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Christianity

A Baptist is a member of a Baptist church or a person who believes in the practice of baptism by immersion into water. Baptist churches are often regarded as an Evangelical Protestant denomination originating from the English Puritan movement with Anabaptist influences. However there are disagreements with these labels and origins views (See "Questions of labelling" and "Origins")

Theologically many Baptists emphasize a believer's baptism by full immersion, which is performed on non-infants after a profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. A congregational governance system gives autonomy to individual local Baptist churches. However, churches will often associate in organizations such as the Southern Baptist Convention which is the largest Baptist association in the world.

Membership

Statistics

There are over 90 million Baptists worldwide in nearly 300,000 congregations, with an estimated 47 million members in the United Stateswww.adherents.com/rel_USA.html. Other large populations of Baptists also exist in Asia, Africa and Latin America, notably in India (2.4 million), Nigeria (2.3 million) , Za誰re (1.9 million) and Brazil (1.2 million) .

Source :- Baptist World Alliance statistics

Qualifications

Only those people who are baptized members of a local Baptist church are included in the total number of Baptists.

Most Baptist churches do not have an age restriction on membership, but will not accept as a member a child that is too young to make a profession of faith.

Recent growth

Baptists today are the second fastest growing Christian denomination in the world after the Pentecostals;

Baptists in the United States

See main article Baptists in the United States.

Majority of all Baptists worldwide reside in the United States, belonging to four major denominational groups.

• Southern Baptist Convention
  
• American Baptist Churches USA
  
• African-American Baptist groups:
  

  a. Progressive National Baptist Convention

   d. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America

 

• Independent (non-aligned) Baptist churches
  

Beliefs

Baptist churches do not have a central governing authority, resulting in the wide range of beliefs from one Baptist church to another. Baptist distinctives are beliefs that are common among Baptist churches, some of which are also shared with many other post-reformational denominations. Some historically significant Baptist doctrinal documents include the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, the 1833 New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith, and the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message, which are often used as the "official" doctrinal statements of individual local Baptist churches or the starting point for an official statement.

See also : List of Baptist Confessions or Doctrinal Statements

The following acrostic backronym, spelling BAPTIST, is used by some Baptist churches as a summary of Baptists' distinguishing beliefs:

• Biblical authority (; Separation of church and state is often called the "civil corollary" of religious freedom
  

Biblical authority

Baptists emphasize authority of the Scriptures, or sola scriptura, and therefore believe that the Bible is the only authoritative source of God's truth. This view contrasts with the role of Apostolic tradition in the Roman Catholic Church and personal revelation in charismatic circles.

Biblical inerrancy is also a common position held by fundamentalist Baptists in addition to contextually literal interpretations of the Bible and other fundamentalist theologies. Moderate, non-fundamentalist baptists prefer the term inspired or God-breathed rather than inerrant to describe scripture, referring to the term Paul uses in 2 Timothy 3:16.

Baptists generally consider historic Christian creeds to be on lower footing in comparison to Scripture, even though they may in essence agree with them. However, a group or local church may have a general statement of faith such as the Baptist Faith and Message of the Southern Baptist Convention or the Mission Statement of the Alliance of Baptists. One work commonly read by Baptists is the allegory Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

Autonomy of the local church (Congregationalism)

Congregationalist church governance gives autonomy to individual local churches in areas of policy, polity and doctrine. Administration, leadership and doctrine are usually decided democratically by the lay members of each individual church, which accounts for the variation of beliefs from one Baptist church to another.

Exceptions are some Reformed Baptists, who are organized in a Presbyterian system and the Congolese Episcopal Baptists that has an Episcopal system. Some Baptist megachurches lean towards a strong clergy-led style, whereby the membership has little or no oversight into the affairs of the church leadership; though this does not strictly follow the practice of congregationalist church governance it is consistent with the principles of church autonomy.

