About the Maryland Baptist Convention

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During the 1880s, Negro Baptists in Maryland began to organize their own independent conventions separate from white conventions. The first to organize in 1882 was the Maryland State Baptist Convention for the purpose of helping to support struggling rural churches. Although independent, the convention was still closely aligned with white Baptist conventions that still practiced segregation and treated negroes as inferior. That alignment continued to be problematic causing some pastors and churches to leave the new convention.

A number of Pastors who were instrumental in organizing and leading the Maryland Baptist Convention received training under the leadership of Dr. Harvey Johnson. He was a prolific church planter, religious and political leader in the black community, and an activist. Dr. Johnson, pastor of Union Baptist Church, left the Maryland State Baptist Convention as a protest against ongoing practices of discrimination and segregation by whites within the statewide Baptist denominational leadership and their failure to address social and economic injustices. Dr. Johnson believed that Negroes should work with full independence. To that end, he organized the Colored Baptist Convention in 1897.

Several other negro conventions organized in the early 1900s also provided leadership training to future organizers and leaders of the Maryland Baptist Convention. The Emergency Baptist Convention and the Colored Maryland Baptist State Convention were both organized to provide opportunities for pastors of smaller or new churches to participate in leadership roles in Baptist organizations and to provide needed services to their congregations and communities.  

In the 1920s, both the Maryland Baptist Convention (MBC) and the United Baptist Missionary Convention (UBMC) were organized. The first name of the MBC was the Independent Colored Baptist Convention (ICBC) which was also known as the eastside convention. Documentation exists showing that the UBMC was organized in 1926. According to oral history, the ICBC was organized at the same time by pastors of newly organized churches and of smaller churches whose experience in conventions with pastors of larger more powerful churches was not successful. The ICBC was organized to ensure the needs of newer churches and smaller congregations were met. 

The convention held its first annual session prior to incorporation on June 6-8, 1928, and the Women’s Education and Missionary Auxiliary to the convention held their first annual session on May 24, 1928. The ICBC was incorporated August 1, 1928 in Maryland. The signatures on the incorporation document are the following convention officers, Rev. James H. Williams, president; Rev. John W. Jones, treasurer; and Rev. Samuel Cephas, chairman of the Board of Managers. 

Documentation from the earliest years of the convention states that the pastors believed in the policies of the National Baptist Convention of America (NBCA) and used them in developing the convention constitution and policies. At the time of the first annual meeting, the ICBC already had a written constitution, operating procedures, officers, a board of managers, a board of trustees, and an auxiliary. The Women’s Education and Missionary Auxiliary to the convention had a constitution, operating procedures, and some sitting committees. The purposes of the convention were to: 

• promote friendly discussion between member churches and individuals
• promote work consistent with the mission and work of the NBCA
• promote the spread of Christianity in conformity with the principles and polity of the Baptist denomination; and
• provide and support the maintenance of a school of religion

Sixteen churches met for the first annual session at Ebenezer Baptist Church, June 6-8, 1928. There were also twenty independent members of record at the close of the session. Three meetings were held each day. Day 1 was the parent body day with business sessions featuring a review of the convention constitution and the installation of elected officers, each of whom was to serve a 2-year term. Day 2 was dedicated to the education program led by Mrs. Mary F. Matthews, Department President. Day 3 was dedicated to the missionary program led by Mrs. Helen Russell, Department President. Each day committees for the work of the convention were constituted with some reports prepared and submitted prior to the close of the session.

The tone for the convention was set on the first day by Dr. John W. Jones, pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church, saying, “I welcome you to what we have because I want you to lay aside the white man’s crutches, as did Dr. Harvey Johnson in his day, and rise up and walk of your own initiative, taking charge of your own people, and your own affairs.” 

Prior to the second annual session in June 1929 the ICBC continued to add educational opportunities. A committee was established to develop a school of formal religious training for pastors. Two new departments were established under the Women’s Education and Missionary Auxiliary, the Baptist Young Peoples Union (BYPU) and the Sunday School. And, in March 1930, the first quarterly meeting of the convention was held at Israel Baptist Church.

May 10, 1949, the convention amended the incorporation documents to change its name from the Independent Colored Baptist Convention to the Maryland Baptist Convention under President Jarrett R. Butler, pastor Mt. Sinai Baptist Church. The signatures were President Jarrett R. Butler and Secretary, J. Woodard Kelley, pastor Fellowship Baptist Church. The MBC has continuously operated since it was organized and has maintained its affiliation with the NBCA throughout its history. 

Prepared by Sis. Audrey R. Smith