Historians trace the earliest Baptist church back to 1609 in Amsterdam, Holland, with English Separatist John Smyth as its pastor. Separatists were people who had fled the Church of England because they could no longer accept its faith and doctrine.
Separatists were not safe to live in England, and thus many fled to other countries. Holland offered the most religious freedom of any country at that time. Thus, many fled there so as to be safe from persecution.
In accordance with his reading of the New Testament, he rejected the baptism of infants, believing baptism was only for believing adults. Baptist practice soon spread to England. Here, there were General Baptists who considered Christ’s atonement extended to all people, while there were Particular Baptists who believed that the atonement was only to the elect.
In 1639, Roger Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies. Baptists generally believed in believer’s baptism (as opposed to infant baptism), salvation through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local church. They practised baptism by immersion (as opposed to sprinkling).
Baptist churches are widely considered to be Protestant, although some Baptists disavow any identity with Protestantism, claiming to have originated before the Protestant movement in Europe. Some have claimed they go back as far as John the Baptist, with the church being named after him.
The term Baptist comes from a Greek word which is related to the idea to wash, dip, immerse. The term Baptist as applied to Baptist churches is a modification of the term Anabaptist (which means rebaptizer), and was used up into the 19th century as a general epithet for churches which denied the validity of infant baptism.
The English Anabaptists were called Baptists as early as 1569. The name Anabaptist continued to be applied to English and American Baptists, even after the American Revolution.
Prior to Smyth and Amsterdam, the Church of England had broken away from the Catholic Church. However, there were some Christians who were disappointed that the Church of England had not made corrections of what some considered to be serious errors and abuses.
Of those most critical of the Church’s direction, some chose to stay and try to make constructive changes from within the Anglican Church. They became known as “Puritans” and are described as cousins of the English Separatists.
At first, Smyth began meeting in England with a group of about sixty to seventy English Separatists. This was done in the face of great danger. The persecution of religious nonconformists in England led Smyth to go into exile in Amsterdam with fellow Separatists from the congregation he had gathered in Lincolnshire, separate from the established church (Anglican).
Smyth was convinced that his infant baptism had not been valid and that he should be baptised again as a believer. So in 1609, he first baptised himself and then baptised others. In 1609, while still in exile, Smyth wrote a tract titled “The Constitution of the Church” in which he expressed two propositions: First, infants are not to be baptised and second, Antichristian converts are to be admitted into the true church by baptism.
Hence, his conviction was that a scriptural church should consist only of regenerate believers who have been baptised on a personal confession of faith. He rejected the Separatist movement’s doctrine of infant baptism. Shortly thereafter, Smyth left the group.
He was convinced on the basis of his understanding of the Scripture that infants would not be damned should they die in infancy. Smyth, now convinced that his self-baptism was invalid, applied to the Mennonites for membership. He died waiting for membership to be granted to him.
Roger Williams and John Clarke are credited with founding the earliest Baptist church in North America. In North America. In 1639, Williams established a Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island, and Clarke began a Baptist church in Newport, Rhode Island. According to research, there is doubt about which of these was the first Baptist congregation in America. Exact records for both congregations are lacking.
In 1845, Baptist congregations in the United States split over three main issues: slavery, missions, and doctrinal integrity. The northern congregations were opposed to owning slaves and tried to prevent slaveholders from being missionaries.
Southern congregations were concerned over perceived liberalism in the north, accusing some missionaries of denying the virgin birth and divinity of Jesus. After the Civil War, another split occurred: most black Baptists in the South separated from white churches and set up their own congregations.
In the late 1860s, they rapidly set up several separate state conventions. In 1895, their three national conventions merged into the National Baptist Convention. With eight million members, it is the largest African-American religious organisation and is second in size to the Southern Baptist Convention.
Today, Baptists define their church membership as a congregation of baptised believers in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. The primary external qualification for membership in a Baptist church is a public profession of faith in Jesus, followed by water baptism.
Baptist churches do not have an age restriction on membership, but will not accept a member a child who is considered too young to fully understand and make a profession of faith of their own volition and comprehension.
In such cases, the pastor and parents usually meet together with the child to verify the child’s comprehension of the decision to follow Jesus as Lord. The church also allowed a vote on whether the candidate could be a part of the church. There are cases where persons make a profession of faith but fail to follow through with believer’s baptism.
In such cases, they are considered saved and usually eligible for membership. They do not believe that baptism has anything to do with salvation, yet they expect that believers be baptised. The question then is why? Their answer would be that baptism is a public expression of one’s inner repentance and faith.
It is a symbolic display of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. In reference to Acts 2:38, where Peter admonishes his listeners to be baptised “for the remission of sins,” many Baptists have argued that the word “for” can be translated “because of.” Thus, Peter is made to say, ‘Repent and be baptised because your sins have already been forgiven’.
Baptism is simply a sign that says you have been forgiven of your sins because they were forgiven when you believed and confessed your faith in Jesus. Unless you have seen the person confess their faith in Christ, this sign would only be visible when they are put under the water. They share many of the same doctrines that other fundamental churches believe in and practice.
Most Baptists hold that no church or ecclesiastical organisation has inherent authority over a Baptist church. This also involves freedom from any kind of governmental control. They are very firm on the separation of church and state.
Generally speaking, they believe in the literal second coming of Christ. Many hold to the doctrine of Premillennialism. They hold to the supremacy of the Scriptures. For something to become a matter of faith and practice, it must be something explicitly ordained through command or example in the Bible.