In a manner typical of other congregationalists, many cooperative associations or conventions of Baptists have arisen. The largest association is the Southern Baptist Convention which typically has a fundamentalist theological orientation, though ironically the Southern Baptists have been commonly criticized by independent fundamentalist Baptists for being not fundamentalist enough. The other primary association that descended from the Triennial Convention founded in 1814 is the American Baptist Churches USA which is a mainline denomination. The second largest baptist association is the Independent Baptist churches do not fall into any of them, believing such associations to be unscriptural.

Priesthood of all believers

The doctrine of "priesthood of all believers" states that every Christian has direct access to God and the truths found in the Bible, without the help of an aristocracy or hierarchy of priests. This doctrine is based on the passage found in 1 Peter 2:9 and was popularized by Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation and John Wycliff's Lollards before Luther.

Baptists are encouraged to discuss scriptural and other issues with their minister and other Christians when appropriate.

Two sacraments (Baptism and Communion)

Generally, most Baptist churches recognize only two sacraments or ordinances that are to be performed on a regular basis by churches: baptism and communion. Some Primitive Baptists and Free Will Baptists also practice foot washing as a third ordinance.

Believer's baptism

Baptism, commonly referred to as believer's baptism among Baptists, is an ordinance that according to Baptist doctrine plays no role in salvation, being properly performed only after salvation, and is performed after a person professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Through Anabaptist influence, Baptists reject the practice of pedobaptism or infant baptism because they believe parents cannot make a decision of salvation for an infant. Related to this doctrine is the disputed concept of an "age of accountability" when God determines that a mentally capable person is accountable for their sins and eligible for baptism. The book of Isaiah mentions an age at which a child "shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good" but does not specify what that age is.

Baptists insist upon baptism by full immersion, the mode presumed to have been used by John the Baptist. Some Baptist churches will recognize adult baptisms by immersion performed in other orthodox Christian churches, while others only recognize baptisms performed in Baptist churches.

Communion (The Lord's Supper)

Communion, which is alternatively called "The Lord's Supper" or Eucharist (some Baptists avoid the use of the word Communion due to its prominent use by the Roman Catholic Church and instead use the alternative name), is a sacrament or ordinance patterned after the Last Supper recorded in the Gospels in which Jesus says to "this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19). Baptists emphasize that the remembrance is symbolic of Christ's body and reject literal views of communion such as transubstantiation and consubstantiation held by other Christian groups based on their interpretation of John 6. Some Baptist groups embraced the Temperance movement, prohibition, and teetotalism in the U.S. which led to the practice in some churches of using non-alcoholic grape juice for the cup, but most Baptists do use wine. Participation may be either:

• "closed", where only members of that congregation can participate,
  
• "close" or "cracked", where members of other Baptist churches may participate, but not members of other denominations, or
  
• "open", where anyone professing to be a Christian may participate regardless of church membership.
  

Individual soul liberty

The basic concept of individual soul liberty is that, in matters of religion, each person has the liberty to choose what his/her conscience or soul dictates is right, and is responsible to no one but God for the decision that is made.

Separation of church and state

Main article: Baptists in the history of separation of church and state

Baptists who were imprisoned or died for their beliefs have played an important role in the historical struggle for freedom of religion and separation of church and state in England, the United States, and other countries. In 1612 John Smyth wrote, "the magistrate is not by virtue of his office to meddle with religion, or matters of conscience". That same year, Thomas Helwys wrote that the King of England could "command what of man he will, and we are to obey it," but, concerning the church, "with this Kingdom, our lord the King hath nothing to do." In 1614, Leonard Busher wrote what is believed to be the earliest Baptist treatise dealing exclusively with the subject of religious liberty. Anabaptists and Quakers also share a strong history in the development of separation of church and state.

The original objection was opposition of the monarchy or government setting religious agenda for churches or a "National Church" and did not imply a retreat by Christians from the political realm or involvement in the political process.

Currently in the United States, Baptist involvement in politics often involves controversies concerning gambling, alcohol, abortion, same-sex marriage, the teaching of evolution, and state-sanctioned public prayer in public high schools. In parts of the Southern United States Baptists form a majority of the population and have successfully banned alcohol sales and prevented the legalization of certain kinds of gambling.

