| Notes: | Baptist churches are often regarded as an Evangelical Protestant denomination. Baptists emphasize a believer's baptism by full immersion, which is performed after a profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. A congregational governance system gives autonomy to individual local Baptist churches, which are sometimes associated in organizations such as the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches or the Southern Baptist Convention. In the late 1990s, there were about 43 million Baptists worldwide, 33 million of them living in the United States.
Other large populations of Baptists exist in Africa, especially in Nigeria (called the Nigerian Baptist Convention), in Ghana (called the Ghana Baptist Convention), and in Sierra Leone (called the Sierra Leone Baptist Convention).
The Baptist Union of Great Britain is a focus for British Congregations. |