A Baptist tradition. We share believer's baptism by immersion and the autonomy of the local church. Where we differ, Scripture's whole counsel settles the question; we receive those who believe the Gospel as brethren while we answer what we believe is error.
Where It Came From
Southern Baptist churches belong to the long line of Baptist churches. Theologica holds that churches of baptized believers have existed since the New Testament, distinct from Rome. English Baptist churches enter the documentary record in the early seventeenth century, and Baptist churches were planted in the American South by the end of that century. The Convention was organized in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, when Baptists in the South separated from northern Baptists, largely over the appointment of slaveholders as missionaries. In 1995 the Convention formally repented of its historic defense of slavery and racism. Southern Baptists have told the story of Baptist beginnings in more than one way. From the 1850s, the Landmark movement led by J. R. Graves taught an unbroken succession of Baptist churches from the apostles, a claim Theologica holds to be an error. In the late 1890s, William H. Whitsitt was forced from the presidency of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary after arguing that English Baptists began immersing only in 1641. Many Southern Baptist historians today place Baptist beginnings in English Separatism. A movement beginning in 1979, known as the Conservative Resurgence, returned the Convention's seminaries and agencies to a firm commitment to biblical inerrancy.
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In Their Own Words
This profile describes the tradition from its own official documents and standard teaching:
- The Baptist Faith and Message 2000
- The Baptist Faith and Message (1925 and 1963 editions)
- Southern Baptist Convention, Resolution on Racial Reconciliation (1995)