American Baptist Churches USA
The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a Baptist Christian denomination established in 1907 originally as the Northern Baptist Convention, and from 1950 to 1972 as the American Baptist Convention. It traces its history to the First Baptist Church in America (1638) and the Baptist congregational associations which organized the Triennial Convention in 1814.
Not to be confused with American Baptist Association.American Baptist Churches USA
United States
May 17, 1907
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Triennial Convention related boards
Free Will Baptist General Conference (1911)
4,973
1,211,744
16
10
Northern Baptist Convention (1907–1950)
American Baptist Convention (1950–1972)
Headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, ABCUSA is considered mainline, although varying theological and mission emphases may be found among its congregations, including modernist, charismatic and evangelical orientations.[1]
History[edit]
Colonial New England Baptists[edit]
American Baptist Churches USA have their origins in the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island, now the First Baptist Church in America, founded in 1638 by the minister Roger Williams.[2][3] Regarded by the more dogmatic Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a heretic for his religious separatism, Williams was banished into the New England wilderness where he and his followers created the settlement of Providence and later, the colony of Rhode Island. Williams is credited with being the founder of the Baptist movement in America, the founder of the state of Rhode Island, and the first highly visible public leader in America to call for the separation of church and state.
Statistics[edit]
In 1925, there were just over 1.4 million members.[16] Membership peaked in the early 1980s at around 1.6 million. Since the beginning of the 21st century, membership began to decline and stagnate again, with the ABCUSA reporting 1,145,647 members in 5,057 churches at the end of 2017. According to a census published by the denomination in 2023, it claimed 4,973 churches and 1,211,744 members.[17]
The majority of its congregations are concentrated in the Midwest and Northeast United States.[18] Numbers of the most wealthy and affluent American families, such as Rockefeller family, are American Baptists.[19][20]
According to a study by the Pew Research Center in 2014, 21% of its members were aged 18–29; 28% 30–49; 32% aged 50–64 and 19% aged 65 and older. While 51% of its membership were Baby Boomers, the Silent Generation, and the Greatest Generation, the remainder were Generation X, older millennials, and younger millennials,[21] making it slightly younger than the National Baptist Convention and Southern Baptist Convention.[22][23] Approximately 40% of its membership were men and 60% were women, and the ABCUSA's churches were 73% non-Hispanic white, 10% Black or African American, 1% Asian, 11% Hispanic or Latino American, and 5% multiracial or other.
Theologically, the Pew Research Center's 2014 study determined 83% of the ABCUSA believes in God with absolute certainty, and 15% believed fairly certainly; 73% believed religion was very important and 24% considered it somewhat important. About 42% of members attended churches at least once a week, while 41% attended once or twice a month; 16% seldom or never attend church. An estimated 69% prayed daily, and 19% prayed weekly. Among its membership, 48% read Scripture at least once a week, and 15% once or twice a month; 53% believe the Bible should be taken literally, while 27% believe it is still the Word of God, yet shouldn't be taken completely literally.[21]
The ABCUSA has 16 affiliated universities and colleges affiliated with it,[36] and a number of home and foreign missionary societies such as the American Baptist Home Mission Society and International Ministries. Among its universities and colleges, some are also dually-affiliated with the National Baptists—a predominantly African American or Black Baptist denomination founded by freedmen and slaves. Additionally, there are 10 seminaries affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA:[37]