History professors from three Southern Baptist seminaries will join other Baptist denominations in Charleston, Aug. 1-3, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the first Baptist association in America.
The Philadelphia Baptist Association – the first such association in America – was formed in 1707. The event, dubbed the “Baptist History Celebration,” will take place at First Baptist Church, Charleston, which was founded in the late 1600s as the first Baptist church in the South.
“The Baptist History Symposium is the culmination of more than five years of meeting and planning by a wide range of Baptists across America,” said Bill Sumners, vice chairman of the celebration and director of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. “The planning for this meeting has allowed me to be involved with other members of the Baptist family outside Southern Baptists. The enjoyable side of these planning sessions was the focusing on the distinctives that we shared.”
For more information, visit www.baptisthistorycelebration.org.
Compiled by Michael Foust, Baptist Press.