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EspañolSOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
(Redirected from Southern Baptist)
The 'Southern Baptist Convention' ('SBC') is a United States-based Christian denomination consisting of numerous agencies and agencies including six seminaries, two mission boards and a variety of other organizations such as: the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Church, which can act for the SBC ''ad interim'' between annual meetings; Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission, Southern Baptist Foundation and GuideStone Financial Resources.
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. All messengers are free to vote according to their conscience. Churches are free to choose messengers 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. It is the second largest grouping of Christians in the United States, the Roman Catholic Church being the largest.
''
Most early Baptists in America originally 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 migrated 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 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 probably only eight Baptist churches in these three colonies with no more than 300 or 400 members.[1]
Churches supported by public taxes opposed this rapid spread of Baptists in the South. Particularly in Virginia, many Baptist preachers were whipped and imprisoned just prior to the American Revolution. Once the war began, Baptists soon became active patriots in the cause. By the early 1800s, numerous social, cultural, economic, and political differences existed between the business owners of the North, the farmers of the West, and the planters of the South. Perhaps most critical of all was the slavery issue. Three separate Baptist national societies existed by 1840.
Though the Triennial Convention and the 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 US.
Baptists both north and south preferred different types of denominational organization: the 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 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 the decision to separate from other Baptists in defence of 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.[4] During the SBC Conservative Resurgence/Fundamentalist Takeover the 'Southern Baptist Convention' of 1995 voted to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery.[5] 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:
★ Landmarkism, which led to the formation of ''Gospel Missions'' and the forming of the American Baptist Association
★ The "Whitsitt controversy" (1896–1899),[6] in which Dr. William H. Whitsitt, professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, set forth his theory that the English Baptists did not begin to baptize by immersion until 1641, when a part of the Anabaptists, as they were then called, began immersion.
★ The "SBC Conservative Resurgence/Fundamentalist Takeover" — by far its most notable disagreement.[7] The well-orchestrated takeover has been described by one Baptist leader[8] as having fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship and as being "far more serious than a controversy." The leader wrote that "it was a self-destructive, contentious, one-sided feud that at times took on combative characteristics." Southern Baptists are now polarized into two major groups — moderates and conservatives. All of the leaders of Southern Baptist agencies prior to 1979 have been replaced with fundamentalist leaders.[9]
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 members to suggest a name change. 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.[10]
The SBC claims to have more than 16.3 million members in 44,000 churches throughout the US. One internal study by the SBC shows that on average, 38% of the membership number (6,138,776 members, guests and non-member children) attend their church's primary worship meeting.[11]
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 in proportion to the American population.[12] Historically, though, the 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).[13] 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. 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 Website of the Southern Baptist Convention lists ten "Position Statements" on various contemporary issues.[14]
★ Priesthood of all believers — Laypersons have the same right as ordained ministers to communicate with God, interpret Scripture, and minister in Christ's name[15]
★ Soul competency — the accountability of each person before God[16]
★ Creeds and confessions — Statements of belief are revisable in light of Scripture. The Bible is the final word.[17]
★ Women in ministry — Women are an integral part of Southern Baptist boards, faculties, mission teams, writer pools, and professional staffs. Pastoral leadership is assigned to men.[18]
★ Church and state — a free church in a free state. Neither one should control the affairs of the other.[19]
★ Missions — We honor the indigenous principle in missions. We cannot, however, compromise doctrine or give up who we are to win the favor of those we try to reach or those with whom we desire to work.[20]
★ Autonomy of local church — We affirm the autonomy of the local church.[21]
★ Cooperation — The Cooperative Program of missions is integral to the Southern Baptist genius.[22]
★ Sexuality — We affirm God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy — one man, and one woman, for life. Homosexuality is not a "valid alternative lifestyle."[23]
★ Sanctity of life — At the moment of conception, a new being enters the universe, a human being, a being created in God's image.[24]
Southern Baptists, as the ''Baptist Faith and Message''13 outlines, observe two ordinances: the Lord's Supper and Believer's baptism.
Southern Baptists observe the Lord's Supper with no established frequency. Each individual local church decides whether it is observed monthly, quarterly, etc. Churches tend to use small individual glasses instead of a "common cup." Non-alcoholic grape juice is nearly always served instead of wine. Both leavened and unleavened bread may be utilized, but the unleavened variety seems to predominate.
