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The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a United States-based cooperative ministry agency serving Baptist churches around the world.
The words Southern Baptist Convention refer both to the denomination and to its annual meeting of messengers. Messengers are those who are elected by a congregation to attend the annual meeting as representatives of the local church. Though they are similar to delegates, they are not obligated to cast votes representing a particular stance on any issue. While technically they are free to vote according to their conscience, in actual practice messengers are usually chosen based on their loyalty to positions held by the majority in their local church.
The SBC is the largest Baptist group in the world and the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, claiming more than 16.3 million members. It is the second largest grouping of Christians in the United States, the Roman Catholic Church being the largest.
Baptists in America first came from England to New England. The first Baptist church in America was founded in 1639 in Rhode Island. Both Roger Williams and his compatriot in working for religious freedom, Dr. John Clarke, are variously credited as being the founder of the Baptist faith in America. In the same year, Williams established a Baptist church in Providence and Clarke began a Baptist church in Newport.[1]
Baptists first arrived in the southern United States near the end of the 17th century. The first Baptist church in the south was formed in Charleston, South Carolina, under the leadership of William Screven, a Baptist preacher and shipbuilder who arrived there from Maine in 1696.
The zealous evangelism of the Separate Baptists was the chief instrument of spreading the Baptist denomination throughout the southern U. S. The first associations formed in the South were the Charleston Association (org. 1751) and the Sandy Creek Association (org. 1758).
In 1814, 33 delegates "from missionary societies…and other religious bodies of Baptists in America" met in Philadelphia and formed the first national Baptist organization. Formally named "General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions," it was better known as the "Baptist Board of Foreign Missions" or the "Triennial Convention," since the convention met every three years. The board met annually. The seat of operations was first Philadelphia, then Washington, D.C., and after 1826 in Boston.[2]
Though the Triennial Convention and Home Mission Society were theoretically neutral in regards to slavery, some Baptists in the South did not believe this assurance of neutrality. They knew several leaders who were engaged in abolitionist activity. To test this neutrality, Georgia Baptists recommended James E. Reeve, a slaveholder, to the Home Mission Society as a missionary in the South. The Society's board decided that they would not appoint a slaveholder as a missionary, a decision that the Baptists in the south saw as an infringement on their equal rights.[2]
Another issue that disturbed the churches in the south was the perception that the American Baptist Home Mission Society (org. 1832) did not appoint a proportionate number of missionaries to the southern region of the U. S.
It is also evident that Baptists both north and south preferred different types of denominational organization: the Baptists in the north as a whole preferred a loosely structured society composed of individuals who paid annual dues, with each society usually focused on a single ministry, while the southern churches preferred an organization composed of churches patterned after their associations, with a variety of ministries brought under the direction of one denominational organization.[3]
Baptists from the South subsequently broke from the national organizations and formed a new convention, the Southern Baptist Convention which was formed May 8–12, 1845, in Augusta, Georgia. Its first president was William Bullein Johnson (1782-1862), who was president of the Triennial Convention in 1841.
The consequences of this decision have been long lived. A survey by the Home Mission Board in 1968 showed that only eleven percent of Southern Baptist churches would admit Americans of African descent.[4] The Southern Baptist Convention of 1995 voted June 20 to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery. The racism resolution marked the denomination's first formal acknowledgment that racism played a role in its founding. Today there are many diverse and even self-consciously ethnic churches within the convention.
During its history, the Convention has not been without controversy. The denomination's polity lends itself toward very public displays of disagreement, including:
Since 1979, Southern Baptists have been engaged in a major controversy. Because of this, Southern Baptists are polarized into two groups. All of the leaders of Southern Baptist agencies prior to 1979 have been replaced with new leaders.[5]
W.A. Criswell, Paige Patterson, Judge Paul Pressler, and the late Adrian Rogers were chief among the architects of what was a well-planned effort to purge the Convention of what they considered liberal influences.
Under the SBC bylaws, the President has sole authority to nominate the Committee on Committees. This committee, in turn, nominates the members of the Committee on Nominations to be approved by the messengers at the next annual meeting, which in turn nominates appointees for vacant positions (the SBC cannot remove anyone from an appointed position, only if the position is term-limited or the appointee dies, retires, or resigns does it become vacant) to be approved at the subsequent annual meeting (i.e., two years from the initial Committee on Committees appointments). The process overlaps (a new Committee on Committees is appointed every year); though lengthy, over time key appointments can (and did, in this case) shift the direction of the SBC.
