Southern Baptist Convention

Southern Baptist Convention
Abbreviation	SBC
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Baptist
Theology	Evangelical
Polity	Congregational
President	Ed Litton
Region	United States
Origin	May 8–12, 1845 Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Separated from	Triennial Convention (1845)
Separations	American Baptist Association Alliance of Baptists Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Congregations	47,592 (2020)
Members	14,089,947 (2020) Weekly attendance = 4,439,797 (2020)[1]
Official website	sbc.net

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 with 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]

History[]

Colonial era[]

First Baptist Church in Charleston, South Carolina

Most early Baptists in the British colonies came from England in the 17th century, after the Church of England persecuted them for their dissenting religious views.^[13] In 1638, Roger Williams founded the first Baptist church in British America at the Providence Plantations, the first permanent European American settlement also founded by Williams in Rhode Island. The oldest Baptist church in the South, First Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina, was organized in 1682 under the leadership of William Screven.^[14] 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 existed in the colonies of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, with an estimated 300 to 400 members.^[15] 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 and Second Great Awakenings.^[16]

Baptists welcomed African Americans, both slave and free, allowing them more active roles in ministry than did other denominations by licensing them as preachers and in some cases treating them as equals to white members.^[17] 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.^[18]

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]

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. Patrick Henry and James Madison defended Baptist preachers before the American Revolution in cases considered significant in the history of religious freedom.^[22] In 1779, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, enacted in 1786 by the Virginia General Assembly. Madison later applied his 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 tolerance erupted and 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 denser, the county court and the Anglican Church increased 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.^[23] Kroll-Smith (1984) suggests that the evangelical movement's strength determined its ability to mobilize power outside the conventional authority structure.^[24]

National unification and regional division[]

In 1814, leaders such as Luther Rice helped 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 U.S. frontier territories. By the mid-19th century, there were many social, cultural, economic, and political differences among business owners of the North, farmers of the West, and planters of the South. The most divisive conflict was primarily over the issue of slavery and secondarily over missions.^[25]

Divisions over slavery[]

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]

Black congregations were sometimes the largest in 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-biggest church. Before the Nat Turner slave rebellion of 1831, Gillfield had a black preacher. Afterward, the state legislature insisted that white men oversee black congregations. Gillfield could not call a black preacher until after the American Civil War and emancipation.^[29] After Turner's 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.

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 violate their neutrality on slavery. They said that slavery should not be introduced as a factor into deliberations about missionary appointments.^[30]

In 1844, University of Alabama president Basil Manly Sr., a prominent preacher and major planter who owned 40 slaves, drafted the "Alabama Resolutions" and presented them to the Triennial Convention. They included the demand that slaveholders be eligible for denominational offices to which the Southern associations contributed financially. They were not 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.^[31] From the Southern perspective, the Northern position that "slaveholding brethren were less than followers of Jesus" effectively obligated slaveholding Southerners to leave the fellowship.^[32] This difference came to a head in 1845 when representatives of the northern states refused to appoint missionaries whose families owned slaves. To continue in the work of missions, the southern Baptists separated and created the Southern Baptist Convention.^[33]

Missions and organization[]

Original location of First Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia

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 United States. This was likely a result of the society's not appointing slave owners as missionaries.^[34] Baptists in the North preferred a loosely structured society of individuals who paid annual dues, with each society usually focused on a single ministry.^{[35][page needed]}

Baptists in Southern churches preferred a more centralized organization of churches patterned after their associations, with a variety of ministries brought under the direction of one denominational organization.^[36] The increasing tensions and the discontent of Baptists from the South over national criticism of slavery and issues over missions led to their withdrawal from national Baptist organizations.^[15]

The Southern Baptists met at the First Baptist Church of Augusta in May 1845.^[37] At this meeting, they created a new convention, the Southern Baptist Convention. They elected William Bullein Johnson (1782–1862) as its 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,^[38] and in Savannah, Georgia, in 1788.^[39] 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 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.^[40] In 1861, it had 2,223 members.^[41]

First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia, constructed 1856

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.

