Southern Baptist Convention | |
---|---|
![]() Reaching the world for Christ. |
|
Classification | Protestant |
Orientation | Baptist |
Polity | Congregationalist |
Geographical Area | United States (primarily in the South) |
Development | |
Origin | May 8–12, 1845 Augusta, Georgia |
Separated from | The Triennial Convention |
Separations | American Baptist Association, Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship |
Statistics | |
Congregations | 44,223 |
Members | 16.2 million |
Part of a series on Southern Baptists |
|
Christianity
London Confession, 1689
Biblical inerrancy
|
|
John Spilsbury • Lottie Moon • Annie Armstrong
Mark Dever • Billy Graham • Franklin Graham |
|
Cooperative Program
Golden Gate |
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a United States-based, mostly conservative[1] Christian denomination. The name "Southern" stems from its having been founded and rooted in the South. The SBC became a separate denomination in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, following a regional split with northern Baptists over the issue of slavery in the US South.
It has become the world's largest Baptist denomination and America's largest Protestant body with over 16 million members and more than 42,000 churches.[2] Southern Baptists put a heavy emphasis on the individual conversion experience including a public immersion in water for baptism and a corresponding rejection of infant baptism.[1] Hence, membership statistics do not include infants or children who have not received believer's baptism. SBC churches are evangelical in doctrine and practice. Specific beliefs based on biblical interpretation can vary somewhat due to the congregational governance system that gives autonomy to individual local Baptist churches. Historically, Baptists have played a key role in encouraging religious freedom and separation of church and state.
Since the 1940s, SBC churches have spread to all the states and has lost some of its regional identity.[3] While still heavily concentrated in the US South, the SBC has member churches across America and has 42 state conventions.[1]
Contents |
Most early Baptists in the colonies came from England in the seventeenth century when the king and the state church persecuted them for holding their distinct religious views. Baptists like Roger Williams and Dr. John Clarke immigrated to New England in the 1630s.
The oldest Baptist church in the South, First Baptist Church, Charleston, South Carolina, was organized in 1682 under the leadership of Rev. William Screven. A Baptist church was formed in the Virginia colony in 1715 through the preaching of Robert Norden, and one in North Carolina in 1727 through the ministry of Paul Palmer. By 1740, there were about eight Baptist churches in the colonies of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, with an estimated 300-400 members.[4]
In Virginia and most southern colonies before the Revolution, the Anglican Church was the state-established church and supported by general taxes, as it was in Great Britain. 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 James Madison defended Baptist preachers prior to the American Revolution in cases considered significant to the history of religious freedom. Madison later took his ideas about the importance of religious freedom to the Constitutional Convention, where he ensured they were incorporated into the constitution. Once the Revolution began, Baptists soon became active patriots in the cause.
By the mid-1800s, numerous social, cultural, economic, and political differences existed among business owners of the North, farmers of the West, and planters of the South. By 1840 these differences led to three separate Baptist national societies: the Triennial Convention, the Home Mission Society, and Baptists in the South.
Slavery was the most critical issue among Baptists. Early Baptist and Methodist evangelicals in the South before the Revolution had promoted the view of the common man's equality before God, which embraced African Americans. They challenged the hierarchies of class and race, and urged planters to abolish slavery.
Baptists struggled to gain a foothold in the South. The next generation of Baptist preachers accommodated themselves to the society. Rather than challenging the gentry on slavery, they began to interpret the Bible as supporting its practice. In the two decades after the Revolution, preachers abandoned their pleas that slaves be freed by their owners (manumission).[5] Many Baptist preachers even wanted to preserve the rights of ministers themselves to be slaveholders.[6] The Triennial Convention and the Home Mission Society reaffirmed their neutrality concerning slavery.
Georgia Baptists decided to test the claimed neutrality by recommending a slaveholder to the Home Mission Society as a missionary in the South. Home Mission Society's board refused to appoint a slaveholder as a missionary, a decision that the Baptists in the South saw as an infringement of their rights.[7] The SBC did not officially renounce using the Bible as a justification for slavery and white supremacy until June 20, 1995 when they issued a formal "Resolution on Racial Reconciliation."[8][9]
A secondary issue that disturbed the churches in the South was the perception that the American Baptist Home Mission Society[10] did not appoint a proportionate number of missionaries to the southern region of the U.S. This was likely a result of the Society's not appointing slave owners as missionaries.[11]
Baptists in different regions also preferred different types of denominational organization. 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.[12]
The increasing tensions and discontent of Baptists from the South regarding national criticism of slavery led to their withdrawal from the national Baptist organizations. They met at the First Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia,[13] in May 1845. At this historic meeting they formed a new convention, naming it 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.
The consequences of the decision to separate from other Baptists in defense of white supremacy and the institution of slavery have been long lived. A survey by SBC's Home Mission Board in 1968 showed that only eleven percent of Southern Baptist churches would admit Americans of African descent.[14] African Americans gathered to develop their own churches early on to practice their distinct form of American Christianity away from attempts by whites at control. Within the Baptist denomination, African Americans established separate associations. During the conservative resurgence, the Southern Baptist Convention of 1995 voted to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery.[15] The resolution repenting racism marked the denomination's first formal acknowledgment that racism played a role in its early history. Today there are increasing numbers of ethnically diverse churches within the convention.