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 (believers). They also 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 as being valid, provided that they were performed after the individual "accepted Christ" for salvation.
As noted above, the SBC voted to revise its statement of faith in 2000. Among the notable changes are two statements concerning gender roles in both ministry and marriage.13 Although similar views have influenced Baptist groups in the past,[25] [26] these additions to the Baptist Faith and Message represent the first time such stances have been integrated into the statement of faith of a major American body of Baptists.
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, defended 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 with fewer such actions taking place within annual meetings of state conventions.
While this "male-only pastors" language is indeed new to ''BF&M'', it does not necessarily 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.[27] (By contrast, 6.2% of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) churches and 9.1% of American Baptist Churches, USA
(ABC-USA) churches are pastored by women.)[28]
Additionally, the 2000 BF&M now describes the family as follows:
Messengers at a recent annual meeting of the convention rejected two amendments that called on husbands and wives to submit ''to each other'' (cf. ).
Most Southern Baptists observe a low church form of worship that is less formal and uses no stated liturgy (the total absence of some type of liturgy being impossible). 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 accept Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior and begin Christian discipleship.
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 from being a governing board to pastoral 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.[29][30][31]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'',13 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.
Generally, Baptists recognize only two Scriptural offices: pastor-teacher and deacon. In most SBC churches, these offices are reserved for men based on tradition and SBC interpretation of certain New Testament scriptures. Although, increasingly, women are being ordained as deacons.
Each congregation is independent and autonomous, except for certain "mission churches." Thus, each local congregation is free to:
★ associate with or disassociate from the 'SBC' (and/or any of its affiliates) at any time
★ determine the level of support which it provides to 'SBC'-affiliated programs and/or other groups (though in order to affiliate with a local association or a state or the national convention, some minimum level of giving is required)
★ conduct its own internal affairs (such as hiring and firing, determining its doctrinal statement and membership qualifications, order and format of services, and other matters) without approval from any higher level entity
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 groups, 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 may exist within the same county. While some suspect the conservative takeover of the SBC in the 1980s fueled an increase in this phenomenon, the paradigm in many areas of the SBC had already 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 membership. 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 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. 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:
★ Baptist General Association of Virginia (dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF)
★ Baptist General Convention of Texas (dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF)
★ California Southern Baptist Convention
★ Louisiana Baptist Convention
★ Southern Baptists of Texas (a conservative splinter group from the larger and more moderate Baptist General Convention of Texas)
★ Tennessee Baptist Convention
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. The following quotation from the SBC Constitution explains the membership and description of "messengers" (similar to "delegates") to each annual meeting:
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:
★ Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, California (http://www.ggbts.edu)
★ Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri (http://www.mbts.edu)
★ New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana (http://www.nobts.edu)
★ Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina (http://www.sebts.edu)
★ Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, and the oldest of the six institutions) (http://www.sbts.edu)
★ Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas (http://www.swbts.edu)
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.
★ and also (http://www.sbc.net/colleges.asp)
There are 52 state conventions supported higher educational institutions in their respective states. State conventions also support many prominent boarding academies.
★ Baptist Men on Mission [2], formally known as Brotherhood, BMEN is the mission organization for men in Southern Baptist Churches.
★ Baptist Press [3], the largest Christian news service in the country, was established by the 'SBC' in 1946.
★ Guidestone Financial Resources [4] (founded in 1920 as the Annuity Board of the 'Southern Baptist Convention') exists to provide insurance, retirement, and investment services to ministers and employees of Southern Baptist churches and agencies. It underwent a severe financial crisis in the 1930s.
★ LifeWay Christian Resources [5], founded as the Baptist Sunday School Board in 1891, which is one of the largest Christian publishing houses in America and operates the "LifeWay Christian Store" chain of bookstores.
★ Tennessee Baptist Children's Home Founded in 1891 near Nashville Tennessee. There are now 5 campuses of Tennessee Baptist Children's Home in Tennessee. These homes have served the needs of thousands of children for over 100 years at no cost to taxpayers. These homes are 100% supported by Southern Baptist churches.
