The Joint National Baptist Convention, also known as the Joint Black National Convention, or National Baptist Joint Board Session, was initially a joint meeting in 2005 of the four predominantly African American

Baptist denominations Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

operating under the derivatives of the name "National Baptist Convention." Its participants—the

National Baptist Convention, USA The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., more commonly known as the National Baptist Convention (NBC USA or NBC), is a primarily African American Baptist Christian denomination in the United States. It is headquartered at the Baptist World Cen ...

;

National Baptist Convention of America The National Baptist Convention of America International, Inc., (NBCA Intl or NBCA) more commonly known as the National Baptist Convention of America or sometimes the Boyd Convention, is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is ...

;

Progressive National Baptist Convention The Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC), incorporated as the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., is a mainline predominantly African-American Baptist denomination emphasizing civil rights and social justice. The headquarte ...

; and

National Missionary Baptist Convention of America The National Missionary Baptist Convention of America (NMBCA) is an African-American Baptist convention. History The National Missionary Baptist Convention of America (NMBCA) was formed during a meeting attended by Dr. S. J. Gilbert, Sr. and Dr ...

—represented over 17 million African American Baptists in the United States in 2004. The latter three organizations have either originated from or traced their origin to the National Baptist Convention, USA—or the

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

. __TOC__

History

The four National Baptist bodies met in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

from January 24–28, 2005 for worship and celebration, and with the aim of establishing a joint agenda for African American Baptists. At the end of their meeting, they issued a joint statement outlining their shared political positions, including opposition to the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

school voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

s, and prison privatization and support for increasing the minimum wage and increasing U.S. government foreign aid in the regions of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, the Caribbean, and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. In 2023, it was announced that the four organizations would again unite as the National Baptist Joint Board Session from January 22–25, 2024 in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. In January 2024, the four National Baptist bodies held the session with representation from the United States and

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

. During this joint meeting, Dr. Gina Stewart—president of the

Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention The Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention was a movement in the 1890s by African-American Baptists of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. who wanted to see more missions to Africa. The group eventually separated from the 'Mother Church' in ...

—became the first woman pastor to preach before all the conventions.

References

{{black church Historically African-American Christian denominations