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Southern Baptist Convention
Reaching the world for Christ.
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Baptist
Polity	Congregationalist
Origin	May 8-12, 1845 Augusta, Georgia
Separated from	The Triennial Convention
Separations	American Baptist Association, Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Geographical Area	United States (primarily in the South)
Statistics
Congregations	44,223
Members	16.3 million

Part of a series on Southern Baptists

Background Christianity Protestantism Anabaptists General Baptists & Particular Baptists Landmarkism Conservative/Fundamentalist Ascendance Baptist theology London Confession, 1689 New Hampshire Confession, 1833 Baptist Faith & Message Doctrinal distinctives Biblical inerrancy Autonomy of the local church Priesthood of believers Two ordinances Individual soul liberty Separation of church and state Two offices People

Deceased John Spilsbury • Lottie Moon • B. H. Carroll W.A. Criswell • Adrian Rogers • Jerry Falwell, Sr. Living Billy Graham • Franklin Graham • Duke K. McCall Richard Land • Paige Patterson • Albert Mohler Mark Dever • Jonathan Falwell Mike Huckabee • Rick Warren

Related organizations Cooperative Program North American Mission Board International Mission Board LifeWay Christian Resources Women's Missionary Union Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Baptist Press Canadian Convention Seminaries Golden Gate Midwestern New Orleans Southeastern Southern Southwestern This box: view • talk • edit

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a United States-based Christian denomination that consists of numerous agencies including six seminaries, two mission boards and a variety of other organizations such as: the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, which can act for the SBC ad interim between annual meetings; Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission, Southern Baptist Foundation and GuideStone Financial Resources.

The name "Southern Baptist Convention" refers both to the denomination and to its annual meeting of messengers. Messengers are those who are elected by an individual congregation to attend the annual meeting as representatives of the local church. Though they are similar to delegates, they are not obligated to cast votes representing a particular stance on any issue. All messengers are free to vote according to their conscience. Churches are free to choose messengers based on their loyalty to positions held by the majority in their local church.

The SBC is the largest Baptist group in the world and the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the second largest grouping of Christians in the United States, the Roman Catholic Church being the largest.

Contents 1 History of the SBC 1.1 Baptists come to America 1.2 Birth pains 1.3 The SBC is formed 1.4 Historical controversies 1.5 The SBC today 2 Statistics 3 Theology and practice 3.1 Position statements 3.2 Ordinances/Sacraments 3.2.1 The Lord's Supper 3.2.2 Baptism 3.3 Gender-based roles 3.3.1 In the pastorate 3.3.2 In marriage 3.4 Worship services 4 Polity and organization 4.1 Two offices (pastor and deacon) 4.2 Local congregation 4.3 Local association 4.4 State conventions 4.5 National convention 5 Affiliated organizations 5.1 Missions agencies 5.2 National educational institutions 5.3 State educational institutions 5.4 Other SBC organizations 6 Prominent Southern Baptists 7 References 7.1 Primary sources 7.2 Secondary sources 8 External links

Further information: Baptists in the United States

Most early Baptists in America originally came from England in the seventeenth century when the king and the state church persecuted them for holding their distinct religious views. Baptists like Roger Williams and Dr. John Clarke migrated to New England in the 1630s. The oldest Baptist church in the South, First Baptist Church, Charleston, South Carolina, was organized in 1682 under the leadership of Rev. William Screven. A Baptist church was formed in the Virginia colony in 1715 through the preaching of Robert Norden, and one in North Carolina in 1727 through the ministry of Paul Palmer. By 1740, there were about eight Baptist churches in the colonies of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, with an estimated 300-400 members.^[1]

Churches supported by public taxes opposed the rapid spread of Baptists in the South. Particularly in Virginia, many Baptist preachers were whipped and imprisoned just prior to the American Revolution. Once the war began, Baptists soon became active patriots in the cause.

By the early 1800s, numerous social, cultural, economic, and political differences existed between the business owners of the North, the farmers of the West, and the planters of the South. Three separate Baptist national societies existed by 1840: The Triennial Convention, the Home Mission Society, and Baptists in the South.