Two offices (Pastor and Deacon)

Generally Baptists only recognize two Scriptural offices, those of pastor-teacher and deacon. The office of elder, common in some evangelical churches, is usually considered by Baptists to be the same as that of pastor, and not a separate office; The office of overseer or bishop is always considered to be the same as that of pastor or presbyter. Some Southern Baptist and other Baptistic churches may ordain bishops over small regional groups of churches.

The prevalent view among Baptists is that these offices are limited to men only, following the model of Christ and His apostles and interpretations of 1 Timothy 2:12-14.

Another controversial issue is whether divorced individuals may serve as pastors and deacons.

Pastor

In the Baptist Church, the primary role of the pastor is to deliver the weekly sermon.

In smaller churches, the pastor will often visit homes and hospitals to call on ill members, as well as homes of prospective members (especially those who have not professed faith). Associate pastors may or may not be married, but if not married, they may find it difficult to be considered for a senior pastor position.

Some Baptists, especially Reformed Baptists, believe in a plurality of elders. Baptists have a strong emphasis on the concept of salvation. Nevertheless, the Baptist view of soteriology runs the gamut from Calvinism to Arminianism.

Beliefs that vary among Baptists

Because of the congregational style of church governance on doctrine, doctrine on the following issues often varies greatly between one Baptist church and another.

• doctrine of separation
  
• Calvinism/Arminianism
  
• the nature of Law and Gospel
  
• Ordination of women (permitted in Germany)
  
• homosexuality
  
• Separation of church and state
  
• the extent to which non-members may participate in communion services
  
• the extent to which missionary boards should be used to support missionaries
  
• Eschatology
  
• hermeneutic method
  

They also believe in the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, which thus makes them believers in the Trinity: that is One God in Three Persons, Three persons in One God.
Baptists generally believe in the literal Second Coming of Christ at which time God will sit in judgment and divide humanity between the saved and the lost (the Great White Throne judgment Book of Revelation 20:11) and Christ will sit in judgment of the believers (the Judgment Seat of Christ Second Epistle to the Corinthians 5:10), rewarding them for things done while alive. Amillennialism, dispensationalism, and historic premillennialism stand as the main eschatological views of Baptists, with views such as postmillennialism and preterism receiving only scant support.

Comparisons with other denominations

Baptists share certain emphasis with other groups such as evangelism and missions. While the general flavor of any denomination changes from city to city, this aspect of Baptist churches is much more prominent than in most Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches.fact

The Pacifism of the Anabaptists and the Quakers is not an ideal held by most Baptists. The Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America was organized in 1984 to promote peace, justice, and non-violence, but it does not speak for all Baptists that accept the ideal of pacifism.

In Australia, the Baptist Union is very close to the Campbell-Stone Church of Christ.

Worship style

The focus of Baptist church services is the proclamation of the Word of God through the weekly sermon.

This can be seen in traditional Baptist church architecture. The pulpit, representative of the proclamation of the Word of God, is the largest piece of furniture and centered on the platform, while the communion table placed below it in a symbolically "subservient" position. This is in sharp contrast to Roman Catholic layout which places the altar at the center of the platform, since the eucharistic sacrifice is the focus of the Mass, while the pulpit is off to one side.

Sermons often range in time from twenty to sixty minutes. They range in style from expository sermons that focus on one biblical passage and interpret its meaning, to topical sermons which address an issue of concern and investigate several biblical passages related to that topic. Musical style varies between hymns and contemporary Christian music with many churches choosing a blend of the two. The choice in music style is often correlated to the predominant age of the members, with older congregations preferring traditional hymns played with piano and/or organ and featuring a choir. Some fundamentalist Baptists will only sing hymns found in their hymnals written between the 1700s and the 1950s and generally oppose the use of drums and/or electric guitar in their services because they associate those instruments with rock music.

Other common features in a Baptist church service include the collection of an offering, an altar call, a period of announcements, and Communion. Most Baptist congregations are small in number with membership under 200 people while other congregations are megachurches with membership in the tens of thousands.

