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1845 AD – Southern Baptists Divide - Morality Yields to Money and Mission Pressure

1845 AD – Southern Baptists Divide - Morality Yields to Money and Mission Pressure

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 1845 AD – Southern Baptists Divide - Morality Yields to Money and Mission Pressure Metadata Paragraph: In 1845, Baptists in America faced a moral crossroads. When mission boards refused to appoint slaveholders as missionaries, southern leaders walked away and founded the Southern Baptist Convention in Augusta, Georgia. Their decision redefined missions for generations and revealed how culture can silence conscience. Extended notes examine the James E. Reeve controversy, the Triennial Convention’s collapse, and the moral and theological arguments used to justify slavery inside the church. Make sure you Like, Share, Subscribe, Follow, Comment, and Review this episode and the entire COACH series. Keywords (≤ 500 chars): 1845, Southern Baptist Convention, Triennial Convention, James E. Reeve, Baptist split, slavery and missions, American Christian history, Baptist heritage, Augusta Georgia, church division, Christian ethics, mission boards, moral compromise, church history, COACH podcast Hashtags (≤ 100 chars): #ChurchHistory #BaptistHistory #SouthernBaptist #FaithAndCulture Description (≤ 1500 chars): Step into 1845 as American Baptists divide over a question that tested both faith and integrity: Can a slaveholder be a missionary? When mission boards refused to send slave-owning applicants, southern leaders walked out and founded the Southern Baptist Convention in Augusta, Georgia. What began as a debate over missions became a mirror for the Church’s moral blindness. This episode follows the collapse of the Triennial Convention, the controversy surrounding James E. Reeve, and the theological defenses of slavery that exposed a faith culture too easily shaped by economics. Discover how a movement meant to spread the gospel fractured over the failure to live it out — and why the Church’s credibility still depends on integrity today. Like, share, and subscribe to COACH for more stories of faith’s foundations. Call to Action: Make sure you Like, Share, Subscribe, Follow, Comment, and Review this episode and the entire COACH series. Chunk 1 – Cold Hook It’s May 1845, in Augusta, Georgia [JOR-juh]. The heat clings to the brick walls of First Baptist Church, where more than two hundred delegates crowd the sanctuary. Paper fans wave. Jackets hang on chair-backs. On the pulpit lies a single document—freshly inked and trembling with significance. They have gathered to decide whether conscience or custom will guide their missions. For thirty years, American Baptists have shared one cause: to take the gospel to the nations. But today, that partnership is collapsing. Outside, a telegraph clerk waits to send word north. Inside, men argue whether a slaveholder can represent Christ to the world. Pens scratch. Voices rise. Each signature on that parchment marks not only a new denomination—but a moral divide. As the final motion passes, a quiet settles over the room—an uneasy relief that feels more like defeat than victory. The split has happened. The Southern Baptist Convention has been born. But what really broke that day? A fellowship? Or the courage to confront sin when it hid behind Scripture? [AD BREAK] Chunk 2 – Intro From the That’s Jesus Channel, welcome to COACH — where Church origins and church history actually coach us how to walk boldly with Jesus today. I’m Bob Baulch. On Friday, we stay between 1500 and 2000 AD. In this episode we are in the year 1845 and tracing how a mission board dispute over slavery divided American Baptists and reshaped the Church’s moral witness for generations. Chunk 3 – Foundation Three decades before the split, the Baptist family in America stood united under one banner — the Triennial Convention. It was 1814. Baptists from north and south gathered in Philadelphia to cooperate in one sacred cause: to take the gospel to the nations. They pooled resources, trained missionaries, and prayed that together they could reach a world still untouched by Christ. For years, it worked. The Convention sent missionaries to India, Burma, and frontier America. Every letter from the field reminded Baptists that their partnership was bigger than politics. But as the United States wrestled with slavery, the mission boards could not stay neutral. The very donors funding those voyages disagreed on whether freedom was a divine right or a northern invention. By the 1830s, the tension grew impossible to ignore. Northern pastors began preaching that slavery violated the heart of the gospel itself. Southern congregations pushed back, arguing that Scripture described slavery without condemning it. Both claimed to honor the Bible. Both believed they were right. The debates found their flashpoint in a single question: Can a man who owns another human being serve as a missionary of Christ? That question arrived in the form of James E. Reeve [REEV], a Georgia Baptist who owned slaves but felt called to serve on the mission field. When the Home Mission Society ...
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