Cooperative Program
| Southern Baptist Convention | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Abbreviation | SBC |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Baptist |
| Theology | Evangelical Baptist |
| Polity | Congregational |
| President | Steve Gaines |
| Region | United States |
| Origin | May 8–12, 1845 Augusta, Georgia |
| Separated from | Triennial Convention (1845) |
| Separations | |
| Congregations | 47,272 (2016) |
| Members | 15.22 million (2016) |
| Official website | www |
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. With more than 15 million members as of 2015[update], it is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, second-largest Christian denomination in the United States after the Catholic Church.
The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention stems from it having been founded in 1845 at a regional convention held in Augusta, Georgia in the Southern United States, following a split in the national group of members from the northern Baptists over the issue of slavery; the immediate issue was whether Southern slave owners could serve as missionaries. After the American Civil War, another split occurred when most freedmen set up independent black congregations, regional associations, and state and national conventions, such as the National Baptist Convention, which became the second-largest Baptist convention by the end of the 19th century. Others joined new African-American denominations, chiefly the African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early 19th century, as the first independent black denomination in the United States.
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