★ Women's Missionary Union, founded in 1888, is an auxiliary to the 'Southern Baptist Convention','' and helps facilitate two large annual missions offerings: the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
:: ''Main article: List of Baptists''
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:
★ Billy Graham
★ Rick Warren, pastor of the 20,000-member Saddleback Church in California and author of ''The Purpose Driven Life''
★ Zach Johnson, professional golfer[32]
★ Clay Aiken, singer, producer, UNICEF Ambassador, and humanitarian
★ Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States (Carter later left the 'SBC' for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship because of his differences with the direction of the 'SBC' leadership and beliefs.)
★ Bill Clinton, former President of the United States. Raised Southern Baptist.[33] Working with Jimmy Carter to conduct "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant" meeting of approx. 30 Baptist denominations and organizations in the US and Canada: Atlanta, January 30 February 1, 2008.[34]
★ Al Gore, Vice-President of the United States from 1993–2001; Democratic presidential candidate in 2000. Gore was raised as a Southern Baptist, but like Carter and Clinton he formally left the Southern Baptist Convention due to his disagreements with many of the SBC's positions on public issues.
★ Bill Moyers, raised a Southern Baptist and educated at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, press secretary to President Lyndon Johnson, and later publisher of Newsday and well-known journalist and TV personality (CBS and PBS); now a member of The Riverside Church in New York City, a dually-aligned American Baptist-United Church of Christ congregation
1. Baker, Robert A. "Southern Baptist Beginnings," Baptist History and Heritage Society. Online at: http://www.baptisthistory.org/sbaptistbeginnings.htm
2. ''The Baptist Encyclopedia.'' Edited by William Cathcart. 2 Vols. Rev. ed. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883. Accessible online: http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/staughton/triennial.htm. Accessed 04–25–2007.
3. McBeth, H. Leon. ''The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness.'' Nashville: Broadman, 1987.
4. ''The American Baptist Convention and the Civil Rights Movement: Rhetoric and Response,'' Dana Martin, 1999, page 44.
5. ''This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith.'' Edited by Robert J. Priest and Alvaro L. Nieves. Oxford University Press, 2007, pp 275 and 339
6. [1] ''History of Kentucky Baptists — 1770-1922''
7. Flick, David. "How Fundamentalist Myths Changed the SBC." Onine: http://www.baptistlife.com/flick/Kingmaker%20Myth.htm. Accessed July 2, 2007
8. Dilday, Russell. ''Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility.'' Macon, Georgia: Smyth and Helwys, 2007. ISBN 1–57312–469–9. Dilday was president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1994.
9. Humphreys, Fisher. ''The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All.'' Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys, 2002. ISBN 1–57312–376–5
10. http://www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc99/min615ev.htm
11. http://www.sbcec.net/bor/2007/2007SBCAnnual.pdf
12. http://www.namb.net/atf/cf/{CDA250E8–8866–4236–9A0C-C646DE153446}/RCS_Comparison_1990_2000.pdf
13. http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfmcomparison.asp Comparison of 1925, 1963, 2000 versions
14. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/positionstatements.asp Position statements
15. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pspriesthood.asp Priesthood of all believers
16. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssoul.asp
17. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscreeds.asp Soul competency
18. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pswomen.asp Women in ministry
19. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pschurch.asp Church and state
20. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/psmissions.asp Missions
21. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/psautonomy.asp Autonomy of local church
22. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscooperation.asp Cooperation
23. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssexuality.asp Sexuality
24. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssanctity.asp Sanctity of life
25. Aldon D. Morris and Shayne Lee. "The National Baptist Convention: Traditions and Contemporary Challenges." Available online: http://www.sociology.northwestern.edu/faculty/morris/docmorrislee-baptist.pdf Northwestern University Website. Accessed 07-19-2007. Pages 27-38 contain a discussion of long-standing attitudes regarding gender and their relationship to ministry.
26. "Baptist General Convention position statement on The Family Unit - Adopted 1973." Available online: http://216.177.136.28/content/view/1533/69/ Baptist General Convention Website. Accessed 07-19-2007.
