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! ===National unification and regional division=== {{Main |Triennial Convention}} In 1814, leaders such as [[Luther Rice]] helped Baptists unify nationally under what became known informally as the [[Triennial Convention]] (because it met every three years) based in [[Philadelphia]]. It allowed them to join their resources to support [[mission (Christian)|missions]] abroad. The [[American Baptist Home Mission Society|Home Mission Society]], affiliated with the Triennial Convention, was established in 1832 to support missions in U.S. frontier territories. By the mid-19th century, there were many social, cultural, economic, and political differences among business owners of the North, farmers of the West, and [[Planter (American South)|planters]] of the South. The most divisive conflict was primarily over the issue of slavery and secondarily over missions.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/baptistsinameric00arms/page/187|title=The Baptists in America|last1=Armstrong |first1=O. K. |date=1979|publisher=Doubleday|last2=Moore Armstrong |first2=Marjorie |isbn=0-385-14655-8|location=Garden City, N.Y.|oclc=4983547|page=[https://archive.org/details/baptistsinameric00arms/page/187 187]}}</ref> ====Divisions over slavery==== {{see also|Christian views on slavery}} The issues surrounding slavery dominated the 19th century in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Baptists in America: A History {{!}} Reviews in History|url=https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/1940|access-date=2020-07-21|website=reviews.history.ac.uk|language=en}}</ref> This created tension between Baptists in northern and southern U.S. states over the issue of [[manumission]]. In the two decades after the American Revolution during the [[Second Great Awakening]], northern Baptist preachers (as well as the [[Quakers]] and [[Methodists]]) increasingly argued that slaves be freed.{{Sfn | Heyrman | 1998 | pp = 10–18, 155}} Although most Baptists in the 19th century south were [[yeomen]] farmers and common planters, the Baptists also began to attract major planters among their membership. The southern pastors interpreted the Bible as supporting slavery and encouraged paternalistic practices by slaveholders. They preached to slaves to accept their places and obey their masters, and welcomed slaves and free blacks as members, though whites controlled the churches' leadership, and seating was usually segregated.{{Sfn | Heyrman | 1998 | pp = 10–18, 155}} From the early 19th century, many Baptist preachers in the South also argued in favor of preserving the right of ministers to be slaveholders.<ref name= historiographicalstudy>{{Cite journal| last = Shurden | first = Walter B. | title = The origins of the Southern Baptist Convention: a historiographical study | journal = Baptist History and Heritage | volume = 37 | issue = 1 | date = January 1, 2002 | url = http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-94160891.html}}</ref> [[File:Gillfield Baptist Church.jpg|thumb|[[Gillfield Baptist Church (Petersburg, Virginia)|Gillfield Baptist Church]] was the largest Black American congregation within the Portsmouth Association of the [[Triennial Convention]], preceding the north–south split and formation of Southern Baptists]] Black congregations were sometimes the largest in their regions. For instance, by 1821, Gillfield Baptist in [[Petersburg, Virginia]], had the largest congregation within the Portsmouth Association. At 441 members, it was more than twice as large as the next-biggest church. Before Nat Turner's Rebellion of 1831, Gillfield had a black preacher. Afterward, the state legislature insisted that white men oversee black congregations. Gillfield could not call a black preacher until after the [[American Civil War]] and emancipation.{{Sfn | Raboteau | 2004 | p = 188}} After Turner's rebellion, whites worked to exert more control over black congregations and passed laws requiring white ministers to lead or be present at religious meetings. Many slaves evaded these restrictions. The Triennial Convention and the Home Mission Society adopted a kind of neutrality concerning slavery, neither condoning nor condemning it. During the "Georgia Test Case" of 1844, the [[Georgia Baptist Convention|Georgia State Convention]] proposed that the slaveholder [[Elder (Christianity)|Elder]] James E. Reeve be appointed as a [[missionary]]. The [[International Mission Board|Foreign Mission Board]] refused to approve his appointment, recognizing the case as a challenge and not wanting to violate their neutrality on slavery. They said that slavery should not be introduced as a factor into deliberations about missionary appointments.