After the Civil War and emancipation, blacks wanted to practice Christianity independently of white supervision.^[42] They interpreted the Bible as offering hope for deliverance, and saw their own exodus out of slavery as comparable to the Exodus,^[43] with abolitionist John Brown as their Moses.^[44] They quickly left white-dominated churches and associations and set up separate state Baptist conventions.^[45][46] In 1866, black Baptists of the South and West combined to form the Consolidated American Baptist Convention.^[46] In 1895, they merged three national conventions to create the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.^[45][46] With eight million members, it is today the largest African-American religious organization and second in size to the SBC.

Free blacks in the North had founded churches and denominations in the early 19th 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 more new members than any other denomination.^[45] White Southern Baptist churches lost black members to the new denominations, as well as to independent congregations which were organized by freedmen.

During the Civil Rights Movement, most Southern Baptist pastors and members of their congregations rejected racial integration and accepted white supremacy, further alienating African Americans.^[47] According to historian and former Southern Baptist Wayne Flynt, "The [Southern Baptist] church was the last bastion of segregation."^[48] But it has been acknowledged that the SBC integrated seminary classrooms in 1951.^[49][50]

In 1995, the convention voted to adopt a resolution in which it renounced its racist roots and apologized for its past defense of slavery, segregation, and white supremacy.^[51][52] This marked the denomination's first formal acknowledgment that racism had played a profound role in both its early and modern history.

US President George W. Bush meets with the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2006 in the Oval Office at the White House. Pictured with the President are Morris Chapman, left, Frank Page and his wife Dayle Page.

21st century[]

By the early 21st century, numbers of ethnically diverse congregations were increasing in the SBC. In 2008, almost 20% were estimated to be majority African American, Asian, or Hispanic. The SBC had an estimated one million African-American members.^[53] It has passed a series of resolutions recommending the inclusion of more black members and appointing more African-American leaders.^[47] At its 2012 annual meeting, it elected Fred Luter Jr. as its first African-American president. He had earned respect by showing leadership skills in building a large congregation in New Orleans.^[54]

The SBC's increasingly national scope has inspired some members to suggest a name change. In 2005, proposals were made at the SBC Annual Meeting to change the name to the more national-sounding "North American Baptist Convention" or "Scriptural Baptist Convention" (to retain the SBC initials). These proposals were defeated.^[55]

The messengers of the 2012 annual meeting in New Orleans voted to adopt the descriptor "Great Commission Baptists". The legal name remains "Southern Baptist Convention", but churches and convention entities can voluntarily use the descriptor.^[56]

Almost a year after the Charleston church shooting, SBC approved Resolution 7, which called upon member churches and families to stop flying the Confederate flag.^[57]

The SBC approved Resolution 12, "On Refugee Ministry", encouraging member churches and families to welcome refugees coming to the United States.^[58] 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 U.S. to build mosques. Moore responded, "Sometimes we have to deal with questions that are really complicated... this isn't one of them." Moore said that religious freedom must be for all religions.^[59]

After an initial resolution denouncing the alt-right movement failed to make it the convention floor, the SBC officially denounced the alt-right movement at the 2017 convention.^[60] On November 5, 2017, a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.^[61][62] It was the deadliest shooting to occur at any SBC church in its history and, in modern history, at an American place of worship.^[63]

The 2020 convention was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns and eventually rescheduled for June 2021.^[64]

In a Washington Post story dated September 15, 2020, Greear said some church leaders wanted to change the name to Great Commission Baptists, to distance the church from its support of slavery and because it is no longer just a Southern church.^[65]

Beliefs[]

Worship service at Grace Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, affiliated to the Convention, 2016.

The general theological perspective of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention is represented in the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M).^[66] 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.^[67]

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.^[68] 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.^[69][70]

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.^[71] 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."^[72]

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. While officially few SBC churches are openly Charismatic, at least one Independent Baptist author believes the practice to be far greater than officially discussed.^[73][74]

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.^[8]
• Cooperation— Identifies the Cooperative Program of missions as integral to the Southern Baptist Convention.^[75]
• Creeds and confessions — Statements of belief are revisable in light of Scripture. The Bible is the final word.^[76]
• Missions — Honors the indigenous principle in missions. The SBC does not, however, compromise doctrine or its identity for missional opportunities.^[77]
• Priesthood of all believers — Laypersons have the same right as ordained ministers to communicate with God, interpret Scripture, and minister in Christ's name.^[78]
• 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.^[79] 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.^[80]
• Soul competency — Affirms the accountability of each person before God.^[81]
• Ordination of women — 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.^[82]

