Ecclesiology Topic 8 Survey of Denominational Beliefs Baptist Churches Gerry Andersen Valley Bible Church www.valleybible.net Introduction What makes a Baptist? What is it that uniquely connects the more than 60 different Baptist denominations in the United States alone? Beyond professed adherence to the Bible and salvation through Jesus Christ alone, the two unique ideals that all Baptists hold to are (1) believer s baptism by immersion and (2) the independence of the local Baptist church. There are far more Baptist churches in the United States than any other religious organization. In fact, the largest Baptist denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has more than twice as many churches in the US than there are Roman Catholic Churches (46,000 vs. 22,000). The remarkable growth of the Baptists has been rooted in its promotion of evangelism, its authority structure that allowed for the freedom of believers to establish new churches and begin an alternative to other denominations that were viewed as English or non- American. The History of the Baptists Because of the independent nature of the Baptists, tracing their roots is less clear that other Christian groups. In particular, it is difficult to assess what direct relationship existed between the Anabaptists of the Reformation Era and what grew into the Baptists, as we know them today. The Anabaptists were the reformers who advocated believers baptism but as they spread to England, they were opposed by the Puritans. The connection between the Anabaptists and Baptists in America is likely only the sharing of teaching but no formal alliance. Baptist arose more from the belief in believers baptism and a desire to be separated from the Church of England. The first Baptist church in the United States is in Providence, Rhode Island, founded by Roger Williams in 1638. Williams was a Church of England minister who became an early Puritan, seeking to purify the Church of England from Roman Catholicism, during his time at Cambridge University. By the time he arrived in America in 1631, he was a separatist, opposing the Church of England. This opposition eventually led him to flee to Rhode Island. Williams became opposed to infant baptism in 1638, leading him to establish the Providence church. Ironically, it only took a few months until he disavowed organized religion altogether and spent the remainder of his life viewing the church as corrupt.
Being rooted in the separatist movement against the Church of England would help the growth of the Baptists, as the dissatisfaction with the rule of England in America would grow. Combined with the First Great Awakening around 1740, the Baptists would see a rapid expansion, leading to many different Baptist denominations. Theological Beliefs of Baptists Beyond a belief in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone, Baptists hold several core doctrinal beliefs. 1. Believer s baptism Baptists universally opposed the practice of infant baptism. Water baptism by immersion is typically required for membership in Baptist churches. 2. Autonomy of the local church While each Baptist church is independent and able to make decisions apart from any ecclesiastical hierarchy, it is very common to actively participate in the larger denominational organization and often in other parachurch organizations. However, such participation is not fundamentally necessary. 3. Priesthood of the believer Baptists have historically been opposed to the hierarchy of more formal and liturgical churches, such as the Church of England. Their belief in the authority of the Bible also led to the belief that church members have the equal rights and privileges to determine the affairs of their church. This explains why the vast majority of Baptist churches are congregationally led. 4. Freedom from government control This belief in freedom from the government originally came from a strong belief among Baptists regarding separation of the church from the state. This corresponded with their opposition to the Church of England. This perspective viewed church involvement with the state as causing interference with the free practice of faith on the part of the Christian and their church. Historically, Baptist influence played a pivotal role in the American idea of separation of church and state. This was partly due to the oppression that Baptists suffered when their views conflicted with the church-influenced government. However, as Baptists grew by the beginning of the 20 th century, they became involved in opposing social ills, particularly with the Temperance Movement. In recent years there has been a much greater desire on the part of Baptists toward political involvement. The most substantial movement came in the 1980s with Jerry Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia and continuing today with many Baptist leaders such as Al Mohler and Russell Moore.