The conservatives succeeded in having their supporters elected as SBC President, beginning with the election of Adrian Rogers in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, conservatives gained control over the SBC leadership at every level from the administration to key faculty at their seminaries, and slowly turned the SBC towards more conservative positions on many social issues (for example, on abortion, the SBC reversed course from "reluctant support" of pro-choice policies to a strong pro-life stance, which it continues to hold today).
Some of the changes in Southern Baptist theology are relevant to people who are not Southern Baptists. For example, prior to 1979 Southern Baptists were strong supporters of the doctrine of separation of church and state. Historically, Baptists have stood for complete government neutrality toward religion. The new leaders of the SBC have indicated that they do not hold these views.[5] Yet, the official convention website states the Southern Baptist Convention stands for "a free church in a free state."[6]
As the fundamentalist-conservative movement grew, many moderate congregations split away in 1987 to form the Alliance of Baptists and again in 1990 to form the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), organized as a "convention within the convention" to support causes not controlled by the fundamentalist majority. The change in control, termed the "Conservative Resurgence" by supporters and the "Fundamentalist Takeover" by detractors, culminated in the adoption of significant changes to the Baptist Faith and Message[7] at the 2000 SBC Annual Meeting.
A number of new entities have come into existence to champion what moderates and old-line conservatives believe to be historic Baptist principles and cooperative spirit abandoned by SBC leaders. These include the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), the Baptist Center for Ethics, Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM), the national news journal Baptists Today, the Associated Baptist Press, Smyth & Helwys Publishers, some fourteen new Baptist seminaries / divinity schools, and other entities.
Because each level of Baptist life is autonomous, changes at the national level do not require approval or endorsement by the state conventions or local associations. The majority of state conventions have continued to cooperate with the SBC. However, the state conventions in Texas and Virginia openly challenged the new directions, and announced a "dual affiliation" with contributions to both the SBCs Cooperative Program and the CBF.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), the largest of the Southern Baptist state conventions, voted in 1998 to also align itself with the CBF, stating as its reasons for doing so were its objections to proposed changes in the 2000 revision of the Baptist Faith and Message,[7] which the BGCT said made the document sound like a "creed," in violation of historic Baptist tradition which opposed the use of creeds.
In a reversal from the national convention (where the moderates left and the conservatives stayed), many Texas fundamentalist-conservatives formed their own state convention, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Local congregations either disassociated completely from BGCT or sought "dual alignment" with both groups. Yet, other congregations solely align themselves with the BGCT. The BGCT remains the larger of the two state conventions and universities such as Baylor only receive money from the BGCT. Similarly, fundamentalist-conservative Baptists in Virginia formed the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.
In Missouri, the exact opposite took place. The Missouri Baptist Convention (the existing state body) came under the control of the fundamentalist-conservative group, which subsequently attempted to take over the boards of the state's moderate and old-line conservative agencies and institutions and reshape them along the theological lines of the current SBC. In 2002, some congregations withdrew and affiliated with a new convention called Baptist General Convention of Missouri. The old state agencies are attempting to affiliate with the newly formed state convention, but are currently being taken to court by the old convention. Unlike Virginia and Texas, where the SBCExecutive Committee receives and distributes funds from two conventions, one moderate and one conservative, the SBC declined to receive money from the new moderate Missouri group. They said it wasn't in Southern Baptists' best interest to cooperate with another group opposed to the conservative leadership of the Missouri Baptist Convention. Individual churches in the newer convention may, however, contribute to the SBC directly.
Today, the SBC has grown from its regional, sectionalist roots to a major force in American and international Christianity. There are Southern Baptist congregations in every state and territory in the United States, though the greatest numbers remain in the southern United States, the traditional stronghold.
In the past, Southern Baptist churches exerted even more influence than they do today. In many Southern states, today, there is little or no legalized gambling, and Southern Baptist churches are active against movements to allow it.
Other Southern States and their counties (or portions thereof) prohibit alcohol sales, due in part to the influence of Southern Baptists, their churches, and other Evangelical Christians with whom they ally.
The national scope of the Convention inspired some, in 2005 proposals were made at the Annual Meeting of the Convention, 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). The proposals were defeated.
According to the Religious Congregations Membership Study, the Convention had 15,922,039 members in 41,514 churches in the United States in 2000.
