Southern Baptist Convention Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Organization== [[File:First Brazilian Baptist Church (Charlestown).jpg|thumb|right|First Brazilian Baptist Church in [[Charlestown, Boston|Charlestown, Massachusetts]]]]{{Main |List of state and other conventions associated with the Southern Baptist Convention}}The denomination has four levels of organization: the local congregation, the local association, the state convention, and the national convention. There are 41 affiliated state conventions or fellowships.<ref name="aboutus">{{cite web|url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/|title=About Us: Meet the Southern Baptists|publisher=Southern Baptist Convention|access-date=August 25, 2010|archive-date=August 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803103313/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/}}</ref> The national and state conventions and local associations are conceived as a cooperative association by which churches can voluntarily pool resources<ref>SBC membership does not prohibit a church from also supporting missionaries directly or also supporting other [[parachurch organization]]s such as [[Wycliffe USA|Wycliffe Bible Translators]].</ref> to support missionary and other work. Because of the basic Baptist principle of the autonomy of the local church and the [[congregationalist polity|congregationalist]] polity of the denomination,<ref name="autonomy" /> neither the national convention nor the state conventions or local associations has any administrative or ecclesiastical control over local churches; such a group may disfellowship a local congregation over an issue, but may not terminate its leadership or members or force its closure. The national convention has no authority over state conventions or local associations, nor do state conventions have authority over local associations. Furthermore, no individual congregation has any authority over any other individual congregation; a church may oversee another congregation voluntarily as a mission work, but that other congregation has the right to become an independent congregation at any time. {{blockquote|'''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.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/legal/constitution.asp | title = About Us | publisher = SBC | contribution = Constitution}}.</ref>}} The national convention maintains a central administrative organization in [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. Its executive committee exercises authority and control over seminaries and other institutions owned by the national convention. The national convention had around 10,000 ethnic churches as of 2008.<ref>{{cite news|last=Allen|first=Sheila|title=Ethnic churches: Japanese church members live out faith, change lives|url=http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=29587|access-date=November 12, 2011|newspaper=[[Baptist Press]]|date=December 31, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510234908/http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=29587|archive-date=May 10, 2011}}</ref> Commitment to the autonomy of local churches was the primary force behind its executive committee's rejection of a proposal to create a convention-wide database of clergy accused of sexual crimes against congregants or other minors in order to stop the "recurring tide"<ref>{{cite magazine| url= http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1861760_1862212,00.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081211071322/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1861760_1862212,00.html | archive-date= December 11, 2008 | magazine=Time | title=The Top 10 Everything of 2008 | date = November 3, 2008 | access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Ulrich | first = Elizabeth | date = 2008-06-19 | url = http://www.nashvillescene.com/2008-06-19/news/save-yourselves/ | title = Save Yourselves | type = feature | newspaper = Nashville Scene | access-date = December 10, 2011 | archive-date = October 12, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081012162645/http://www.nashvillescene.com/2008-06-19/news/save-yourselves/ }}</ref> of clergy sexual abuse within affiliated congregations. A 2009 study by Lifeway Christian Resources, the convention's research and publishing arm, revealed that one in eight background checks for potential volunteers or workers in churches revealed a history of crime that could have prevented them from working.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.lifeway.com/article/?id=169449 | title = Background checks help churches protect children | publisher = Lifeway | access-date = December 10, 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The denominational statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message,<ref name="BFM2000" /> is not binding on churches or members due to the autonomy of the local church (though national convention employees and missionaries must agree to its views as a condition of employment or missionary support).<ref name=autonomy/> Politically and culturally, Southern/Great Commission Baptists tend to be conservative. Most oppose homosexual activity and abortion.<ref name="Reuters1" /> ===Pastor and deacon=== Generally, Baptists recognize only two scriptural offices: pastor-teacher and [[deacon]]. The convention passed a resolution in the early 1980s recognizing that offices requiring ordination are restricted to men. According to the Baptist Faith and Message, the office of ''pastor'' is limited to men based on certain [[New Testament]] scriptures.<ref name="aboutus-faq9">{{Citation |title=FAQs β Frequently Asked Questions |url=http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/faqs.asp#9 |contribution=Can women be pastors or deacons in the SBC? |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |access-date=July 19, 2009 |archive-date=July 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722184856/http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/faqs.asp#9 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> ===Annual meeting=== [[File:Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter at the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta, GA. - NARA - 179897.tif|thumb|upright=1.15|President [[Jimmy Carter]] addressing the SBC in Atlanta in 1978 (in 2000, Carter broke with the SBC over its position on the status of women).<ref>{{cite web |title=Jimmy Carter Leaves Southern Baptists |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95311&page=1 |website=ABC News |access-date=3 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref>]] The annual meeting (held in June, over a two-day period) consists of delegates (called "messengers") from cooperating churches. The messengers confer and determine the programs, policies, and budget of the convention, and elect the officers and committees. Each cooperating church is allowed up to two messengers regardless of the amount given to convention entities, and may have more depending on the amount of giving (either in terms of dollars or percent of the church's budget), but the maximum number of messengers permitted from any church is 12. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page