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").^[7][66] Furthermore, they hold the historic Baptist belief that immersion is the only valid mode of baptism.^[7] The Baptist Faith and Message describes baptism as a symbolic act of obedience and a testimony of the believer's faith in Jesus Christ to other people. The BF&M also notes that baptism is a precondition to congregational church membership.^[66]

The BF&M holds to memorialism,^[83] 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.^[66][83] 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.^[84] Because Southern Baptists traditionally have opposed alcoholic beverage consumption by members, grape juice is used instead of wine (and is usually called "the cup" as a result).^{[citation needed]}

Gender-based roles[]

The Southern Baptist Church subscribes to the complementarian view of gender roles.^[85] Beginning in the early 1970s, as a reaction to their perceptions of various "women's liberation movements",^[86] the SBC, along with several other historically conservative Baptist groups,^[87] began to assert its view of the propriety and primacy of what it deemed "traditional gender roles" as a body. In 1973, at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, delegates passed a resolution which 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."^[88] 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.^[82][89]

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.^[90]

As individual churches affiliated with the SBC are autonomous, local congregations cannot be compelled to adopt a male-only pastorate.^[8] 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,^[8] 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.^[91]

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.^[92]

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:^[93]

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 (with the increased popularity of electronic financial systems, some churches operate kiosks allowing givers the opportunity to do so online, or through a phone app or website link). 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) might be 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.^[94] 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. An altar call may or may not be given at the end; if it is not, 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 "membership covenant", a document that has the prospective member promise to perform certain tasks (regular church attendance both at main services and small groups, regular giving—sometimes even requiring tithing, and service within the church). Such covenants are highly controversial: among other things, such a covenant may not permit a member to voluntarily withdraw from membership to avoid church discipline or, in some cases, the member cannot leave at all (even when not under discipline) without the approval of church leadership.^[95] 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.^[96]

Statistics[]

Membership[]

According to a denomination census released in 2020, it has 47,530 churches and 14,525,579 members.^[107]

The SBC has 1,161 local associations and 42 state conventions, and fellowships covering all fifty states and territories of the United States.^[108] 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.^[109]

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.^[110] Historically, the convention grew throughout its history until 2007, when membership decreased by a net figure of nearly 40,000 members.^[111] 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.^[112] Membership continued to decline from 2008 to 2012.^[113] SBC's statistical summary of 2014 recorded a loss of 236,467 members, their biggest one-year decline since 1881.^[101] In 2018, membership fell below 15 million for the first time since 1989 and reached its lowest level for over 30 years.^[114]

This decline in membership and baptisms has prompted some SBC researchers to describe the convention as a "denomination in decline".^[115] 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.^[116] 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.^[117]

The decline in membership of the SBC was an issue discussed during the June 2008 Annual Convention.^[118] 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.^[116] Some believe that the Baptists have not worked sufficiently to attract minorities.^[119]

On the other hand, the state conventions of Mississippi and Texas report an increasing portion of minority members.^[119] 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.^[47] Sixty percent of the minority congregations were found in Texas, particularly in the suburbs of Houston and Dallas.^[47]

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, likely leading to greatly inflated membership numbers. 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.^[120]

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.^[121] 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.^[122]

On June 4, 2020, the Southern Baptist Convention reported a drop in its membership - the 13th consecutive year that membership has declined. "Total membership in the Southern Baptist Convention fell almost 2 percent to 14,525,579 from 2018 to 2019. The decline of 287,655 members is the largest single-year drop in more than 100 years."^[123]

Organization[]

The First Brazilian Baptist Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts

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.^[6]

The national and state conventions and local associations are conceived as a cooperative association by which churches can voluntarily pool resources^[124] to support missionary and other work undertaken by them. Because of the basic Baptist principle of the autonomy of the local church^[8] 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 such a group 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.^[125]

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.^[126] Commitment to the autonomy^[8] 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^[127] in order to stop the "recurring tide"^[128] 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.^[129]

The convention's statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message,^[66] is not binding on churches or members due to the autonomy^[8] of the local church (though SBC employees and missionaries must agree to its views as a condition of employment or missionary support). Politically and culturally, Southern Baptists tend to be conservative. Most oppose homosexual activity, and abortion with few exceptions.^[7]

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.^[130] Neither the BF&M or resolutions are binding upon local churches. Each church is responsible to search the Scriptures and establish its own policies based on how they decide to interpret the scripture.

