United American Free Will Baptist Conference, Inc. is the smaller of the two

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

conferences in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

Prior to

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...

black slaves The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

and Free blacks were members of predominantly

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

Free Will Baptist congregations in the United States. The first black Free Will Baptist minister was Robert Tash, ordained in 1827. African-Americans organized their first separate congregation in 1867 at Snow Hill in

Greene County, North Carolina Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,451. Its county seat is Snow Hill. History Greene County, being a part of land grant by King Charles II of England in 1663, ...

, the first annual conference in 1870, and the first association in 1887. The General Conference of United Free Will Baptists was formed in 1901. The United American Free Will Baptist Conference, Incorporated, was created in 1968 under the leadership of O. L. Williams of Lakeland, Florida, resulting from a division in the parent

United American Free Will Baptist Church The United American Free Will Baptist Church is the oldest national body of predominantly black Free Will Baptists in the United States. History The Free Will Baptist Church in America grew up on two separate fronts: North and South. In the S ...

. In 2007 the United American Free Will Baptist Conference had seventy-five congregations with approximately 11,200 members, mostly in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, but also in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. In addition to the annual meeting of the General Conference, there are six regional conferences that meet annually: South Carolina Annual Conference, Louisiana/Arkansas Annual Conference, East Florida Annual Conference, West Florida Annual Conference, South Florida "A" Annual Conference, and South Florida "B" Annual Conference. UAFW Baptist Church headquarters are located in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

, and Henry J. Rodmon currently serves as General Bishop.''Ibid.'', Wardin, p. 85

References

Sources

*''Baptists Around the World'', by Albert W. Wardin, Jr., 1995 *''Dictionary of Baptists in America'',

Bill J. Leonard Billy Jim Leonard (born 20 March 1946) is an American historian of religion. Bill Leonard was born on 20 March 1946 in Decatur, Texas to a salesman, Marvin R. Leonard, and his wife Lavelle, who worked as a secretary. After he turned ten, Leonard ...

, editor, 1994 *''International Circle of Faith Colleges and Seminaries'' *''The Twelve Tribe of Baptists in the USA'', by Albert W. Wardin, Jr., 2007

External links

United American Free Will Baptist Conference, Inc.Snow Hill, NC Official Town Website
Free Will Baptists Lakeland, Florida Christian organizations established in 1968 Baptist denominations in the United States Historically African-American Christian denominations Baptist denominations established in the 20th century {{Baptists-stub