27. Tammi Reed Ledbetter. "SBC and Women Pastors, Comprehensive Report Does Not Sustain Inflated Statistics (October 2000)." Available online:
http://www.baptist2baptist.net/b2barticle.asp?ID=228 Baptist 2 Baptist Website. Accessed 07-19-07
28. Campbell-Reed, Eileen R. and Pamela R. Durso. "Assessing Attitudes About Women in Baptist Life (2006)." Available online: http://www.bwim.info/index.php/html/main/welcome.html Baptist Women in Ministry Website. Accessed 07-18-2007
29. http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/opinion/5_1_98/Emerging.html
30. http://www.baptiststart.com/deacons.pdf
31. http://www.vbmb.org/uploads/DeaconTraining.pdf
32. [http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=25361 Baptist Press
33. http://www.beliefnet.com/story/151/story_15194_1.html
34. "Carter & Clinton call for 'New Baptist Covenant.'" ''Baptist Press," January 10, 2007.
★ Baker, Robert. ed. ''A Baptist Source Book.'' Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1966.
★ Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States, 2000. Glenmary Research Center
★ Ammerman, Nancy, ''Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention.'' Rutgers University Press, 1990.
★ Ammerman, Nancy, ed. ''Southern Baptists Observed'' University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
★ Baker, Robert. ''The Southern Baptist Convention and Its People, 1607–1972.'' Broadman Press, 1974.
★ Barnes, William. ''The Southern Baptist Convention, 1845–1953'' Broadman Press, 1954.
★ Eighmy, John. ''Churches in Cultural Captivity: A History of the Social Attitudes of Southern Baptists.'' University of Tennessee Press, 1972.
★ ''Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists: Presenting Their History, Doctrine, Polity, Life, Leadership, Organization & Work'' Knoxville: Broadman Press, v 1–2 (1958), 1500 pp; 2 supplementary volumes 1958 and 1962; vol 5 = Index, 1984
★ Farnsley II, Arthur Emery, ''Southern Baptist Politics: Authority and Power in the Restructuring of an American Denomination''; Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994
★ Fuller, A. James. ''Chaplain to the Confederacy: Basil Manly and Baptist Life in the Old South'' (2002)
★ Gatewood, Willard. ''Controversy in the 1920s: Fundamentalism, Modernism, and Evolution.'' Vanderbilt University Press, 1969.
★ Hankins, Barry. ''Religion and American Culture.'' Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 2002. Argues that Baptist conservatives see themselves as cultural warriors critiquing a secular and liberal America
★ Harvey, Paul. ''Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities among Southern Baptists, 1865–1925.'' University of North Carolina Press, 1997
★ Heyrman, Christine Leigh. ''Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt'' (1998) 1770–1860
★ Hill, Samuel, et al. ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South'' (2005)
★ Kell, Carl L. and L. Raymond Camp, ''In the Name of the Father: The Rhetoric of the New Southern Baptist Convention.'' Southern Illinois University Press, 1999
★ Leonard, Bill J. ''God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention.'' Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.
★ Lumpkin, William L. ''Baptist History in the South: Tracing through the Separates the Influence of the Great Awakening, 1754–1787'' (1995)
★ Marsden, George. ''Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of 20th Century Evangelicalism.'' Oxford University Press, 1980.
★ Rosenberg, Ellen. ''The Southern Baptists: A Subculture in Transition.'' University of Tennessee Press, 1989.
★ Scales, T. Laine. ''All That Fits a Woman: Training Southern Baptist Women for Charity and Mission, 1907–1926'' Mercer U. Press 2002
★ Smith, Oran P. ''The Rise of Baptist Republicanism'' (1997), on recent voting behavior
★ Spain, Rufus B.'' At Ease in Zion: A Social History of Southern Baptists, 1865–1900'' (1961)
★ Sutton, Jerry. ''The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention'' (2000).
★ Wills, Gregory A.'' Democratic Religion: Freedom, Authority, and Church Discipline in the Baptist South, 1785–1900.'' Oxford University Press, 1997
★ Official Website of the Southern Baptist Convention
★ International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
★ LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention (formerly the Baptist Sunday School Board)
★ North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
★ Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
★ Woman's Missionary Union
The 'Southern Baptist Convention' ('SBC') is a United States-based Christian denomination consisting of numerous agencies and agencies including six seminaries, two mission boards and a variety of other organizations such as: the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Church, which can act for the SBC ''ad interim'' between annual meetings; Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission, Southern Baptist Foundation and GuideStone Financial Resources.
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. All messengers are free to vote according to their conscience. Churches are free to choose messengers 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. It is the second largest grouping of Christians in the United States, the Roman Catholic Church being the largest.
