Changes

== Baptist Denominations ==

== Baptist Denominations ==

Although Baptists organized within a denomination will have a "headquarters" facility, it generally exists solely to foster and assist [[evangelical]] work both at home and abroad.  Unlike Catholicism, Orthodox, or mainline denominations, the "headquarters" will not have oversight for local congregations and cannot mandate their operations.<ref>The only "power" that a denominational headquarters would have is to choose not to recognize the congregation as a cooperating member; it cannot remove the pastor or disband the congregation.</ref>

Although Baptists organized within a denomination will have a "headquarters" facility, it generally exists solely to foster and assist [[evangelical]] work both at home and abroad.  Unlike Catholicism, Orthodox, or mainline denominations, the "headquarters" will not have oversight for local congregations and cannot mandate their operations.  

The most well known Baptist denomination is the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] (SBC), which despite its name has congregations in every state.  It is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.  Since its founding in 1845, the SBC has grown to over 16 million members in more than 42,000 churches in the United States.  The SBC sponsors about 5,000 home missionaries serving the United States, Canada, Guam and the Caribbean, as well as another 5,000 foreign missionaries at work in 153 countries.

The most well known Baptist denomination is the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] (SBC), which despite its name has congregations in every state.  It is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.  Since its founding in 1845, the SBC has grown to over 16 million members in more than 42,000 churches in the United States.  The SBC sponsors about 5,000 home missionaries serving the United States, Canada, Guam and the Caribbean, as well as another 5,000 foreign missionaries at work in 153 countries.