Annual meeting[]

President Jimmy Carter addressing the SBC in Atlanta in 1978 (in 2009, Carter broke with the SBC over its position on the status of women).^[131]

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. Each cooperating church is allowed up to two messengers regardless of the amount given to SBC entities, and may have more depending on the amount of giving (either in terms of dollars or percent of the church's budget), but the maximum number of messengers permitted from any church is 12.

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.^[132] The CP is funded by contributions from SBC congregations.^[132]

In the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, the local congregations of the SBC reported gift receipts of $11.1 billion.^[133] From this they sent $548 million, approximately five percent, to their state Baptist conventions through the CP.^[133] Of this amount, the state Baptist conventions retained $344 million for their work. Two hundred and four million dollars was sent on to the national CP budget for the support of denomination-wide ministries.^[133]

Missions agencies[]

Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief volunteers prepare food in Galveston, Texas, October 10, 2008

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.^[134] 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.^[135]

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[]

Binkley Chapel at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

The SBC directly supports six theological seminaries devoted to religious instruction and ministry preparation.^[136]

• 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, and formerly called Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary)
• 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 (however, it does not limit its services to SBC churches and members only). 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. It previously operated the "LifeWay Christian Stores" (formerly "Baptist Book Stores") chain of bookstores, until closing all stores in 2019 (but still operates an online service).
• 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.^[137]

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.^[138]

Whitsitt controversy[]

In the Whitsitt controversy of 1896–99,^[139] , 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[]

B.H. Carroll Memorial Building, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's main administrative building

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.^[140] Its initiators called it a "Conservative Resurgence",^[141] while its detractors have labeled it a "Fundamentalist Takeover".^[142] Russell H. Dilday, president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1994,^[35][143] described the resurgence as having fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship and as being "far more serious than [a controversy]".^[144] Dilday described it as being "a self-destructive, contentious, one-sided feud that at times took on combative characteristics".^[144] 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).^[a][145]

Among historical elements illustrating this trend, the organization's position on abortion rights within a decade had shifted radically from a position that supported them to a position that strongly opposes them, as 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"^[146]—positions not supported by the conservative wing. Also, 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".^[147] However, once the conservatives won their first election in 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.^[148] As such, 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, RU-486, and taxpayer funding of abortions in general and Planned Parenthood in particular.^[149]

Sexual abuse scandal[]

On February 10, 2019, a joint investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express^[150][151] found that there had been over 700 victims of sexual abuse from nearly 400 Southern Baptist church leaders, pastors and volunteers^[152] over the previous 20 years.^[150][151]

In 2018, the Houston Chronicle verified details in hundreds of accounts of abuse. It examined federal and state court databases, prison records and official documents from more than 20 states and researched sex offender registries nationwide.^[153] The Chronicle compiled a list of records and information^{[154][151][155]} (current as of June 2019),^[154] listing church pastors, leaders, employees and volunteers who have pleaded guilty to or were convicted of sex crimes.^{[154][155][151]}

On June 12, 2019, during their annual meeting, SBC messengers, who assembled that year in Birmingham, Alabama, approved a resolution condemning sex abuse and establishing a special committee to investigate sex abuse, which will make it easier for SBC churches to be excommunicated from the Convention.^[156][157] The Reverend J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, called the move a "defining moment."^[156] Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC's executive committee, echoed Greear's remarks, calling the vote "a very, very significant moment in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention."^[156]

In June 2021, letters from former policy director Russell D. Moore to SBC leadership were leaked. In the letters, Moore described how the convention had mishandled claims of sexual abuse.^[158]

Critical race theory[]

In November 2020, the six SBC seminary presidents called critical race theory “unbiblical” and emphasized the need to turn to Christian teachings alone, not secular ideas, to confront racism.^[159] At least four African American churches left the denomination over the leadership's refusal to recognize critical race theory.^[160]

See also[]

• List of Southern Baptist Convention affiliated people
• List of the largest Protestant denominations
• Protestantism in the United States
• Southern Baptist Convention Presidents
• Christianity in the United States
• Religion in the United States

Notes[]

References[]

Footnotes[]

Bibliography[]

Further reading[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southern Baptist Convention.

• Official website
• Southern Baptist Convention at Curlie