It has 1,200 local associations, 41 state conventions and fellowships covering all 50 states and territories of the United States. Through their Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists support thousands of missionaries in the United States and worldwide (over 10,000 in 2005).
There are more Southern Baptist congregations in America than of any other religious group, including the Roman Catholic Church (although in terms of members there are three times more Catholics in the United States than Southern Baptists).
Data from church sources and independent surveys indicate that since 1990, membership of SBC churches is declining as a proportion of the American population.[8] Historically, though, Convention has grown throughout its history:
Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S. (1976) series H805 (with 2005 estimate from Convention figures).
The general theological perspective of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention is represented in the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M).[7] The BF&M was first drafted in 1925, and then revised significantly in 1963 and again in 2000, with the latter revision being the subject of much controversy.
The BF&M is not considered to be a creed along the lines of historic Christian creeds such as the Nicene Creed. Members are not required to adhere to it nor are churches required to use it as their "Statement of Faith" or "Statement of Doctrine" (though many do in lieu of creating their own Statement). Despite the fact that the BF&M is not a "creed," 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. This affirmation has also been the subject of controversy.
Although the doctrine of the Priesthood of Believers has been a Baptist distinctive for centuries, one of the most significant changes made in the 2000 version of the BF&M was the removal of the statement "the criterion by which scripture is interpreted is Jesus Christ." This statement was a relatively modern addition to the BF&M, having been part of the section explaining the Baptist understanding of the Bible only since 1963. Some with more moderate theology interpret the deletion of this "criterion" as placing the Bible above the teachings, practices, methodology, and example of Jesus, thus elevating the scripture above the Godhead. Those supporting the 2000 revision viewed the statement as a mechanism for elevating the specific words of Jesus (or, in some cases, Jesus' lack of commentary on an issue) above the rest of the Bible, in contradiction to the historic Baptist position that the entire Bible, being given by God, is equally authoritative throughout its passages.
In addition, the "new" SBC has issued ten "Position Statements" on various contemporary issues.[9]
Most Southern Baptists observe a low church form of worship that uses little or no liturgy. Worship services usually consist of hymns, prayer, the reading of Scripture, the collection of offerings, a sermon, and an invitation to accept Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior and begin Christian discipleship.
Southern Baptists, as the Baptist Faith and Message[7] outlines, observe two ordinances: the Lord's Supper and Believer's baptism.
Southern Baptists observe the Lord's Supper on no established frequency. It is determined by the individual local church and may be monthly, quarterly, etc. There is usually no common cup (small, individual, usually disposable cups are used instead), and (consistent with its historic anti-alcohol stance) grape juice is provided for the biblical "Cup." The term "wine" is commonly not used due to its perception as an alcoholic beverage.
Southern Baptists maintain the historic Baptist practice of administering baptism only to persons who have reached the "age of accountability" or "age of reason" and who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Likewise, Southern Baptists hold to the historic Baptist teaching that immersion is the only valid act of Baptism.
Their typical form of government is congregationalist; each local church is autonomous, without formal lines of responsibility to organizational levels of higher authority. Deacons of each church are elected by the congregation. In some Baptist congregations, deacons function much like a board of directors or executive committee authorized to make important decisions although these congregations typically retain the right to vote on major decisions such as purchasing or selling property, large spending and the hiring or firing of pastors and other paid ministers.
In recent decades, many congregations have moved away from the concept of deacons as a governing board to other models, most notably the Deacon Family Ministry Plan in which the number of families in a local church is divided roughly among the active deacons. Each deacon is assigned responsibility for providing pastoral care and other spiritual nurture for the families assigned.[10][11][12]
During its June 1998 convention the SBC amended the Baptist Faith and Message[7] for the first time since 1963. Among the changes were two highly significant alterations concerning the position of women in ministry and in marriage.
Messengers at a recent annual meeting of the convention rejected two amendments that called on husbands and wives to submit to each other.
In Baptist polity, actions by the Convention are nonbinding on local churches which are considered autonomous. Therefore, an individual church may hire a woman as pastor if its congregation so chooses. However, some churches that have hired a woman pastor have been excluded from fellowship and membership in their local association of Baptist churches as well as at their state convention.
Because Baptist churches believe strongly in the autonomy of the local church, the Convention is conceived as a cooperative organization by which churches can pool resources, rather than as a body with any administrative control over local churches.