Slavery was the "most critical" issue among Baptists. Baptists in the South believed that the Bible supported the practice of slavery, and they also wanted to preserve the rights of ministers to own slaves.^[2] The Triennial Convention and the Home Mission Society reaffirmed their neutrality concerning slavery. Georgia Baptists decided to test the claimed neutrality by recommending a slaveholder to the Home Mission Society as a missionary in the South. Home Mission Society's board decided that they would not appoint a slaveholder as a missionary, a decision that the Baptists in the South saw as an infringement of their equal rights.^[3] This position on slavery and racial superiority was not officially denounced until June 20, 1995 when a formal "Declaration of Repentance" was issued by the SBC.^[4][5]

A secondary issue that disturbed the churches in the south was the perception that the American Baptist Home Mission Society (org. 1832) did not appoint a proportionate number of missionaries to the southern region of the U.S., a likely result of the Society not appointing slaveholders as missionaries. ^[6]

In addition, Baptists both north and south preferred different types of denominational organization: the Baptists in the north preferred a loosely structured society composed of individuals who paid annual dues, with each society usually focused on a single ministry. Baptists in southern churches preferred an more centralized organization of congregations composed of churches patterned after their associations, with a variety of ministries brought under the direction of one denominational organization.^[7]

The discontent of Baptists from the south regarding slavery eventually led to their withdrawal from the national Baptist organizations. Meeting at the First Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia^[8] in May 1845, they formed a new convention and named it the Southern Baptist Convention. They elected as its first president William Bullein Johnson (1782-1862), who had served as president of the Triennial Convention in 1841.

The consequences of the decision to separate from other Baptists in defense of the institution of slavery have been long lived. A survey by SBC's Home Mission Board in 1968 showed that only eleven percent of Southern Baptist churches would admit Americans of African descent.^[9] During the SBC Conservative Resurgence/Fundamentalist Takeover the Southern Baptist Convention of 1995 voted to adopt a resolution renouncing its racist roots and apologizing for its past defense of slavery.^[10] The racism resolution marked the denomination's first formal acknowledgement that racism played a role in its founding. Today there are many diverse and even self-consciously ethnic churches within the convention.

During its history, the Southern Baptist Convention has had several periods of major internal controversy. The denomination's lack of a hierarchical form of government (polity) lends itself toward very public displays of disagreement, including:

• Landmarkism, which led to the formation of Gospel Missions and the American Baptist Association

• The "Whitsitt controversy" (1896–1899),^[11] in which Dr. William H. Whitsitt, professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, set forth his theory that the English Baptists did not begin to baptize by immersion until 1641, when a part of the Anabaptists, as they were then called, began to practice immersion.

• The "SBC Conservative Resurgence/Fundamentalist Takeover"—by far its most notable disagreement.^[12] The well-orchestrated takeover has been described by one Baptist leader^[13] as having fragmented Southern Baptist fellowship and as being "far more serious than a controversy." The leader wrote that "it was a self-destructive, contentious, one-sided feud that at times took on combative characteristics." Southern Baptists are now polarized into two major groups—moderates and conservatives. All of the leaders of Southern Baptist agencies prior to 1979 have been replaced with fundamentalist leaders.^[14]

Today, the SBC has grown from its regional, sectionalist roots to a major force in American and international Christianity. There are Southern Baptist congregations in every state and territory in the United States, though the greatest numbers remain in the southern United States, its traditional stronghold.

The national scope of the Convention inspired some members to suggest a name change. In 2005, proposals were made at the Annual Meeting of the Convention, to change the name from the regional-sounding '"Southern Baptist Convention"' to a more national-sounding "North American Baptist Convention" or "Scriptural Baptist Convention" (to retain the SBC initials). The proposals were defeated.^[15]

The SBC claims to have more than 16.3 million members in 44,000 churches throughout the US. One internal study by the SBC shows that on average, 38% of the membership number (6,138,776 members, guests and non-member children) attend their church's primary worship meeting.^[16]

It has 1,200 local associations, 41 state conventions and fellowships covering all 50 states and territories of the United States. Through their "Cooperative Program," Southern Baptists support thousands of missionaries in the United States and worldwide (over 10,000 in 2005).

There are more Southern Baptist congregations in America than of any other religious group, including the Roman Catholic Church (although in terms of members there are three times more Catholics in the United States than Southern Baptists).

