What is the largest Protestant denomination in the world? By some counts, the answer to that question is the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
The SBC is just astonishingly big. Imagine the biggest big thing you can think of then times it by something even bigger. That's about it. Since its organisation in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, the SBC has grown to 15.8 million members who worship in more than 40,000 churches in the United States.
Books and seminaries
Its publishing arm (LifeWay Christian Resources) is the world's largest publisher of religious materials; its Sunday school literature is the choice of more than 37,000 Southern Baptist churches; orders come as well from churches of other denominations and from more than 70 countries around the world. The seminary education of SBC is unmatched by any other denomination; America's 237 theological schools average about 290 in enrolment but the six Southern Baptist seminaries average about 2,000. This means that one out of every six theological students in America is enrolled in a Southern Baptist seminary.
