First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Baptist church building in Downtown Jacksonville, United States.

The First Baptist Church of Jacksonville is a large church building located downtown that spans across several connected structures and spaces. The complex contains multiple areas for worship services, religious education, and community gatherings throughout its extended facilities.

The congregation began in July 1838 as Bethel Baptist Church, founded by co-pastors James McDonald and Ryan Frier with six charter members, four white and two black. After the Civil War the white members left and formed Tabernacle Baptist Church, which bought the Church Street property in 1866. In 1892 it moved between Church and Hogan Streets and took the name First Baptist Church; the building burned in the Great Fire of 1901, and its 1903 successor, Hobson Auditorium, still stands in the complex.

The name Bethel Baptist was claimed by the Black majority after the Civil War, when a court ruled they owned the name and property; the white members left and formed Tabernacle Baptist Church, renamed First Baptist in 1892. In 2012 Bethel Baptist and First Baptist held a joint service marking their 160th anniversary. Since January 2023 members have had to sign a statement on the biblical view of sexuality or face removal from membership.

The campus occupies several square blocks between Church and Hogan Streets in Downtown Jacksonville, with the blocks linked by above-ground crosswalks. Expect to walk between separate auditoriums, a Sunday school building and First Baptist Academy facilities rather than a single nave. Sunday services draw around 3,000 attendees, so arrive early for seating.

The Downtown Campus covers several square blocks joined by above-ground crosswalks, and at its peak the church held eleven blocks of downtown. Hobson Auditorium, completed in 1904 after the Great Fire of 1901 destroyed the previous building, still serves as part of the complex.