Triennial Convention

The Triennial Baptist Convention, also simply known as the Triennial Convention, the first national Baptist denomination in the United States of America, was established in 1814 (Wikipedia). The Convention was the merger of the "Philadelphia Baptist Association" (organized 1707) and most other regional American Baptist denominations, both General and Particular, Regular and United, conservative evangelical and liberal, for American Baptist unity (Oxford 62-3, Wikipedia). The Convention was called "Triennial" because the national convention met every three years. Members of the denomination were called American Baptists. Opponents of the Convention and their "Board of Foreign Missions" included anti-missionary, Free Will, Separate, and independent Baptists (Wikipedia).

Like other Baptist churches, the Convention had no formal creed, but believed in "the authority of the Bible, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the independence of local congregations, the necessity of a conversion experience and a believer’s baptism by immersion, and evangelism and missionary outreach" (Oxford 62). The Convention accepted the 1833 New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith. The Confession was drafted by Rev. John Newton Brown, D.D. (June 29, 1803 – May 14, 1868), of New Hampshire and other American Baptist ministers, and adopted by the New Hampshire (American) Baptist Convention. The Confession was conservative, but less Calvinistic than the "1742 Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith" (Wikipedia).

The Second Great Awakening (an American Christian revival from 1800 to 1840) grew the Triennial Baptist Convention and made it more Arminian and evangelical (Wikipedia). Around 1840, the American Baptists became a major denomination in the United States. Baptists were in every State and territory by 1840. By that time, they had established over twenty schools as well as missions in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe (Oxford 62-3).

In 1838, African, Danish, German, Norwegian, and Swedish Americans began organizing their own Baptist denominations because of persecution by English Americans and nationalism by non-English Americans. The Convention remained predominately English American (Oxford 62-3).

In 1843, northern Baptists organized a separate mission society in opposition to slavery (Oxford 62-3). Around 1845, northern anti-slavery Baptists recaptured the Triennial Baptist Convention and the Northern Baptists rejoined. In May 1845, in Augusta, Georgia, most of the southern Baptists in the Convention, the "American Baptist Home Mission Society" (org. 1832), and in the "American Baptist Publication Society" (org. 1841) merged, in support of slavery and unity, to form the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). William Bullein Johnson (1782-1862), Triennial Baptist Convention President in 1841, was elected the first SBC president. The Triennial Baptist Convention became concentrated in the North (Wikipedia).

American Baptists came to support the antebellum reform movements of Abolitionism, Federalism, Temperance, and Women's Rights, and thus the Whig (org. 1834) and Republican (org. 1854) parties (Oxford 827, Wikipedia). In 1858, the American Baptists helped the Republicans win a majority in the House of Representatives. In 1860, they helped Former Congressman and conservative anti-slavery Baptist, Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) of Illinois win the Republican nomination for President of the United States, the general election in the North and thus the nation (he did not affiliate with, or join, an American Baptist church or any other church) (Wikipedia).

Around 1900, Roman Catholics came to outnumber any one Protestant denomination in the United States, especially in the Northeast, and the population began to shift more to the South and West, making American Baptists a clear minority. American Baptists supported Fundamentalist Christianity against Evolution and Liberal Christianity (Wikipedia). American Baptists supported Progressivism and the Social Gospel (the Christian responsibility to help the poor), but not the more radical ideas of Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) and other Christian Socialists (Oxford 652).

On May 17, 1907 in Washington, D.C., the Triennial Baptist Convention, the "American Baptist Education Society" (org. 1888), the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the American Baptist Publication Society merged, for unity, to form the Northern Baptist Convention. The Northern Baptist Convention was renamed the "American Baptist Convention" in 1950, and the American Baptist Churches, USA in 1972 (Wikipedia).

Governor of New York, Charles Evans Hughes (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948, served 1907-1910) was elected the first Northern Baptist Convention president, but he continued his job as Governor. He was also the Republican nominee for President of the United States in 1916. 29th President of the United States, Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 - August 2, 1923, served March 4, 1921 - August 2, 1923) was an American Baptist and a Freemason (Wikipedia).

After 1907, like other mainline Protestant churches, American Baptists moved to the Left, pushing away conservative churches, shrinking and changing the denomination. The General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (org. 1932), the Conservative Baptist Association of America (org. 1947), and the "Cornerstone Church Network" (former "American Baptist Evangelicals") (org. 2006) broke with the American Baptists in support of evangelicalism (Wikipedia).

Famous Triennial Baptists

* John Newton Brown, early 19th century Church reformer
* Charles Evans Hughes, early 20th century Republican leader
* Warren Gamaliel Harding, 29th President of the United States

References

* Oxford University Press. "The Oxford Companion to United States History". Ed. Paul S. Boyer. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. ISBN 978-0195082098

External links

* [http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/phila.htm 1742 Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith]
* [http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/creeds/nh_conf.htm 1833 New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith]
* [http://www.abc-usa.org/ American Baptist Churches in the USA]
* [http://www.ccnetonline.org/ Cornerstone Church Network]
* [http://www.sbc.net/ Southern Baptist Convention]