Data from church sources and independent surveys indicate that since 1990, membership of SBC churches is declining in proportion to the American population.^[17] Historically, though, the Convention has grown throughout its history:

Year	Membership
1845	350,000
1860	650,000
1875	1,260,000
1890	1,240,000
1905	1,900,000
1920	3,150,000
1935	4,480,000
1950	7,080,000
1965	10,780,000
1980	13,700,000
1995	15,400,000
2000	15,900,000
2005	16,600,000

Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S. (1976) series H805 (with 2005 estimate from Convention figures).

The general theological perspective of the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention is represented in the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M).^[18] The BF&M was first drafted in 1925, and then revised significantly in 1963 and again in 2000, with the latter revision being the subject of much controversy. The BF&M is not considered to be a creed along the lines of historic Christian creeds such as the Nicene Creed. Members are not required to adhere to it. Churches belonging to the SBC are not required to use it as their "Statement of Faith" or "Statement of Doctrine" (though many do in lieu of creating their own Statement). Despite the fact that the BF&M is not a "creed," faculty in SBC-owned seminaries and missionaries who apply to serve through the various SBC missionary agencies must "affirm" that their practices, doctrine, and preaching are consistent with the BF&M.

The official Web site of the Southern Baptist Convention lists ten "Position Statements" on various contemporary issues.^[19]

• Priesthood of all believers—Laypersons have the same right as ordained ministers to communicate with God, interpret Scripture, and minister in Christ's name^[20]
• Soul competency—the accountability of each person before God^[21]
• Creeds and confessions—Statements of belief are revisable in light of Scripture. The Bible is the final word.^[22]
• Women in ministry—Women are an integral part of Southern Baptist boards, faculties, mission teams, writer pools, and professional staffs. Pastoral leadership is assigned to men.^[23]
• Church and state—a free church in a free state. Neither one should control the affairs of the other.^[24]
• Missions—We honor the indigenous principle in missions. We cannot, however, compromise doctrine or give up who we are to win the favor of those we try to reach or those with whom we desire to work.^[25]
• Autonomy of local church—We affirm the autonomy of the local church.^[26]
• Cooperation—The Cooperative Program of missions is integral to the Southern Baptist genius.^[27]
• Sexuality—We affirm God's plan for marriage and sexual intimacy—one man, and one woman, for life. Homosexuality is not a "valid alternative lifestyle."^[28]
• Sanctity of life—At the moment of conception, a new being enters the universe, a human being, a being created in God's image.^[29]

Main article: Baptist ordinance

Southern Baptists, as the Baptist Faith and Message^[18] outlines, observe two ordinances: the Lord's Supper and Believer's baptism.

Southern Baptists observe the Lord's Supper with no established frequency. Each individual local church decides whether it is observed monthly, quarterly, etc. Churches tend to use small individual glasses instead of a "common cup." Non-alcoholic grape juice is nearly always served instead of wine. Both leavened and unleavened bread may be utilized, but the unleavened variety seems to predominate.

Southern Baptists maintain the historic Baptist practice of administering baptism only to persons who have reached the "age of accountability" or "age of reason" and who have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (believers). They also hold to the historic Baptist belief that immersion is the only valid mode of baptism. Candidates for membership in an SBC church must already be or become baptized believers. Some SBC congregations will accept previous baptisms by immersion from other denominations as being valid, provided that they were performed after the individual accepted Christ for salvation.

As noted above, the SBC voted to revise its statement of faith in 2000. Among the notable changes are two statements concerning gender roles in both ministry and marriage.^[18] Although similar views have influenced Baptist groups in the past,^{[30] [31]} these additions to the Baptist Faith and Message represent the first time such stances have been integrated into the statement of faith of a major American body of Baptists.

Article VI. The Church. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

By explicitly defining the pastoral office as the exclusive domain of males, the 2000 BF&M provision becomes the SBC's first-ever official position against women pastors.

Autonomous local congregations are not required to adopt male-only pastors as their theological position. Neither the BF&M nor the SBC provides any mechanism to trigger automatic expulsion of congregations that adopt practices or theology contrary to the BF&M. However, going against the SBC's official gender protocol, defended on biblical grounds, opens a local Baptist congregation to severe criticism and even further penalties. Some SBC churches that have hired a woman as pastor have been excluded from fellowship and membership in their local associations of Baptist churches with fewer such actions taking place within annual meetings of state conventions.^[32]

While this "male-only pastors" language is indeed new to BF&M, it does not necessarily represent an innovation in Southern Baptist thought. At the time the Baptist Faith and Message was revised in 2000, only .08% of all SBC churches were pastored by women.^[33] (By contrast, 6.2% of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) churches and 9.1% of American Baptist Churches, USA (ABC-USA) churches are pastored by women.)^[34]

