Triennial Convention

The Triennial Convention, (so-called, because it met every three years, formally, the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions ) founded in 1814, was the first national Baptist denomination in the United States of America. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it was formed to advance missionary work. In 1845 Southern state associations separated from the Triennial Convention as part of the increasing sectional tensions over the issues of slavery and missions; the departing associations then established the Southern Baptist Convention, leaving the Triennial Convention largely Northern in membership. In 1907, the Triennial Convention was succeeded by the Northern Baptist Convention. Today, the national successor organization is the American Baptist Churches USA, which adopted its present name in 1972.