History of the SBC
''
Birth pains
Most early Baptists in America originally 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 migrated 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 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 probably only eight Baptist churches in these three colonies with no more than 300 or 400 members.[1]
Churches supported by public taxes opposed this rapid spread of Baptists in the South. Particularly in Virginia, many Baptist preachers were whipped and imprisoned just prior to the American Revolution. Once the war began, Baptists soon became active patriots in the cause. By the early 1800s, numerous social, cultural, economic, and political differences existed between the business owners of the North, the farmers of the West, and the planters of the South. Perhaps most critical of all was the slavery issue. Three separate Baptist national societies existed by 1840.
Though the Triennial Convention and the 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 US.
Baptists both north and south preferred different types of denominational organization: the 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 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 the decision to separate from other Baptists in defence of 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.[4] During the SBC Conservative Resurgence/Fundamentalist Takeover the 'Southern Baptist Convention' of 1995 voted to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery.[5] 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.
Historical controversies
During its history, the Convention has not been without controversy. The denomination's polity lends itself toward very public displays of disagreement, including:
★ Landmarkism, which led to the formation of ''Gospel Missions'' and the forming of the American Baptist Association
★ The "Whitsitt controversy" (1896–1899),[6] in which Dr. William H. Whitsitt, professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, set forth his theory that the English Baptists did not begin to baptize by immersion until 1641, when a part of the Anabaptists, as they were then called, began immersion.
★ The "SBC Conservative Resurgence/Fundamentalist Takeover" — by far its most notable disagreement.[7] The well-orchestrated takeover has been described by one Baptist leader[8] as having fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship and as being "far more serious than a controversy." The leader wrote that "it was a self-destructive, contentious, one-sided feud that at times took on combative characteristics." Southern Baptists are now polarized into two major groups — moderates and conservatives. All of the leaders of Southern Baptist agencies prior to 1979 have been replaced with fundamentalist leaders.[9]
The Convention today
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 members to suggest a name change. 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.[10]
Statistics
The SBC claims to have more than 16.3 million members in 44,000 churches throughout the US. One internal study by the SBC shows that on average, 38% of the membership number (6,138,776 members, guests and non-member children) attend their church's primary worship meeting.[11]
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 in proportion to the American population.[12] Historically, though, the Convention has grown throughout its history:
| 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 |
''Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S.'' (1976) series H805 (with 2005 estimate from Convention figures).
Theology and practice
The general theological perspective of the churches of the 'Southern Baptist Convention' is represented in the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M).[13] 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. 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.
Position statements
The Official Website of the Southern Baptist Convention lists ten "Position Statements" on various contemporary issues.[14]
★ Priesthood of all believers — Laypersons have the same right as ordained ministers to communicate with God, interpret Scripture, and minister in Christ's name[15]
★ Soul competency — the accountability of each person before God[16]
★ Creeds and confessions — Statements of belief are revisable in light of Scripture. The Bible is the final word.[17]
★ Women in ministry — Women are an integral part of Southern Baptist boards, faculties, mission teams, writer pools, and professional staffs. Pastoral leadership is assigned to men.[18]
★ Church and state — a free church in a free state. Neither one should control the affairs of the other.[19]
★ Missions — We honor the indigenous principle in missions. We cannot, however, compromise doctrine or give up who we are to win the favor of those we try to reach or those with whom we desire to work.[20]
★ Autonomy of local church — We affirm the autonomy of the local church.[21]
★ Cooperation — The Cooperative Program of missions is integral to the Southern Baptist genius.[22]
★ Sexuality — We affirm God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy — one man, and one woman, for life. Homosexuality is not a "valid alternative lifestyle."[23]
★ Sanctity of life — At the moment of conception, a new being enters the universe, a human being, a being created in God's image.[24]
Ordinances/Sacraments
Southern Baptists, as the ''Baptist Faith and Message''13 outlines, observe two ordinances: the Lord's Supper and Believer's baptism.
The Lord's Supper
Southern Baptists observe the Lord's Supper with no established frequency. Each individual local church decides whether it is observed monthly, quarterly, etc. Churches tend to use small individual glasses instead of a "common cup." Non-alcoholic grape juice is nearly always served instead of wine. Both leavened and unleavened bread may be utilized, but the unleavened variety seems to predominate.
Baptism
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 (believers). They also 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 as being valid, provided that they were performed after the individual "accepted Christ" for salvation.
