Baptist Groups in the United States
By R. L. Vaughn, 2006Broad categories are based on the categories found in Baptists Around the World and Baptist Atlas, both works by Dr. Albert W. Wardin, Jr.Total on my list = 63, plus 11 ethnic bodies.
REGULAR BAPTISTS (NORTHERN-ORIENTED) 1. American Baptist Churches in the USA 2. Baptist General Conference 3. Conservative Baptist Association of America 4. North American Baptist Conference 5. Seventh Day Baptist General Conference 6. Fundamental Baptist Fellowship of America 7. General Association of Regular Baptist Churches 8. Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America 9. New England Evangelical Baptist Fellowship 10. New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches
STATE OR REGIONAL GROUPS RELATED TO (but not affiliated with) THE NTA 11. Minnesota Baptist Association 12. Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches 13. Association of Independent Baptist Churches of Illinois 14. Dakota Baptist Association 15. Inter-Mountain Baptist Fellowship 16. Mountain States Baptist Fellowship 17. Association of Fundamental Baptist Churches of Northern California 18. Independent Fundamental Baptist Association (MI)
REGULAR BAPTISTS (SOUTHERN-ORIENTED) 19. Southern Baptist Convention 20. Alliance of Baptists 21. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 22. American Baptist Association 23. Baptist Missionary Association of America 24. Interstate and Foreign Landmark Missionary Baptist Association of America 25. Old Time Missionary Baptists (various local associations especially in TN & KY) 26. World Baptist Fellowship 27. Baptist Bible Fellowship International 28. Independent Baptist Fellowship International 29. Southwide Baptist Fellowship 30. Northwest Baptist Fellowship 31. Missouri Valley Concord of Independent Baptist Churches 32. Liberty Baptist Fellowship 33. Global Independent Baptist Fellowship
NATIONAL BAPTISTS 34. National Baptist Convention of America 35. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. 36. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America 37. National Primitive Baptist Convention, Inc. 38. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.
PRIMITIVISTS (SOUTHERN-ORIENTED) 39. Central Baptist Association 40. General Association of Baptists (aka Duck River and Kindred Associations) 41. Old Regular Baptists 42. Regular Baptists 43. Union Baptists 44. United Baptists 45. Old Line Primitive Baptists 46. Absolute Predestinarian Primitive Baptists 47. Progressive Primitive Baptists 48. Primitive Baptist Univeralists (believe in Universal--not general--atonement) 49. Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists (3 churches left) 50. Black Primitive Baptists (primitivistic, not related to the progressive NPBC) 51. Jasper, New Hope and Pleasant Valley Associations (GA)
FREE WILL/GENERAL BAPTISTS 52. National Association of Free Will Baptists 53. Original Free Will Baptist Convention (NC) 54. United American Free Will Baptist Church 55. General Association of General Baptists 56. General Six-Principle Baptists (1 church left, I think) 57. Separate Baptists in Christ 58. National Association of United Baptists (similar to the UB's above {# 44}, but Arminian rather than Calvinistic)
REFORMED BAPTISTS 59. Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America 60. Sovereign Grace Baptist Association 61. Continental Baptist Churches
OTHER 62. Strict Baptists (3 churches related to the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists of England) 63. Unaffiliated Baptists - numerous churches across the country do not affiliate with any kind of group or fellowship and some may not fit in any of the categories above.
ETHNIC BAPTISTS There are many associations, conferences, and conventions that exist separately from the major conventions because of a difference in language. These groups usually relate in some way to the larger national bodies and therefore are not usually counted as separate groups of Baptists. I have confirmed at least 11 ethnic bodies that are autonomous or semi-autonomous, yet all or some of the churches participate in other bodies. They are:
ABCUSA related Association of Evangelicals for Italian Missions Czechoslovak Baptist Convention of the USA & Canada Portuguese Baptist Convention of New England - org. 1903 Romanian Baptist Association of the US & Canada - Morton Grove, IL - org. 1913 Russian-Ukranian Evangelical Baptist Union, USA, Inc. Union of Latvian Baptists in America
NBC related Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul-Saving Assembly - Detroit, MI - org. 1920 [Note: I do not list the black Baptists above as ethnic bodies. They exist probably mostly because of reconstruction & segregation. But their origin is from membership within the General & Particular churches of British background. I have listed these two here, because they do not seem to be independent bodies but relate back to some one or the other of the National Baptist Conventions.]
SBC related Polish Baptist Association in the USA & Canada - org. 1913 Ukranian Evangelical Baptist Convention - org. 1946 Other Hungarian Baptist Convention of North America, Inc. - org. 1908 I would expect, but have not found information on, autonomous or semi-autonomous Spanish-speaking Baptist bodies. Baptist "split-offs" -- such as Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, Holiness Baptist Association, General Conference of the Evangelical Baptist Church, etc. -- are counted as Baptists by some compilers of such data. It is my opinion that neither Baptists, nor these groups themselves, recognize them as Baptist. SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON BAPTISTS Baptists Around the World, Albert W. Wardin, Jr. Encyclopedia of American Religions, by J. Gordon Melton, editor Handbook of Denominations, by Mead and Hill Baptist Atlas, by Albert W. Wardin, Jr. Dictionary of Baptists in America, by Bill J. Leonard, editor Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, National Council of Churches
================== [From R. L. Vaughn, http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com November 06, 2006. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
More on Various Subjects
Baptist History Homepage