The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Mars Hill Baptist Church, located in Watkinsville, was founded in 1799. Pictured in 2006, the church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, which formed in Augusta in 1845.
Photograph by Kate Howard, New Georgia Encyclopedia
The Christian Index, the official newspaper of the Georgia Baptist Convention, has a circulation of around 62,000. This issue, dated Thursday, April 7, 1921, is volume 101, number 14.
This post-Civil War sketch depicts members of Savannah's First Bryan Baptist Church, named after early Baptist minister Andrew Bryan, congregating outside the church building. The church is one of the oldest Black churches in North America.
Photograph by James M. Simms
Forty-eight new adherents are baptized by the Reverend R. W. White in 1913 at New Salem Baptist Church in Wilkes County. The baptism ritual is a significant rite within the Baptist faith, symbolizing the individual's commitment of faith.
Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia, #
wlk122.
The choir of the First African Baptist Church in Bainbridge sings during a worship service in 1976. Music, beginning with the spirituals sung during the years of slavery, has long been an important aspect of the Black Baptist community.
Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia, #
dec212.
The First African Baptist Church, constructed in 1937, is on the northern end of Cumberland Island.
Photograph from National Park Service
River Chapel Primitive Baptist Church in Columbus is one of the approximately 425 Primitive Baptist congregations, comprising around 13,500 members, that were established in Georgia as of 2005.
Photograph by Kate Howard, New Georgia Encyclopedia
Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Church in Quitman was initially established in 1834 about a mile away from the site of the pictured building, which was constructed in the mid-1860s. Primitive Baptists formed as a separate denomination early in the nineteenth century.
Image from Jud McCranie
The Double Branch Free Will Baptist Church in Dooly County, pictured in 1972, was founded in 1896. The Free Will Baptist denomination, which emphasizes mission work and education, was established in Georgia in the 1830s by John Travis Brodnax and Cyrus White.
Courtesy of Geraldine Waid, Georgia Free Will Baptist Historical Society
Laura Belle Barnard, a native of Glennville, was a Free Will Baptist missionary to India between 1935 and 1957. There she worked primarily with the "untouchables," the lowest class in the Hindu caste system. Also a prolific writer, Barnard was a professor at the Free Will Baptist College from 1960 until 1972.
Courtesy of Matt Pinson
First Baptist Church in Savannah, constructed on Chippewa Square in 1833, is the oldest church building in the city. The congregation formed in 1800 under pastor Henry Holcombe.
Photograph by Sarah E. McKee, New Georgia Encyclopedia
The dressing room for baptismal candidates stands beside the baptismal pool of the Kiokee Baptist Church in Columbia County. The church, founded in 1772, is the first continuing Baptist church to be established in the state.
Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia, #
clm008.
First African Baptist Church in Savannah, founded around 1777, is one of the oldest Black congregations in the United States. The church's current building was constructed in 1859 and houses a museum containing the church archives and historical artifacts.
Photograph by Sarah E. McKee, New Georgia Encyclopedia
Shallowford Free Will Baptist Church in Marietta offers a variety of ministries to its congregation and the community, including Bible study, counseling, choir, and missions. An emphasis on both mission work and education forms a central tenet of the Free Will denomination.
Courtesy of Sean C. Powell
