget of the
SBC and elect the officers and committees.
== Missions and affiliated organizations ==
=== Cooperative Program ===
The Cooperative Program (CP) is the SBC's
unified funds collection and distribution
program for the support of regional, national
and international ministries. The CP is funded
by contributions from SBC congregations.In
the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008,
the local congregations of the SBC reported
gift receipts of $11.1 billion. From this
they sent $548 million, approximately five
percent, to their state Baptist conventions
through the CP. Of this amount, the state
Baptist conventions retained $344 million
for their work. $204 million was sent on to
the national CP budget for the support of
denomination-wide ministries.
=== Missions agencies ===
The Southern Baptist Convention was organized
in 1845 primarily for the purpose of creating
a mission board to support the sending of
Baptist missionaries. The North American Mission
Board, or NAMB, (founded as the Domestic Mission
Board, and later the Home Mission Board) in
Alpharetta, Georgia serves missionaries involved
in evangelism and church planting in the U.S.
and Canada, while the International Mission
Board, or IMB, (originally the Foreign Mission
Board) in Richmond, Virginia, sponsors missionaries
to the rest of the world.
Among the more visible organizations within
the North American Mission Board is Southern
Baptist Disaster Relief. In 1967, a small
group of Texas Southern Baptist volunteers
helped victims of Hurricane Beulah by serving
hot food cooked on small "buddy burners."
In 2005, volunteers responded to 166 named
disasters, prepared 17,124,738 meals, repaired
7,246 homes, and removed debris from 13,986
yards. Southern Baptist Disaster Relief provides
many different types: food, water, child care,
communication, showers, laundry, repairs,
rebuilding, or other essential tangible items
that contribute to the resumption of life
following the crisis – and the message of
the Gospel. All assistance is provided to
individuals and communities free of charge.
SBC DR volunteer kitchens prepare much of
the food distributed by the Red Cross in major
disasters.Baptist Men is the mission organization
for men in Southern Baptist Churches, and
is under the North American Mission Board.
The Woman's Missionary Union, founded in 1888,
is an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention,
which helps facilitate two large annual missions
offerings: the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering
(for North American missions) and the Lottie
Moon Christmas Offering (for International
missions).
=== Seminaries and colleges ===
The SBC directly supports six theological
seminaries devoted to religious instruction
and ministry preparation.
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville,
Kentucky (1859, originally in Greenville,
South Carolina)
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
Fort Worth, Texas (1908, originally part of
Baylor University in Waco, Texas).
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary,
New Orleans, Louisiana (1916, originally New
Orleans Baptist Bible Institute)
Gateway Seminary, Ontario, California (1944,
originally in Oakland, California)
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary,
Wake Forest, North Carolina (1950)
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas
City, Missouri (1957)
=== Other organizations ===
Baptist Press, the largest Christian news
service in the country, was established by
the SBC in 1946.
GuideStone Financial Resources (formerly called
the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist
Convention, and founded in 1918 as the Relief
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention)
exists to provide insurance, retirement, and
investment services to churches and to ministers
and employees of Southern Baptist churches
and agencies. Like many financial institutions
during that time period, it underwent a severe
financial crisis in the 1930s.
LifeWay Christian Resources, founded as the
Baptist Sunday School Board in 1891, which
is one of the largest Christian publishing
houses in America and operates the "LifeWay
Christian Stores" (formerly "Baptist Book
Stores") chain of bookstores.
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (formerly
known as the Christian Life Commission of
the SBC) is an entity of the Southern Baptist
Convention that is dedicated to addressing
social and moral concerns and their implications
on public policy issues from City Hall to
Congress and the courts (among other things
it files amici briefs on various cases where
religious liberty is potentially threatened).
Its mission is "To awaken, inform, energize,
equip, and mobilize Christians to be the catalysts
for the Biblically-based transformation of
their families, churches, communities, and
the nation."
The Southern Baptist Historical Library and
Archives, in Nashville, Tennessee, serves
as the official depository for the archives
of the Southern Baptist Convention and a research
center for the study of Baptists worldwide.
The website for the SBHLA includes digital
resources.
== See also ==
List of Southern Baptist Convention affiliated
people
List of the largest Protestant bodies
Protestantism in the United States
Southern Baptist Convention Presidents
== 
Notes ==
== References ==
=== Footnotes ===
=== Bibliography ===
== Further reading ==
== External links ==
Official website
Southern Baptist Convention at Curlie