Additionally, the 2000 BF&M now describes the family as follows:

Article XVIII. The Family. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to his people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Most Southern Baptists observe a low church form of worship that is less formal and uses no stated liturgy (the total absence of some type of liturgy being impossible). Worship services usually follow a "Revivalistic" liturgy including: hymns, prayer, choral music by a choir, soloist, or both, the reading of Scripture, the collection of offerings, a sermon, and an invitation to respond to the sermon. People may respond during the invitation by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and begin Christian discipleship, to enter into vocational ministry, to join the church, or make some other public decision.

As is true of most Baptists, Southern Baptists' typical form of government is Congregationalist: each local church is autonomous, without formal lines of responsibility to organizational levels of higher authority. Deacons of each church are elected by the congregation. In some Baptist congregations, deacons function much like a board of directors or executive committee authorized to make important decisions although these congregations typically retain the right to vote on major decisions such as purchasing or selling property, large spending and the hiring or firing of pastors and other paid ministers.

In recent decades, many congregations have shifted the role of deacons from being a governing board to pastoral and nurturing responsibilities. One such model is the Deacon Family Ministry Plan in which the number of families in a local church is divided roughly among the active deacons. Each deacon is assigned responsibility for providing pastoral care and other spiritual nurture for the families assigned.^[35][36][37]Because Baptist churches believe strongly in the autonomy of the local church, the Convention is conceived as a cooperative organization by which churches can pool resources, rather than as a body with any administrative control over local churches.

It maintains a central administrative organization in Nashville, Tennessee. The Executive Committee, as it is called, has no authority over its affiliated state conventions, local associations, individual churches or members. It does exercise authority and control over seminaries and other institutions owned by the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Convention's "confession of faith," the Baptist Faith and Message,^[18] is also not binding on churches or members (see "Beliefs" above).

There are four levels of SBC organization: the local congregation, the local association, the state convention, and the national convention.

Generally, Baptists recognize only two Scriptural offices: pastor-teacher and deacon. In most SBC churches, these offices are reserved for men based on tradition and SBC interpretation of certain New Testament scriptures.

Each congregation is independent and autonomous, except for certain "mission churches." Thus, each local congregation is free to:

• associate with or disassociate from the SBC (and/or any of its affiliates) at any time
• determine the level of support which it provides to SBC-affiliated programs and/or other groups (though in order to affiliate with a local association or a state or the national convention, some minimum level of giving is required)
• conduct its own internal affairs (such as hiring and firing, determining its doctrinal statement and membership qualifications, order and format of services, and other matters) without approval from any higher level entity

Certain smaller congregations, called "mission churches," are sponsored by one or more larger congregations or by Baptist associations. The ordinary goal is for each mission church to become self-supporting, and thus become an independent and autonomous church. A mission church is often created to reach a particular demographic groups, such as residents of a new real estate development, a particular ethnic group or young families.

Most individual congregations choose to affiliate with Baptist associations, which are generally organized within certain defined geographic areas within a state (such as a county). The prior general rule was that only one association existed in a specific geographical area, did not cross state lines (unless a state convention consisted of multiple states), and did not accept churches from outside that area.

For many years, particularly within metropolitan areas, numerous Baptist associations may exist within the same county. While some suspect the conservative takeover of the SBC in the 1980s fuelled an increase in this phenomenon, the paradigm in many areas of the SBC had already existed prior to 1980.

The primary goal of many associations is evangelism and church planting (i.e., assisting churches in starting "mission churches"). Even with related ministries, such as food pantries or crisis pregnancy centers), associational volunteers and staff who conduct the ministries often share an evangelistic message along with material and practical assistance.

An association cannot direct the affairs of member churches but can set requirements for continued membership. For example, an association may initiate the "disfellowshipping" (or expulsion) of any church with which it disagrees, generally in areas of contentious practice or doctrine, such as: charismatic doctrine; a local church's ordination of women or sanctioning homosexuality such as through ordination or "blessing" of same-sex unions in any manner); or acceptance of "alien immersion" (the acceptance of members from Christian denominations who have been baptized with a method, such as sprinkling, not consistent with the typical Baptist requirement of immersion).

