Check.Church

Southern Baptist Convention

Baptist · 1845 · Southern United States origin; nationwide since WWII

When the mission boards refused to appoint enslavers as missionaries, the southern associations withdrew and organized at Augusta in 1845 to continue missions on their own terms — a division over slavery the convention itself formally apologized for in 1995. Now the largest Protestant body in the US; the conservative resurgence (from 1979) and membership decline since 2006 are node-timeline facts.

Southern Baptist Convention was formed in 1845. Southern Baptist Convention continues today. Southern Baptist Convention's institutional line runs back through Triennial Convention, Particular Baptists, Congregationalists, Church of England, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Southern Baptist Convention stand 5 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1845
Family
Baptist
Region
Southern United States origin; nationwide since WWII
Key figures
William Bullein Johnson
Cause tags
Politics, Doctrine, Governance
Also known as
SBC; Great Commission Baptists (descriptor, 2012)

What it separated from

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc..

On the tree

Southern Baptist Convention and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33today1004244314511054153415811633181418451895The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchThe spineChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchThe spineThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchThe spineOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismCatholicChurch of England (Anglican)Church of EnglandAnglicanCongregationalists (Congregational)CongregationalistsCongregationalParticular Baptists (Baptist)Particular BaptistsBaptistTriennial Convention (Baptist)Triennial ConventionBaptistSouthern Baptist Convention (Baptist)Southern BaptistConventionBaptistNational Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. (Baptist)National BaptistConvention, USA, Inc.Baptist

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2.

Adherents

About 12,722,266 adherents (official census, as of 2024).

Source: SBC Annual Church Profile 2024 (Lifeway Research; ~69% of churches reporting); 46,876 churches; peak 16.3M in 2006; 18th consecutive year of decline; weekly attendance 4.3M

Notes

  • 2025 preliminarily a further ~3% decline (secondary, May 2026); take the official 2025 ACP at build.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-10.