{{sfn|Early|2008|pp=100–101}} In 1844, [[University of Alabama]] president [[Basil Manly Sr.]], a prominent preacher and major planter who owned 40 slaves, drafted the "Alabama Resolutions" and presented them to the Triennial Convention. They included the demand that slaveholders be eligible for denominational offices to which the Southern associations contributed financially. They were not adopted. Georgia Baptists decided to test the claimed neutrality by recommending a slaveholder to the Home Mission Society as a missionary. The Home Mission Society's board refused to appoint him, noting that missionaries were not allowed to take servants with them (so he clearly could not take slaves) and that they would not make a decision that appeared to endorse slavery. Southern Baptists considered this an infringement of their right to determine their own candidates.<ref name=Cathcart>{{Citation | url = http://www.wmcarey.edu/carey/staughton/triennial.htm | title = The Baptist Encyclopedia | editor-first = William | editor-last = Cathcart | edition = rev | place = Philadelphia | year = 1883 | publisher = William Carey University | access-date = April 25, 2007 | page = 1077}}.</ref> From the southern perspective, the northern position that "slaveholding brethren were less than followers of Jesus" effectively obligated slaveholding Southerners to leave the fellowship.<ref>{{cite news |first = Dayne |last = Sherman |date = 2012-06-24 |title = Southern Baptist Convention in black, white |url = http://hammondstar.com/articles/2012/06/26/opinion/columnists/8231.txt |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130125090835/http://hammondstar.com/articles/2012/06/26/opinion/columnists/8231.txt |archive-date = 2013-01-25 |newspaper = Sunday Star |location = Hammond, [[Louisiana|LA]] |pages = 4A, 5A |access-date = 2012-06-24 }}</ref> This difference came to a head in 1845 when representatives of the northern states refused to appoint missionaries whose families owned slaves. To continue in the work of missions, the southern Baptists separated and created the Southern Baptist Convention.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.abc-usa.org/what-we-believe/our-history/ |publisher=American Baptist Churches USA}}</ref> ====Missions and organization==== [[File:First Baptist Church, Augusta GA 20160703 1.jpg|thumb|Original location of [[First Baptist Church (Augusta, Georgia)|First Baptist Church]] in [[Augusta, Georgia]]]] A secondary issue that disturbed the Southerners was the perception that the American Baptist Home Mission Society did not appoint a proportionate number of missionaries to the South. This was likely a result of the society's not appointing slave owners as missionaries.<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Walter B | last1 = Shurden | first2 = Lori Redwine | last2 = Varnadoe | title = The origins of the Southern Baptist Convention: A historiographical study | journal = Baptist History and Heritage | year = 2002 | volume = 37 | issue = 1 | pages = 71–96}}.</ref> Baptists in the North preferred a loosely structured society of individuals who paid annual dues, with each society usually focused on a single ministry.{{Sfn | McBeth | 1987}}{{Page needed | date = December 2013}} Baptists in Southern churches preferred a more centralized organization of churches patterned after their associations, with a variety of ministries brought under the direction of one denominational organization.{{Sfn | McBeth | 1987 | p = 505}} The increasing tensions and the discontent of Baptists from the South over national criticism of slavery and issues over missions led to their withdrawal from national Baptist organizations.<ref name="Southern Baptist Beginnings" /> The Southern Baptists met at the [[First Baptist Church of Augusta]] in May 1845.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.christianindex.org/1128.article | title = First Baptist Church building landmark restoration | publisher = Christian index | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131211171614/http://www.christianindex.org/1128.article | archive-date = December 11, 2013 }}.</ref> At this meeting, they created a new convention—the Southern Baptist Convention. They elected [[William Bullein Johnson]] (1782–1862) as its first president. He had served as president of the Triennial Convention in 1841,<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Bullein Johnson |url=https://sbhla.org/biographies/william-bullein-johnson/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives |language=en-US}}</ref> though he initially attempted to avoid a schism. 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