Association meetings are generally held annually. The association is free to set the time and place, as well as determining the number of messengers each church may send (each church is allowed a minimum number; the general practice—at the association level and at the higher levels as well—is that larger and more financially supportive churches are allowed more messengers).

Individual congregations and associations may further choose to affiliate into state conventions.

With the exception of Texas and Virginia, which have two conventions, each state has only one convention (some smaller states, in terms of number of SBC congregations, are affiliated into a larger multi-state convention).

As with associations, the primary goal is evangelism and church planting. The state conventions also support educational institutions (often institutions of higher education) and may support retirement and children's homes.

As with associations, the state convention cannot direct individual church affairs but can set requirements for affiliation and "disfellowship" churches at its discretion. And, the state convention generally meets annually, sets the time and place, and determines the number of messengers allowed per church.

Current State Conventions associated with the SBC include:

• California Southern Baptist Convention
• Florida Baptist Convention
• Illinois Baptist State Association
• Kentucky Baptist Convention
• Louisiana Baptist Convention
• Mississippi Baptist Convention
• Tennessee Baptist Convention
• Baptist General Convention of Texas (dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF)
• Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) (convention formed as a conservative response to the more moderate Baptist General Convention of Texas)
• Baptist General Association of Virginia (dually aligned with both the SBC and the CBF)
• Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (convention formed as a conservative response to the more moderate Baptist General Association of Virginia)
• Complete Listing of SBC aligned State Conventions

The "highest" level of organization is the national convention (usually called the "Convention") made up of individual churches, associations, and state conventions, which meets annually in early June. The following quotation from the SBC Constitution explains the membership and description of "messengers" to each annual meeting:

Article III. Membership: The Convention shall consist of messengers who are members of missionary Baptist churches cooperating with the Convention as follows:

1. One messenger from each church which: (1) Is in friendly cooperation with the Convention and sympathetic with its purposes and work. Among churches not in cooperation with the Convention are churches which act to affirm, approve, or endorse homosexual behavior. And, (2) Has been a bona fide contributor to the Convention's work during the fiscal year preceding.

2. One additional messenger from each such church for every two hundred and fifty members; or for each $250.00 paid to the work of the Convention during the fiscal year preceding the annual meeting.

3. The messengers shall be appointed and certified by the churches to the Convention, but no church may appoint more than ten.

4. Each messenger shall be a member of the church by which he is appointed.

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.

– SBC Constitution^[38]

The Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 1845 primarily for the purpose of creating a mission board to support the sending of Baptist missionaries. The North American Mission Board', or NAMB, (founded as the Domestic Mission Board, and later the Home Mission Board) in Alpharetta, Georgia serves missionaries involved in evangelism and church planting in the U.S. and Canada, while the International Mission Board', or IMB, (originally the Foreign Mission Board) in Richmond, Virginia sponsors missionaries to the rest of the world.

The national Convention supports six educational institutions devoted to religious instruction and ministry preparation:

• Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Mill Valley, California (http://www.ggbts.edu)
• Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri (http://www.mbts.edu)
• New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana (http://www.nobts.edu)
• Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina (http://www.sebts.edu)
• Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky (founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, and the oldest of the six institutions) (http://www.sbts.edu)
• Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas (http://www.swbts.edu)

The Education Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention used to deal with all matters concerning education. But since its recent dissolution all Baptist educational institutions are handled by their respective states.

• Category:Universities and colleges affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention^[39]

For example, Criswell College in Dallas, Texas, is a Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) affiliated college. It is Southern Baptist in its doctrinal foundation but is supported by the state convention instead of the national one.

There are 52 state conventions supported higher educational institutions in their respective states. State conventions also support many prominent boarding academies.

• Baptist Men on Mission,^[40] formally known as Brotherhood, BMEN is the mission organization for men in Southern Baptist Churches.
• Baptist Press,^[41] the largest Christian news service in the country, was established by the SBC in 1946.
• Guidestone Financial Resources ^[42] (founded in 1920 as the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention) exists to provide insurance, retirement, and investment services to ministers and employees of Southern Baptist churches and agencies. It underwent a severe financial crisis in the 1930s.
• LifeWay Christian Resources,^[43] founded as the Baptist Sunday School Board in 1891, which is one of the largest Christian publishing houses in America and operates the "LifeWay Christian Store" chain of bookstores.
• Women's Missionary Union, founded in 1888, is an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, and helps facilitate two large annual missions offerings: the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Main article: List of Baptists

