Formation 1928 Region served Arizona, United States | Type Religious organization | |
Parent organization Southern Baptist Convention | ||
The Arizona Southern Baptist Convention (ASBC) is an autonomous association of Baptist churches in the state of Arizona. It is one of the state conventions associated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Contents
History
The ASBC was formed in 1928, but its origins are in the division between the Arizona Baptist Convention and the Northern Baptist Convention some years earlier, starting in March 1917 when a group of Baptists who objected to the liberal positions being held by the ABC, left the First Baptist Church of Phoenix and formed the Calvary Baptist Church of Phoenix. The pastor of the new church was C. M. Rock, who came from Asheville, North Carolina. On March 27, 1921 with Rock as their pastor, a group of people left the Calvary Baptist Church to form the First Southern Baptist Church, as a protest against the Northern Convention's stances on open communion, alien immersion, and interdenominational comity. In August of the same year, this new church joined the Southwestern Baptist Association of New Mexico.
On September 21, 1928, Rock led the formation of the Baptist General Convention of Arizona. In May 1929, this was associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It retained the name Baptist General Convention of Arizona until 1960, when it changed its name to the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention.
As of 2000 there were 323 Southern Baptist congregations in Arizona, with 138,516 adherents.