Gender-based roles
As noted above, the SBC voted to revise its statement of faith in 2000. Among the notable changes are two statements concerning gender roles in both ministry and marriage.13 Although similar views have influenced Baptist groups in the past,[25] [26] these additions to the Baptist Faith and Message represent the first time such stances have been integrated into the statement of faith of a major American body of Baptists.
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.
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, defended 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 with fewer such actions taking place within annual meetings of state conventions.
While this "male-only pastors" language is indeed new to ''BF&M'', it does not necessarily 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.[27] (By contrast, 6.2% of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) churches and 9.1% of American Baptist Churches, USA
(ABC-USA) churches are pastored by women.)[28]
In marriage
Additionally, the 2000 BF&M now describes the family as follows:
Messengers at a recent annual meeting of the convention rejected two amendments that called on husbands and wives to submit ''to each other'' (cf. ).
Worship services
Most Southern Baptists observe a low church form of worship that is less formal and uses no stated liturgy (the total absence of some type of liturgy being impossible). 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 accept Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior and begin Christian discipleship.
Polity and organization
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 from being a governing board to pastoral 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.[29][30][31]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'',13 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.
Two offices (pastor and deacon)
Generally, Baptists recognize only two Scriptural offices: pastor-teacher and deacon. In most SBC churches, these offices are reserved for men based on tradition and SBC interpretation of certain New Testament scriptures. Although, increasingly, women are being ordained as deacons.
Local congregation
Each congregation is independent and autonomous, except for certain "mission churches." Thus, each local congregation is free to:
★ associate with or disassociate from the 'SBC' (and/or any of its affiliates) at any time
★ determine the level of support which it provides to 'SBC'-affiliated programs and/or other groups (though in order to affiliate with a local association or a state or the national convention, some minimum level of giving is required)
★ conduct its own internal affairs (such as hiring and firing, determining its doctrinal statement and membership qualifications, order and format of services, and other matters) without approval from any higher level entity
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 groups, such as residents of a new real estate development, a particular ethnic group or young families.
Local association
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 may exist within the same county. While some suspect the conservative takeover of the SBC in the 1980s fueled an increase in this phenomenon, the paradigm in many areas of the SBC had already 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 membership. 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 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).
State convention
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. 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:
★ Baptist General Association of Virginia (dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF)
★ Baptist General Convention of Texas (dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF)
★ California Southern Baptist Convention
★ Louisiana Baptist Convention
★ Southern Baptists of Texas (a conservative splinter group from the larger and more moderate Baptist General Convention of Texas)
★ Tennessee Baptist Convention
National convention
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. The following quotation from the SBC Constitution explains the membership and description of "messengers" (similar to "delegates") to each annual meeting:
Affiliated organizations
Missions agencies
The 'Southern Baptist Convention' was organized in 1845 primarily for the purpose of creating a mission board to support the sending of Baptist missionaries. The 'North American Mission Board','' or NAMB, (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.
National educational institutions
The national Convention supports six educational institutions devoted to religious instruction and ministry preparation:
★ Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, California (http://www.ggbts.edu)
★ Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri (http://www.mbts.edu)
★ New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana (http://www.nobts.edu)
★ Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina (http://www.sebts.edu)
★ Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, and the oldest of the six institutions) (http://www.sbts.edu)
★ Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas (http://www.swbts.edu)
State educational institutions
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.
★ and also (http://www.sbc.net/colleges.asp)
There are 52 state conventions supported higher educational institutions in their respective states. State conventions also support many prominent boarding academies.
Other 'SBC' organizations
★ Baptist Men on Mission [2], formally known as Brotherhood, BMEN is the mission organization for men in Southern Baptist Churches.
★ Baptist Press [3], the largest Christian news service in the country, was established by the 'SBC' in 1946.
★ Guidestone Financial Resources [4] (founded in 1920 as the Annuity Board of the 'Southern Baptist Convention') exists to provide insurance, retirement, and investment services to ministers and employees of Southern Baptist churches and agencies. It underwent a severe financial crisis in the 1930s.
★ LifeWay Christian Resources [5], founded as the Baptist Sunday School Board in 1891, which is one of the largest Christian publishing houses in America and operates the "LifeWay Christian Store" chain of bookstores.