This list makes no assumptions whether those included are currently active in the SBC or living their lives according to Southern Baptist principles. The following well-known individuals at some point have identified themselves as Southern Baptists:

• Clay Aiken, American Idol runner up
• Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States (Carter later left the SBC for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship because of his differences with the direction of the SBC leadership and beliefs.)
• Bill Clinton, former President of the United States. Raised Southern Baptist.^[44] Working with Jimmy Carter to conduct "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant" meeting of approx. 30 Baptist denominations and organizations in the US and Canada: Atlanta, January 30 February 1, 2008.^[45]
• Al Gore, Vice-President of the United States from 1993–2001; Democratic presidential candidate in 2000. Gore was raised as a Southern Baptist, but like Carter and Clinton he formally left the Southern Baptist Convention due to his disagreements with many of the SBC's positions on public issues.
• Billy Graham
• Zach Johnson, professional golfer^[46]
• Bill Moyers, raised a Southern Baptist and educated at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, press secretary to President Lyndon Johnson, and later publisher of Newsday and well-known journalist and TV personality (CBS and PBS); now a member of The Riverside Church in New York City, a dually-aligned American Baptist-United Church of Christ congregation.
• Rick Warren, pastor of the 20,000-member Saddleback Church in California and author of The Purpose Driven Life
• Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, and presidential hopeful in the 2008 Presidential Elections

• Baker, Robert. ed. A Baptist Source Book. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1966.
• Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States, 2000. Glenmary Research Center

• Ammerman, Nancy, Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention. Rutgers University Press, 1990.
• Ammerman, Nancy, ed. Southern Baptists Observed University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
• Baker, Robert. The Southern Baptist Convention and Its People, 1607–1972. Broadman Press, 1974.
• Barnes, William. The Southern Baptist Convention, 1845–1953 Broadman Press, 1954.
• Eighmy, John. Churches in Cultural Captivity: A History of the Social Attitudes of Southern Baptists. University of Tennessee Press, 1972.
• Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists: Presenting Their History, Doctrine, Polity, Life, Leadership, Organization & Work Knoxville: Broadman Press, v 1–2 (1958), 1500 pp; 2 supplementary volumes 1958 and 1962; vol 5 = Index, 1984
• Farnsley II, Arthur Emery, Southern Baptist Politics: Authority and Power in the Restructuring of an American Denomination; Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994
• Fuller, A. James. Chaplain to the Confederacy: Basil Manly and Baptist Life in the Old South (2002)
• Gatewood, Willard. Controversy in the 1920s: Fundamentalism, Modernism, and Evolution. Vanderbilt University Press, 1969.
• Hankins, Barry. Religion and American Culture. Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 2002. Argues that Baptist conservatives see themselves as cultural warriors critiquing a secular and liberal America
• Harvey, Paul. Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities among Southern Baptists, 1865–1925. University of North Carolina Press, 1997
• Heyrman, Christine Leigh. Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt (1998) 1770–1860
• Hill, Samuel, et al. Encyclopedia of Religion in the South (2005)
• Kell, Carl L. and L. Raymond Camp, In the Name of the Father: The Rhetoric of the New Southern Baptist Convention. Southern Illinois University Press, 1999
• Leonard, Bill J. God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.
• Lumpkin, William L. Baptist History in the South: Tracing through the Separates the Influence of the Great Awakening, 1754–1787 (1995)
• Marsden, George. Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of 20th Century Evangelicalism. Oxford University Press, 1980.
• Rosenberg, Ellen. The Southern Baptists: A Subculture in Transition. University of Tennessee Press, 1989.
• Scales, T. Laine. All That Fits a Woman: Training Southern Baptist Women for Charity and Mission, 1907–1926 Mercer U. Press 2002
• Smith, Oran P. The Rise of Baptist Republicanism (1997), on recent voting behavior
• Spain, Rufus B. At Ease in Zion: A Social History of Southern Baptists, 1865–1900 (1961)
• Sutton, Jerry. The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention (2000).
• Wills, Gregory A. Democratic Religion: Freedom, Authority, and Church Discipline in the Baptist South, 1785–1900. Oxford University Press, 1997

• Official Website of the Southern Baptist Convention
• International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
• LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention (formerly the Baptist Sunday School Board)
• North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
• Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
• Woman's Missionary Union