Issues Dividing Baptists Baptists have over 60 different denominations just in the United States alone. Churches even within denominations have divided over these same issues. These issues below are the main areas of contention that have divided Baptists denominationally over their history: 1. Slavery The largest Protestant denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention, which was formed in1845 in response to the abolitionist movement that was growing in church in opposition to slavery. They split from Triennial Convention, which was an organization established by Baptists for the purpose of sending missionaries, when the Convention banned the ordination of missionaries who were slave holders. While this issue has been long since settled, the product of this controversy explains the rise of denominations, such as the National Baptist Convention, which has split into the largest African American denominations, and the Northern Baptists, which became the American Baptists, as well as other groups. 2. Calvinism vs. Armininism In discussing this difference within the Baptists, we are speaking specifically of the doctrines of salvation, not necessarily in regard to other doctrines of Reformed Theology. Baptists have long been divided over the doctrine of election, that God unilaterally chose those who would believe before the foundation of the world. Baptists who believed in man s free will in salvation have been known as General Baptists and Baptists who believed in God s sovereign choice of those who would believe have been known as Particular Baptists. From the early days of Baptists, Calvinism and the belief in the doctrine of election was the view held by the vast majority. Throughout the 18 th century, particularly through the Calvinist Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, Baptists believed in the doctrine of election. The drift toward Armininism began in the 19 th century but was still not the majority view as Baptist leaders such as Charles Spurgeon were still the leading voices for Calvinism. It wasn t until the encroachment of twentieth century liberalism that led to Armininism overtaking Calvinism among Baptists in the United States. Today most Baptist churches are Arminian in theology and this is even true among the Southern Baptists who have resisted theological liberalism. Due to the recent influence of Calvinism in Southern Baptist Seminaries, the proportion of Calvinist pastors are increasing in the 21 st century so that today that gap between these two divergent theologies has narrowed significantly. If this trend continues, we may see Calvinism overtake Armininism in the years to come within the largest Baptist denomination.
3. Separation As liberalism and the ecumenical movement grew in influence, Baptists became concerned with associating formally or informally with churches that did not share their commitment to God s word as the ultimate source of authority. The first stage of this concerned began in the mid-1800s when some Baptists became concerned about people who believed and were baptized outside of the Baptist church. Were they able to be members of a Baptist church or would they need to be baptized in a Baptist church? This group was known as Landmark Baptists (after a faulty understanding of Proverbs 28:22, Remove not the ancient landmark... ). Basically, Landmark Baptists viewed their churches as the means by which authentic baptism takes place. This view was rejected by the Southern Baptists and the Landmark Baptists left to form other groups, notably the American Baptist Association. The second stage of separation occurred around the turn of the 20 th century, in response to the growth of theological liberalism. This opposition to all forms of liberalism gave rise to the Independent Baptists, who had no desire to associate with liberalism in any form. A minority of Baptists have taken this to the point of separating from Christians to do not separate from Christians who do not separate from liberals, known as three degrees of separation. This is popular within Independent Baptist Churches that opposed all English Bible translations other than the King James Version of the Bible. 4. Modernism The precursor to the controversy over Modernism, or liberalism within Baptist denominations, was the Downgrade Controversy of 1887-1888. Charles Spurgeon, the most famous Baptist preacher of his day, wrote a series of articles in his monthly magazine, The Sword and Trowel, and speaking to his fellow Baptists he wrote, A new religion has been initiated, which is no more Christianity than chalk is cheese; and this religion, being destitute of moral honesty, pawns itself off as the old faith with slight improvements, and on this plea usurps pulpits which were erected for gospel preaching. The Atonement is scouted, the inspiration of Scripture is derided, the Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence, the punishment of sin is turned into fiction, and the resurrection into a myth, and yet these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren, and maintain a confederacy with them! This controversy destabilized the Baptists in England and their response to Spurgeon was to censure him rather than support him. Spurgeon s concerns would become realized a generation later with the Fundamentalist- Modernist controversy of the early 20 th century that raged across denominations, with Presbyterians at the forefront. This led the Southern Baptist Convention to establish their first doctrinal statement, The Baptist Faith and Message (1925). This was ground breaking since Baptists historically were anti-creedal, holding to the Bible alone as being the standard for faith.
Other Baptist denominations however grew more liberal in their theology in the midst of the Fundamentalism vs. Modernism controversy from the early 20 th century. The Baptist World Alliance was formed in 1905 to bring Ecumenicalism to the Baptists. The Northern Baptists (now the American Baptists) were affected which led to the more conservative General Association of Regular Baptists (1932) and the Conservative Baptists of America (1943) being formed. Theological liberalism made inroads into the largest group of Baptists, the Southern Baptist Convention, through their six seminaries. Gradually, these seminary graduates would lead churches away from historic Baptist doctrine and toward liberalism. For example, a 1976 survey of Southern Theological Seminary students showed 96% of diploma students believed in the virgin birth of Christ, vs. 55% of Masters of Divinity students and 32% of Doctoral students. The longer one spent at Southern Seminary, the more liberal they became. The conservatives within the Southern Baptist Convention fought against this trend and with the narrow election of Charles Stanley in 1984 (with 51% of the vote) and a virtually unprecedented swing back to conservative theology began its slow march in the seminaries. The response of the liberal moderates within the Southern Baptists was to form the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1990. By the time the Southern Baptists officially withdrew from the Baptist World Alliance in 2004, the conservative triumph was complete. Today, the Modernist movement within the Baptists has led to practical controversies that breakdown along Modernist/Conservative lines. Examples include the ordination of women as pastors and the view of homosexuality. Survey of Baptist Denominations Rather than list all Baptist denominations, we will group them and address the more notable ones. Many Baptist denominations are regional in nature and are therefore less influential. 1. The Baptist World Alliance There are 211 denominations that participate in the ecumenical Baptist World Alliance alone. This does not include more conservative denominations, such as the Southern Baptists, who split with them after the modernist controversy that peaked toward the end of the 20 th century. The Baptist World Alliance is the largest and most influential entity among the more liberal Baptists, with over 36 million members worldwide, mostly in the United States. It serves to advance theological liberalism and its practices, such as women as pastors, acceptance of homosexual activity, working with other world religions and furthering political agendas.