★ Tennessee Baptist Children's Home Founded in 1891 near Nashville Tennessee. There are now 5 campuses of Tennessee Baptist Children's Home in Tennessee. These homes have served the needs of thousands of children for over 100 years at no cost to taxpayers. These homes are 100% supported by Southern Baptist churches.
★ Women's Missionary Union, founded in 1888, is an auxiliary to the 'Southern Baptist Convention','' and helps facilitate two large annual missions offerings: the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
Prominent Southern Baptists
:: ''Main article: List of Baptists''
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:
★ Billy Graham
★ Rick Warren, pastor of the 20,000-member Saddleback Church in California and author of ''The Purpose Driven Life''
★ Zach Johnson, professional golfer[32]
★ Clay Aiken, singer, producer, UNICEF Ambassador, and humanitarian
★ Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States (Carter later left the 'SBC' for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship because of his differences with the direction of the 'SBC' leadership and beliefs.)
★ Bill Clinton, former President of the United States. Raised Southern Baptist.[33] Working with Jimmy Carter to conduct "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant" meeting of approx. 30 Baptist denominations and organizations in the US and Canada: Atlanta, January 30 February 1, 2008.[34]
★ Al Gore, Vice-President of the United States from 1993–2001; Democratic presidential candidate in 2000. Gore was raised as a Southern Baptist, but like Carter and Clinton he formally left the Southern Baptist Convention due to his disagreements with many of the SBC's positions on public issues.
★ Bill Moyers, raised a Southern Baptist and educated at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, press secretary to President Lyndon Johnson, and later publisher of Newsday and well-known journalist and TV personality (CBS and PBS); now a member of The Riverside Church in New York City, a dually-aligned American Baptist-United Church of Christ congregation
References
1. Baker, Robert A. "Southern Baptist Beginnings," Baptist History and Heritage Society. Online at: http://www.baptisthistory.org/sbaptistbeginnings.htm
2. ''The Baptist Encyclopedia.'' Edited by William Cathcart. 2 Vols. Rev. ed. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883. Accessible online: http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/staughton/triennial.htm. Accessed 04–25–2007.
3. McBeth, H. Leon. ''The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness.'' Nashville: Broadman, 1987.
4. ''The American Baptist Convention and the Civil Rights Movement: Rhetoric and Response,'' Dana Martin, 1999, page 44.
5. ''This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith.'' Edited by Robert J. Priest and Alvaro L. Nieves. Oxford University Press, 2007, pp 275 and 339
6. [1] ''History of Kentucky Baptists — 1770-1922''
7. Flick, David. "How Fundamentalist Myths Changed the SBC." Onine: http://www.baptistlife.com/flick/Kingmaker%20Myth.htm. Accessed July 2, 2007
8. Dilday, Russell. ''Higher Ground: A Call for Christian Civility.'' Macon, Georgia: Smyth and Helwys, 2007. ISBN 1–57312–469–9. Dilday was president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1994.
9. Humphreys, Fisher. ''The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All.'' Macon, Georgia: Smyth & Helwys, 2002. ISBN 1–57312–376–5
10. http://www.sbcannualmeeting.net/sbc99/min615ev.htm
11. http://www.sbcec.net/bor/2007/2007SBCAnnual.pdf
12. http://www.namb.net/atf/cf/{CDA250E8–8866–4236–9A0C-C646DE153446}/RCS_Comparison_1990_2000.pdf
13. http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfmcomparison.asp Comparison of 1925, 1963, 2000 versions
14. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/positionstatements.asp Position statements
15. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pspriesthood.asp Priesthood of all believers
16. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssoul.asp
17. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscreeds.asp Soul competency
18. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pswomen.asp Women in ministry
19. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pschurch.asp Church and state
20. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/psmissions.asp Missions
21. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/psautonomy.asp Autonomy of local church
22. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pscooperation.asp Cooperation
23. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssexuality.asp Sexuality
24. http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/pssanctity.asp Sanctity of life
25. Aldon D. Morris and Shayne Lee. "The National Baptist Convention: Traditions and Contemporary Challenges." Available online: http://www.sociology.northwestern.edu/faculty/morris/docmorrislee-baptist.pdf Northwestern University Website. Accessed 07-19-2007. Pages 27-38 contain a discussion of long-standing attitudes regarding gender and their relationship to ministry.
26. "Baptist General Convention position statement on The Family Unit - Adopted 1973." Available online: http://216.177.136.28/content/view/1533/69/ Baptist General Convention Website. Accessed 07-19-2007.
