First Baptist Church of Jacksonville

The First Baptist Church of Jacksonville is a Baptist megachurch in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. As of 2023, First Baptist Church has 2,100 members and an average attendance of around 3,000 for Sunday services. The main Downtown Campus comprises several square blocks of property connected by above-ground crosswalks. The campus includes several auditoriums for services, a Sunday school building, and facilities for First Baptist Academy, a private K-12 school. First Baptist Church has its origins in the oldest Baptist congregation in Jacksonville, Bethel Baptist Church, established in 1838. The church experienced a period of considerable growth in the mid-20th century, eventually encompassing eleven square blocks of downtown Jacksonville. Several former pastors, including Homer G. Lindsay Jr. and Jerry Vines, were widely influential in the Southern Baptist Convention, leading it in both growth and a shift towards conservatism.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).