The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) is an association of conservative and fundamentalist Southern Baptist churches in Texas. It is formally affiliated with the national Southern Baptist Convention.

SBTC was organized in 1991 as the Conservative Baptist Fellowship of Texas, and changed its name to Southern Baptists of Texas in 1995.

The group initially operated within the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), and sought closer cooperation between the BGCT and the SBC, resulting from the "conservative-moderate" dissension taking place within both groups. However, the BGCT's formal disassociation from the SBC and alignment with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship led SBT to organize into a separate state convention in November of 1998, at which time it took its present name and formally affiliated with the SBC.

SBTC believes in the inerrancy of Scripture, salvation only in Jesus Christ, and the primacy of the local church. SBTC established missions and evangelism as its major emphasis. SBTC holds to the 2000 SBC Baptist Faith and Message. SBTC's purpose is to provide a medium for cooperation in missions and ministry, and to provide for relational fellowship and accountability for conservative Southern Baptists in Texas.

SBTC's headquarters

As of February 2006, 1,748 churches were affiliated with the SBTC. SBTC affiliated churches may be either "uniquely affiliated" (solely affiliated with SBTC) or "dually affiliated" (affiliated with both SBTC and BGCT).

The SBTC has spawned at least one new area association (the North Texas Baptist Association) to form as a conservative response to the existing BGCT associational structure.

Support of non-SBC Baptist Entities

SBTC currently supports two entities, Jacksonville College (a two-year college located in Jacksonville, Texas) and Texas Baptist Home (a home for unwed mothers located in Waxahachie, Texas), which although affiliated with SBTC are not SBC affiliates, but are aligned with the Texas arm of the Baptist Missionary Association of America (BMAA). BMAA is a separate and distinct national Baptist denomination with no formal affiliation to the SBC.

External link

• - the official site of the Southern Baptists of Texas

Sources

• Texas Baptist leaders respond to new convention, by Herb Hollinger, BP News, November 25, 1997