Part of a series of articles on Baptists |
|
![]() |
|
Historical Background |
|
Doctrinal distinctives |
|
Pivotal figures |
|
Baptist Associations and Conventions |
During its history, the Southern Baptist Convention has had several periods of major internal controversy. The denomination's lack of a hierarchical form of government (polity) lends itself toward public displays of disagreement.
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, its traditional stronghold.
The national scope of the Convention 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). The proposals were defeated.[22]
The SBC claims to have more than 16.6 million members in 44,000 churches throughout the US. One internal study by the SBC shows that on average, 38% of the membership (6,138,776 members, guests and non-member children) attend their churches' primary worship services.[23]
The SBC has 1,200 local associations and 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. They fielded over 10,000 missionaries in 2005.
Data from church sources and independent surveys indicate that since 1990, membership of SBC churches has declined as a proportion of the American population.[24] Historically, the Convention grew throughout its history until 2007 when membership decreased by a net figure of nearly 40,000 members.[25] Additionally, baptisms within the Convention have decreased every year for seven of the last eight years, and as of 2008 have reached their lowest levels since 1987.[26] This decline in membership and baptisms has prompted some SBC researchers to describe the Convention as a "denomination in decline".[27] Former SBC president Frank Page declared that if current conditions continue, half of all SBC churches will close their doors permanently by the year 2030.[28] This assessment is supported by a recent survey of SBC churches which indicated that 70% of all SBC churches are declining or are plateaued with regards to their membership.[29] The decline of the SBC became an issue leading up to the June 2008 Annual Convention.[30] Former SBC researcher, Curt Watke noted four reasons for the decline of the Southern Baptist Convention based on his research: increase in immigration, decline in growth among predominantly Anglo (white) churches, the aging of the current membership, and a decrease in the percentage of younger generations participating in church life.[31]
Year | Membership |
---|---|
1845 | 350,000 |
1860 | 650,000 |
1875 | 1,260,000 |
1890 | 1,240,000 |
1905 | 1,900,000 |
1920 | 3,150,000 |
1935 | 4,480,000 |
1950 | 7,080,000 |
1965 | 10,780,000 |
1980 | 13,700,000 |
1995 | 15,400,000 |
2000 | 15,900,000 |
2005 | 16,600,000 |
2006 | 16,306,246 |
2007 | 16,266,920 |
Sources[32][33] |
The general theological perspective of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention is represented in the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M).[34] The BF&M was first drafted in 1925. It was 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, such as the Nicene Creed. Members are not required to adhere to it. Churches belonging to the SBC are not 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.
The official Web site of the Southern Baptist Convention lists ten "Position Statements" on various contemporary issues.[35]
Southern Baptists observe two ordinances: the Lord's Supper and Believer's baptism.[34] The denomination makes a theological distinction between their "ordinances" and the more familiar term "sacraments" since the latter implies a connection to one's salvation.
Southern Baptists observe the Lord's Supper with no established frequency. Each local church decides whether it is to be observed monthly, quarterly, etc. Churches tend to use small individual glasses instead of a "common cup." Non-alcoholic grape juice is most often served instead of wine. Both leavened and unleavened bread may be served but the unleavened variety is served most frequently.
Southern Baptists practice "believer baptism." This means that candidates for baptism must set forth a confession of belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This means that Southern Baptists maintain the historic Baptist practice of administering baptism only to persons who have reached the "age of accountability,"[46] and who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (believers). They hold to the historic Baptist belief that immersion is the only valid mode of baptism. Candidates for membership in an SBC church must already be or become baptized believers. Some SBC congregations will accept previous baptisms by immersion from other denominations that they consider of "like faith and order" as being valid, provided that they were performed after the individual accepted Christ for salvation.
The SBC voted in 2000 to revise its statement of faith, known as the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M). Among the notable changes are two statements concerning gender roles in both ministry and marriage.[34] Although similar views have influenced Baptist groups in the past,[47][48] these additions to the Baptist Faith and Message represent the first time such statements have been integrated into the statement of faith of a major American body of Baptists.
While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
– Article VI. The Church.
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.
Autonomous local congregations are not required to adopt male-only pastors as their theological position. Neither the BF&M nor the SBC provides any mechanism to trigger automatic expulsion of congregations that adopt practices or theology contrary to the BF&M. However, going against the SBC's official gender protocol that SBC defends on biblical grounds opens a local Baptist congregation to severe criticism and even further penalties. Some SBC churches that have hired a woman as pastor have been excluded from fellowship and membership in their local associations of Baptist churches. Fewer such expulsions have taken place within annual meetings of state conventions.[49]
While this "male-only pastors" language is new to BF&M, it does not represent an innovation in Southern Baptist thought. At the time the Baptist Faith and Message was revised in 2000, only .08% of all SBC churches were pastored by women. The BF&M gender restrictions inherently discourage any increase in that percentage.[50] (By contrast, 6.2% of the more liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) churches and 9.1% of American Baptist Churches, USA (ABC-USA) churches are pastored by women.) A woman's role in ministry was one of the issues causing the CBF to break from the SBC[51]
The 2000 BF&M describes the family as:
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.
