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John Smyth & Thomas Helwys organize first English-speaking Baptist Church
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London Baptists organize first Particular Baptist Church
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Providence Baptist Church organizes first Baptist Church in North America
Separatist Roger Williams established a community and a church at Providence, Rhode Island for those who desired the separation of church and state. The establishment of the First Baptist Church in North America gave form to the denomination that we now have today. -
Charleston FBC-First Baptist Church in the South
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Philadelphia Baptist Association is first Baptist Association formed
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George Whitfield preaches in Baptist church in Charleston at start of the First Great Awakening
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David George
1742-1810
Born a slave, David George and his wife were saved after hearing George Liele preach. David began preaching to other slaves and formed a church. He would later be moved by the British to Canada where he formed the first Baptist church in Canada. He was the target of racist persecution and violence for his ministry to blacks and whites. Finally, his entire family was sent to Africa as missionaries, and he had a successful pastoral ministry in Sierra Leone. -
Charleston Baptist Association- First Baptist Association in the South
Organized by Rev. Oliver Hart -
Sandy Creek Baptist Association-Center of Separate Baptist Movement
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John Leland: religious liberty advocate
1754-1841
John Leland was an evangelist-pastor who preached approximately 8,000 sermons in his 71 years of ministry service. He was a passionate advocate on the issues of religious liberty and freedom of conscience. His teaching on these issues connected with the thoughts of contemporaries Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Leland spoke fervently for religious freedom and against chattel slavery which had taken an ugly hold on the United States. -
John Taylor's preaching begins Second Great Awakening
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Ann Judson: missionary to Burma
1789-1826
Ann Judson was the first female missionary from America. Her husband, Adoniram, spent years in a Burmese prison, and they lost three young children, but their work resulted in many salvations, the forming of a small church, the translation of the Bible into Burmese and the development of translation materials for future missionaries. -
Triennial Convention Formed
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Baptists appoint Lott Carey as first African-American missionary
After being saved in his 20s, Lott Carey taught himself to read so that he could read the Bible for himself. Soon, he felt called to take the gospel back to Africa. Lott Carey took his family to Liberia where he established a missionary presence and influenced the organization of the young country. Lott Carey laid the groundwork for the flourishing of later missionary efforts in Africa, and he has inspired countless more missionaries. -
Baptists Disfellowship Campbellites
The Campbellites were led by the theology and ecclesiology of Alexander Campbell, who eventually founded the Disciples of Christ and the Church of Christ. -
Basil Manly, Sr.: SBC & SBTS Co-founder
1798-1868
Basil Manly, Sr. was instrumental in the formation of the Southern Baptist cooperation of churches and the formation of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. A well connected man of influence and power, Manly's efforts to form the Southern Baptist cooperative and the seminary were largely influenced by his convictions surrounding slavery. He, along with many of the other founding members of the seminary, were slaveholders and argued in favor of the institution of slavery. -
Southern Baptist Convention Formed (including Foreign and Home Mission Boards)
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Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Founded
James P. Boyce and Basil Manly Sr. appealed to the 1857 Education Convention to take on the challenge of raising funds to start a school of theological education. In 1859, Southern enrolled its first class of 26 students. Southern Seminary began for the purpose of theological education that would produce faithful ministers to serve the local congregations of the convention. Its inception inspired the establishment of additional seminaries to serve the convention’s churches. -
Martha Crawford: missionary to China
1830-1909
Martha Crawford was an intelligent and educated young woman who felt the call to overseas missions. She married T.P. Crawford, and they went to serve in China. They spent a little over 10 years in Shanghai and then moved to Tung Chow Foo, where Martha ministered for almost another 40 years. She shared the gospel in homes, villages and areas where even her husband could not gain access. She also served as a mentor to incoming female missionaries to China such as Lottie Moon. -
Civil War
1861-1865 -
Crawford Toy: abandoned Orthodoxy
1836-1919
Toy was an excellent student of theology and one of the first students to study at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; he later studied at liberal German universities in the middle of the 19th Century. Upon his return to the United States, he was beginning what would become a slow shift away from orthodoxy. He was a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for about a decade until by 1879, his liberal theology had stirred enough controversy that he resigned. -
Lottie Moon: missionary to China
1840-1912
Lottie Moon devoted her life to missionary work in China for 39 years. She became well known for her letter writing back to churches in the states, urging for an increase in sending and financial support. She shared the gospel in unreached villages and the countryside, establishing churches where she organized local male pastorates to provide leadership. The way she integrated herself into Chinese life and culture provided an example for many missionaries that came after her. -
Toy's dismissal from SBTS
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Annie Armstrong: WMU Founder
1850-1938
Armstrong formed the Women’s Missionary Union, and was the organization’s first secretary. She served in this role for 18 years and eventually suffered permanent damage to her writing hand from her efforts. She organized support for church planters, sent missionaries to specific immigrant groups within the US and commissioned the first Black and Native American female missionaries. Her legacy lives on in the Annie Armstrong Easter offering that supports NAMB. -
First Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
Lottie Moon encouraged increased giving to international missions and advocated for a dedicated missionary offering at Christmas. Annie Armstrong took Lottie Moon’s challenge and rallied the giving efforts for Christmastime in 1888. The scope of the offering grew each year and in 1918 the offering was officially named after Lottie Moon. As of 2021, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has raised a cumulative $5 billion for international missions. -
Alberto Diaz sent to Cuba as SBC missionary
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James M. Frost: Sunday School Board Founder
1848-1916
Frost was the founder and first secretary of the Sunday School Board (now known as LifeWay). Frost grew this Southern Baptist entity into a great success. By his death, they were operating out of their own 5 story building. LifeWay’s enduring efforts to create orthodox materials for Bible study and learning in Southern Baptist churches contributes immensely to the continued spiritual health of the denomination’s churches. -
Baptists adopt Cooperative Program and Baptist Faith and Message
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Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles
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Martyrdom of Bill Wallace in China
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Ralph Elliot's Message of Genesis
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Baptist Faith and Message Revised
The efforts of this revision were led by Herschel Hobbs out of a motivation to maintain unity amongst churches with varying beliefs. Unfortunately, its moderate stance on the issue of inerrancy, allowed for the continuation of a liberal drift within the denomination's institutions. -
Growing Controversy over the infallibility of Scripture with the SBC
1969-1971 -
Adrian Rogers elected SBC president to start conservative revolution
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Largest SBC in history (45,561) takes place in Dallas
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First meeting of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
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R. Albert Mohler appointed President at SBTS
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Racial reconciliation statement in SBC
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Baptist Faith and Message revised to reassert inerrancy
The revision of the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000 came at the end of a decades-long struggle called the conservative resurgence. The revision of the Baptist Faith and Message brought a needed correction to the previous statement revision in 1963 which left a loophole that allowed those with liberal beliefs about Scripture’s inerrancy to find a home within the SBC and its institutions. The 2000 revision provided the necessary doctrinal clarity to combat this slide towards liberalism. -
R. Albert Mohler: Ninth President of SBTS
1959-
Dr. Mohler is the current President of SBTS and will soon celebrate his 30th year at the helm of the seminary. When Dr. Mohler stepped into the presidency, there was a significant pull of liberal theology within the institution. Dr. Mohler helped lead what is now called the conservative resurgence, whereby the seminary was saved from full capitulation to liberal theology and set on a track to serve the churches of the Southern Baptist conviction with orthodox preaching and leadership.
