The
Southern Baptist Convention (
SBC) is a
Christian denomination based in the
United States. It is the world's largest
Baptist denomination, and the
largest Protestant[2][3] and
second-largest Christian denomination in the United States, smaller than the
Roman Catholic Church, according to self-reported membership statistics.
The word
Southern in "Southern Baptist Convention" stems from its having been organized in 1845 in
Augusta, Georgia, by Baptists in the
Southern United States who
split from the
northern Baptists (known today as the
American Baptist Churches USA) over the issue of
slavery, with Southern Baptists strongly opposed to
its abolition.
[4] 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.
Since the 1940s, the Southern Baptist Convention has spread across the states, losing some of its regional identity but nonetheless keeping its original name.
[5] While still heavily concentrated in the Southern U.S., the SBC has member churches across the country and
41 affiliated state conventions.
[6][7] Southern Baptist churches are
evangelical in doctrine and practice, emphasizing 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.
[7] The SBC says that other specific beliefs based on biblical interpretation can vary due to their
congregational polity, and have resolved to balance local church autonomy with accountability against
abuses by ministers and others in the Church.
[8]
Self-reported SBC membership peaked in 2006 at roughly 16 million.
[9] Membership has contracted by an estimated 13.6% since that year, with 2020 marking the 14th year of continuous decline.
[10] Mean denomination-wide weekly attendance dropped about 27% between 2006 and 2020.
[11][12]
American Revolution period
Before the Revolution, Baptist and
Methodist evangelicals in the South 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.
[19]
Isaac (1974) analyzes the rise of the Baptist Church in Virginia, with emphasis on evangelicalism and social life. There was a sharp division between the austerity of the plain-living Baptists, attracted initially from yeomen and common planters, and the opulence of the Anglican planters, the slave-holding elite who controlled local and colonial government in what had become a slave society by the late 18th century.
[20] 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.
[21]
The issues surrounding slavery dominated the 19th century in the United States.
[26] This created tension between Baptists in northern and southern states over the issue of
manumission. In the two decades after the Revolution during the
Second Great Awakening, northern Baptist preachers (as well as the
Quakers and
Methodists) increasingly argued that slaves be freed.
[27] Although most Baptists in the 19th century south were
yeomen farmers and common planters, the Baptists also began to attract major planters among their membership. The southern pastors interpreted the Bible as supporting slavery and encouraged good paternalistic practices by slaveholders. They preached to slaves to accept their places and obey their masters, and welcomed slaves and free blacks as members, though whites controlled the churches' leadership, and seating was usually segregated.
[27] From the early 19th century, many Baptist preachers in the South also argued in favor of preserving the right of ministers to be slaveholders.
[28]
Southern whites generally required black churches to have white ministers and trustees. In churches with mixed congregations, seating was segregated, with blacks often in a balcony. White preaching often emphasized Biblical stipulations that slaves should accept their places and try to behave well toward their masters.
en.wikipedia.org
EXACTLY this.