– Article XVIII. The Family.
Most Southern Baptists observe a low church form of worship that is less formal and uses no stated liturgy. Worship services usually follow a "Revivalistic" liturgy including: hymns; prayer; choral music by a choir, soloist, or both; the reading of Scripture; the collection of offerings; a sermon; and an invitation to respond to the sermon. Recently, many churches have incorporated various instruments and styles of music into their worship services (see contemporary worship). People may respond during the invitation by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and begin Christian discipleship, to enter into vocational ministry, to join the church, or make some other public decision.
As is true of most Baptists, Southern Baptists' 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 shifted the role of deacons to the more Biblical role of ministering and nurturing responsibilities. One such model is 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.[52][53][54]
Because Baptist churches believe strongly in the autonomy of the local church; the Convention is conceived as a cooperative association 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,[34] is not binding on churches or members. Politically and culturally Southern Baptists tend to be conservative. Most do not drink alcohol and in general they oppose abortion and homosexual activity.[1]
There are four levels of SBC organization: the local congregation, the local association, the state convention, and the national convention.
Generally, Baptists recognize only two Scriptural offices: pastor-teacher and deacon. In most SBC churches, these offices are reserved for men based on interpretation of certain New Testament scriptures (1Tim 2:11-14, 1 Tim 3:1-13, and Titus 1:6-9.)
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 sponsored by one or more larger congregations or by Baptist associations. The ordinary goal is for each mission church to become self-supporting, and thus become an independent and autonomous church. A mission church is often created to reach a particular demographic group, such as residents of a new real estate development, a particular ethnic group or young families.
Most individual congregations choose to affiliate with Baptist 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.
For many years, particularly within metropolitan areas, numerous Baptist associations have existed within the same county. While some believe the conservative takeover of the SBC in the 1980s served as a catalyst to multiple associations, the paradigm in the SBC had existed prior to 1980.
The primary goal of many associations is evangelism and church planting (i.e., assisting churches in starting "mission churches"). Even with related ministries, such as food pantries or crisis pregnancy centers, associational volunteers and staff who conduct the ministries often share an evangelistic message along with material and practical assistance.
An association cannot direct the affairs of member churches but can set requirements for continued fellowship. For example, an association may initiate the "disfellowshipping" (or expulsion) of any church with which it disagrees, generally in areas of contentious practice or doctrine, such as: charismatic doctrine; a local church's ordination of women or sanctioning homosexuality (such as through ordination or "blessing" of same-sex unions in any manner); or acceptance of "alien immersion" (the acceptance of members from Christian denominations who have been baptized with a method, such as sprinkling, not consistent with the typical Baptist requirement of immersion).
Association meetings are generally held annually. The association is free to set the time and place, as well as determining the number of delegates (called "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 churches that provide more financial support are allowed more messengers.
Individual congregations and associations may 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. The state conventions 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. It can "disfellowship" churches at its discretion. The state convention generally meets annually, sets the time and place, and determines the number of "messengers" (delegates) allowed per church.
State conventions associated with the SBC include:[55]
ADDITIONAL SUPPORTED AND AFFILIATED CONVENTIONS
The Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting consists of representatives, called "messengers," from cooperating churches. They gather to confer and determine the programs, policies, and budget of the SBC. Each church may be represented by up to 10 messengers, the exact number being determined by the church's number of members and contributions to the national SBC organization.[94]
The following quotation from the SBC Constitution explains the membership and description of "messengers" to each annual meeting:
Article III. Membership: The Convention shall consist of messengers who are members of missionary Baptist churches cooperating with the Convention as follows:
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.
- One messenger from each church which (a) 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 (b) has been a bona fide contributor to the Convention's work during the fiscal year preceding.
- One additional messenger from each such church for every two hundred and fifty members; or for each $250.00 paid to the work of the Convention during the fiscal year preceding the annual meeting.
- The messengers shall be appointed and certified by the churches to the Convention, but no church may appoint more than ten.
- Each messenger shall be a member of the church by which he is appointed.
– SBC Constitution[95]
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 provide more than 80% of the food distributed by the Red Cross in major disasters. SBC DR volunteers are easily recognizable in their bright yellow shirt and hats, and are often among the first to arrive at a disaster event.
There are Six SBC theological seminaries devoted to religious instruction and ministry preparation.
There are multiple baptist universities and colleges throughout the United states. See Southern Baptist-related Schools, Colleges, and Universities for further information.
This list does not assume that all are active in the SBC or living their lives according to Southern Baptist principles. The following well-known individuals identified themselves as Southern Baptists at some time:
|