Separatist

This view suggests that Baptists were originally separatists in the Puritan reaction to perceived corruptions in the Church of England in the 1600s. In 1609, John Smyth led a group of separatists to the Netherlands to start the General Baptist church with an Arminian theology. In 1616, Henry Jacob led a group of Puritans in England with a Calvinist theology to form a congregational church that would eventually become the Particular Baptists in 1638 under John Spilsbury. Both groups had members who sailed to America as pilgrims to avoid religious persecution in England and Europe and who started Baptist churches in the early colonies. The Particular and General Baptists would disagree over Arminianism and Calvinism until the formation of the Baptist Union of Great Britain in the 1800s under Andrew Fuller and William Carey for the purpose of missions. The works of William Heth Whitsett mark early efforts to establish the English Separatist origins position in opposition to the Landmark position.

Landmarkist

Landmarkism is the belief that Baptist churches and traditions have preceded the Catholic Church and have been around since the time of John the Baptist and Christ. and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" and a rejection of Catholicism as part of the historical origins of Baptists.

This lineage grants Baptist churches the status of being unstained and separate from what they see as the corruptions of Catholicism and other denominations. Alexander Campbell of the Restoration Movement was a strong promoter of this idea.

J. Carroll's The Trail of Blood, written in 1931, is commonly presented to defend this origin's view. Several groups considered to be part of this Baptist succession were groups persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church throughout history including Montanists, Novatianists, Donatists, Paulicians, Albigensians, Catharists, Waldenses, and Anabaptists. The works of John T. Christian offer the best presentation of the Landmarkist message of historical origins.

The American Baptist Association and the Baptist Missionary Association of America originated from the debate over how much importance should be placed Landmark beliefs.

Anabaptist

Anabaptists (Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites) were a group in the 1500s that rejected infant baptism and "rebaptized" members as adults. They share many teachings of the early Baptists, such as the believer's baptism and religious freedom and were probably influential in the development of many Baptist characteristics. While their names suggest some connection, some Anabaptists differed from the Baptists on many other issues such as pacifism and the communal sharing of material goods.

It is difficult to say how much influence the Anabaptists had on the actual formation of Baptist churches. One of the strongest relationships between the two groups happened when John Smyth's General Baptists attempted but failed to merge with the Mennonites.

The works of William Roscoe Estep offer the best presentation of this viewpoint. (bapt鱈zo, "to baptize, wash, dip, immerse"), and the Latin baptista, and is in direct connection to "the baptizer", John the Baptist.

As a first name it is used in Europe from the twelfth century also as Baptiste, Jan-Baptiste, Jean-Baptiste, John-Baptist.
As last name it is used as of the thirteenth century.

Some who reject the label Baptist prefer to be labeled as Christians who attend Baptist churches. Also, a recent trend (most common among megachurches and those embracing the "seeker movement") is to eliminate "Baptist" from the church name, as it is perceived to be a "barrier" to reaching persons who have negative views of Baptists, whether they be of a different church background or none. Conversely, others accept the label Baptist because they identify with the distinctives they consider to be uniquely Baptist, and believe those who are removing the name "Baptist" from their churches are "compromising with the world" in order to attract more members.

The label Protestant is rejected by some Baptists (primarily those in the Landmark movement) because in their view Baptists do not have a direct connection to Luther, Calvin or the Roman Catholic Church but have separately existed since the early church days (having never been a part of the Roman Catholic church, as such they are not "protesting" anything). Other Baptists accept the Protestant label as a demographic concept that describes churches who share similar theologies of sola scriptura, sola fide, the priesthood of all believers and other positions that Luther, Calvin and traditional reformers held in contrast to the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s.

The label denomination is rejected by some because of the local autonomous governance system used by Baptist churches. Another reason for the rejection of the label is the influence of the Restoration period on Baptist churches, which emphasized a tearing down of denominational barriers. It is accepted by moderate Baptists who identify with the revival in the United States in the 1700s known as the First Great Awakening. Conversely, Evangelicals reject the label fundamentalist, believing it to describe a theological position that they consider too extreme and legalistic.