National Baptist Convention of America International, Inc.
Baptist, Historically Black Church
Date Founded: 1880
Membership/Number of Clergy: 3,500,000/NA as of 2000
Headquarters: NBCA Headquarters at Simmons College of Kentucky, 550 West Kentucky Street, Louisville, KY 40203
Schools & Seminaries: Simmons College of Kentucky: https://simmonscollegeky.edu/
Publications: The NBCAPress publishes church educational materials, mission guides, doctrinal studies, and Christian writings.
Core Beliefs:
The NBCAI is a voluntary membership organization that focuses on missionary work, publishing, Christian Education, and circulation of religious literature. The presidency of the organization is an elected position. Member churches, represented by Messengers, come together at Congresses to conduct business.
Short History:
Historian L. B. Jordan records that in 1880, there were nearly two million former enslaved people in Baptist churches, which created a need for a national aggregation of African-American Baptists. On Wednesday, November 24, 1880, one hundred fifty-one (151) messengers, representing eleven states throughout the United States, met at the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and organized the Foreign Mission Baptist Convention of the United States. The Reverend W. H. Alpine of Alabama was elected as the first permanent president.
In 1886 the American National Baptist Convention was organized in Saint Louis, Missouri, and in 1893 the Baptist National Educational Convention was organized in the District of Columbia. There was the recognition for unification among our African-American brothers and sisters; therefore, on September 28, 1895, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Friendship Baptist Church, these three great conventions united and formed the NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION, making it the largest African-American Baptist organization in America with a membership in the millions. For more about the NBCA history, go to https://nbcainc.com/about-us/
Local Churches: None identified.