27. Tammi Reed Ledbetter. "SBC and Women Pastors, Comprehensive Report Does Not Sustain Inflated Statistics (October 2000)." Available online:
http://www.baptist2baptist.net/b2barticle.asp?ID=228 Baptist 2 Baptist Website. Accessed 07-19-07
28. Campbell-Reed, Eileen R. and Pamela R. Durso. "Assessing Attitudes About Women in Baptist Life (2006)." Available online: http://www.bwim.info/index.php/html/main/welcome.html Baptist Women in Ministry Website. Accessed 07-18-2007
29. http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/opinion/5_1_98/Emerging.html
30. http://www.baptiststart.com/deacons.pdf
31. http://www.vbmb.org/uploads/DeaconTraining.pdf
32. [http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=25361 Baptist Press
33. http://www.beliefnet.com/story/151/story_15194_1.html
34. "Carter & Clinton call for 'New Baptist Covenant.'" ''Baptist Press," January 10, 2007.
Primary sources
★ Baker, Robert. ed. ''A Baptist Source Book.'' Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1966.
★ Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States, 2000. Glenmary Research Center
Secondary sources
★ Ammerman, Nancy, ''Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention.'' Rutgers University Press, 1990.
★ Ammerman, Nancy, ed. ''Southern Baptists Observed'' University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
★ Baker, Robert. ''The Southern Baptist Convention and Its People, 1607–1972.'' Broadman Press, 1974.
★ Barnes, William. ''The Southern Baptist Convention, 1845–1953'' Broadman Press, 1954.
★ Eighmy, John. ''Churches in Cultural Captivity: A History of the Social Attitudes of Southern Baptists.'' University of Tennessee Press, 1972.
★ ''Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists: Presenting Their History, Doctrine, Polity, Life, Leadership, Organization & Work'' Knoxville: Broadman Press, v 1–2 (1958), 1500 pp; 2 supplementary volumes 1958 and 1962; vol 5 = Index, 1984
★ Farnsley II, Arthur Emery, ''Southern Baptist Politics: Authority and Power in the Restructuring of an American Denomination''; Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994
★ Fuller, A. James. ''Chaplain to the Confederacy: Basil Manly and Baptist Life in the Old South'' (2002)
★ Gatewood, Willard. ''Controversy in the 1920s: Fundamentalism, Modernism, and Evolution.'' Vanderbilt University Press, 1969.
★ Hankins, Barry. ''Religion and American Culture.'' Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 2002. Argues that Baptist conservatives see themselves as cultural warriors critiquing a secular and liberal America
★ Harvey, Paul. ''Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities among Southern Baptists, 1865–1925.'' University of North Carolina Press, 1997
★ Heyrman, Christine Leigh. ''Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt'' (1998) 1770–1860
★ Hill, Samuel, et al. ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South'' (2005)
★ Kell, Carl L. and L. Raymond Camp, ''In the Name of the Father: The Rhetoric of the New Southern Baptist Convention.'' Southern Illinois University Press, 1999
★ Leonard, Bill J. ''God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention.'' Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.
★ Lumpkin, William L. ''Baptist History in the South: Tracing through the Separates the Influence of the Great Awakening, 1754–1787'' (1995)
★ Marsden, George. ''Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of 20th Century Evangelicalism.'' Oxford University Press, 1980.
★ Rosenberg, Ellen. ''The Southern Baptists: A Subculture in Transition.'' University of Tennessee Press, 1989.
★ Scales, T. Laine. ''All That Fits a Woman: Training Southern Baptist Women for Charity and Mission, 1907–1926'' Mercer U. Press 2002
★ Smith, Oran P. ''The Rise of Baptist Republicanism'' (1997), on recent voting behavior
★ Spain, Rufus B.'' At Ease in Zion: A Social History of Southern Baptists, 1865–1900'' (1961)
★ Sutton, Jerry. ''The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention'' (2000).
★ Wills, Gregory A.'' Democratic Religion: Freedom, Authority, and Church Discipline in the Baptist South, 1785–1900.'' Oxford University Press, 1997
External links
★ Official Website of the Southern Baptist Convention
★ International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
★ LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention (formerly the Baptist Sunday School Board)
★ North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
★ Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
★ Woman's Missionary Union
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