It maintains a central administrative organization in Nashville, Tennessee. The Executive Committee, as it is called, has no authority over its affiliated state conventions, local associations, individual churches or members. It does exercise authority and control over seminaries and other institutions owned by the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Convention's "confession of faith," the Baptist Faith and Message,[7] is also not binding on churches or members (see "Beliefs" above).
There are four levels of SBC organization: the local congregation, the local association, the state convention, and the national convention.
Each congregation is independent and autonomous, except for certain "mission churches." Thus, each local congregation is free to:
Certain smaller congregations, called "mission churches," are operated by a larger parent church. One or more parent churches may sponsor the mission church, along with assistance from a local association. The goal is for the mission church to become self-supporting, and thus become an independent and autonomous church. A mission church is typically either a church in a new real estate development, or a church which may be devoted to reaching a certain ethnic group.
Individual congregations may choose to affiliate into associations, which are generally organized within certain defined geographic areas within a state (such as a county). The prior general rule was that only one association existed in a specific geographical area, did not cross state lines (unless a state convention consisted of multiple states), and did not accept churches from outside that area.
However, with the division between Southern Baptists and churches in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, an SBC splinter group, there may be two or more associations serving an area, and some churches have aligned with out-of-state associations, though the general rule applies in most cases.
The primary goal of associations is evangelism and church planting (i.e., assisting churches in starting "mission churches"), though some local ministries may be supported by the association (such as a food pantry or crisis pregnancy center).
Associations cannot direct the affairs of associated churches, but can set requirements for association and can "disfellowship" any church with which it disagrees, generally in areas of contentious practice (such as a local church promoting charismatic doctrine – a major issue in the 1970s – or, more common today among conservative associations, a local church's ordination of women or sanctioning homosexuality such as through ordination or "blessing" of same-sex unions in any manner).
Association meetings are generally held annually. The association is free to set the time and place, as well as determining the number of messengers each church may send (each church is allowed a minimum number; the general practice – at the association level and at the higher levels as well – is that larger and more financially supportive churches are allowed more messengers).
Individual congregations and associations may further choose to affiliate into state conventions.
With the exception of Texas and Virginia, which have two conventions, each state has only one convention (some smaller states, in terms of number of SBC congregations, are affiliated into a larger multi-state convention).
As with associations, the primary goal is evangelism and church planting; however, the state conventions also support educational institutions (often institutions of higher education) and may support retirement and children's homes.
As with associations, the state convention cannot direct individual church affairs but can set requirements for affiliation and "disfellowship" churches at its discretion. And, the state convention generally meets annually, sets the time and place, and determines the number of messengers allowed per church.
Current State Conventions associated with the SBC include:
The "highest" level of organization is the national convention (usually called The Convention) made up of individual churches, associations, and state conventions, which meets annually in early June.
Article III, Membership, of the Convention's Constitution states that the Convention shall consist of messengers who are members of missionary Baptist churches cooperating with the Convention as follows:[13]
1. One messenger from each church which: (1) is in friendly cooperation with the Convention and sympathetic with its purposes and work. (Among churches not in cooperation with the Convention are churches which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior); and (2) has been a bona fide contributor to the Convention's work during the fiscal year preceding.
2. One additional messenger from each such church for every 250 members; or for each $250 paid to the work of the Convention during the fiscal year preceding the annual meeting.
3. The messengers shall be appointed and certified by the churches to the Convention, but no church may appoint more than 10 messengers.
4. Each messenger shall be a member of the church by which he or she (female messengers are allowed, often the wife of a male messenger) is appointed.
The Convention is led by a President, who is elected for a one-year term and cannot be elected for more than two consecutive terms (but can serve for more than two terms if not consecutive; only Adrian Rogers has ever done so).
Although the SBC President serves for only one year, and cannot serve for more than two consecutive years, he or she (every SBC President has been male) has the potential to exercise significant influence over the direction of the SBC.
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, (originally 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.
The national Convention supports six educational institutions devoted to religious instruction and ministry preparation:
The Education Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention used to deal with all matters concerning education. But since its recent dissolution all Baptist educational institutions are handled by their respective states.
There are 52 state conventions supported higher educational institutions in their respective states. State conventions also support many prominent boarding academies.
This list makes no assumptions whether those included are currently active in the SBC or living their lives according to Southern Baptist principles. The following well-known individuals at some point have identified themselves as Southern Baptists:
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