2. General Baptists General Baptists hold to Armininism, that all men have the God-given ability to believe or reject Christ. Also known as Free Baptists, they have split into a variety of denominations. 3. Reformed Baptists Reformed Baptists believe in Calvinism but disagree with infant baptism. The early Reformed Baptists were known as Regular Baptists. One branch of Reformed Baptists are the Particular Baptists who believe in Calvinism, including the doctrine of Limited Atonement. This is what makes them Particular as opposed to General, or that the atonement is generally available to everyone. Primitive Baptists and Strict Baptists hold similar beliefs. 4. Missionary Baptists The reason why there are Missionary Baptists is not because some Baptists believe in the work of missions and others do not. There is widespread agreement that the church must be involved in missionary endeavors. This designation came from the disagreement among Baptists in the early 19 th century regarding the nature of mission boards to send out missionaries. Missionary Baptists specifically favored the creation of mission agencies for this task. Those who disagreed with Missionary Baptists were known as Primitive Baptists. The meaning of primitive referred to the original beliefs of the Baptists, not being backward or antiquated. Their view was that the formation of agencies or societies for doing the work of the ministry of the church was inappropriate. 5. Southern Baptists The Southern Baptists are easily the largest Baptist group. They are called Southern due to the geographical split over the issue of slavery. Even today, 75-80% of Southern Baptists live in the southern region of the United States. This denomination grew rapidly in the 20 th century as the population of the United States migrated south. So far in the 21 st century growth has become stagnant. 6. American Baptists American Baptists were formerly known as the Northern Baptists, the denomination rooted in the split with the Southern Baptists over slavery. They trace their roots back to Roger Williams and the First Baptist Church in America. It is one of the larger Baptist denominations with 1.3 million members and belongs to the ecumenical World Council of Churches with most churches having a more liberal theological perspective compared with the Southern Baptists. The initial theological drift of this denomination led to the founding of the General Association of Regular Baptists in 1932.
7. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship began in 1991 and grew out of the Southern Baptist Convention by Moderates who opposed the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist seminaries. 8. Independent Fundamental Baptists This association of churches grew out of the liberal-conservative controversy of the early 20 th century. Their particular brand of conservatism includes being separated from people who do not separate from liberals and believing the King James Version is the only inspired English Bible. 9. African-American Baptists Many Baptist churches are predominately African-American, with race being the identifying characteristic of the church and even the denomination. The second largest Baptist denomination is largely African-American, the National Baptist Convention USA, which is about half the size of the Southern Baptists at 8.5 million members. This denomination was formed in 1895 by a merger of other denominations that had split from the Southern Baptists by believers who did not want to worship under the leadership of segregationists. The third largest Baptist denomination is largely African-American, the National Baptist Convention of America, which has about 3.1 million members. This denomination split from the National Baptist Convention USA in 1915 over whether their publishing company should remain independent. The fourth largest Baptist denomination is also largely African-American, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, which has about 2.5 million members. It began in 1961 after Martin Luther King Jr. failed in a bid to lead the National Baptist Convention USA. This denomination has been the leader of the political efforts emphasizing civil rights and social justice. Conclusion With the Baptists we can see how an emphasis on the autonomy of the local church and the corresponding belief in the ability of the individual believer to decide their own religious practice under the authority of the Bible has led to many divisions within churches and between churches and denominations. This legacy shows the importance of our faith being founded about the Scripture and our willingness to deferentially allow for the freedom of the believer beyond the constraints of the Scripture. As churches drift into either liberalism or legalism, dissention and factions are inevitable. We should strive to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3).