Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States of America. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with nearly 16 million members as of 2012. This also makes it the second largest Christian body in the United States, after the Catholic Church.

The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention stems from it having been founded and rooted in the Southern United States, following a split from northern Baptists over the issue of whether slave owners could serve as missionaries. Members at a regional convention held in Augusta, Georgia created the SBC in 1845. After the American Civil War, another split occurred when most freedmen set up independent congregations. Many set up their own Baptist churches, regional associations, and state and national conventions, such as the National Baptist Convention, which became the second largest Baptist convention. Others joined new African-American denominations, chiefly the African Methodist Episcopal Church.