The Canon · No. 074
Baptists
The Baptist tradition
1609 CE – present · Abrahamic · Living · US, Nigeria, DR Congo, India, Brazil, Myanmar
VI. REFORMATION & EARLY MODERN — 1500 – 1800
How many
Roughly 75–100 million. The largest Protestant grouping in the United States.
Who began it
John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, English separatists in exile in Amsterdam, who formed the first Baptist congregation in 1609.
What it is for
A church of believers only, governed by its own members, free from state control.
What it worships
The Trinity.
What it holds
Believer's baptism by full immersion. Congregational autonomy — each local church governs itself; there is no bishop and no binding denominational authority, which is why Baptists fragment so readily. Soul competency — every person answers to God directly. Religious liberty for everyone, not only for themselves: Helwys published a plea for the freedom of Catholics, Jews and Muslims in 1612 and died in prison for it. The Bible as sole authority. Divided historically between General (Arminian, universal atonement) and Particular (Calvinist) Baptists.
What it does
Immersion baptism; the Lord's Supper as a memorial ordinance rather than a sacrament; preaching-centred worship; congregational meetings; strong hymn and gospel-music traditions; extensive missionary societies.
After death
Standard Christian resurrection and judgment; heaven and hell, generally understood in traditional terms, with conversion as the decisive event.
Its texts
The Bible, held as sufficient. Confessions such as the London Baptist Confession (1689) and the Baptist Faith and Message, which are treated as descriptive rather than binding.
Its branches
Southern Baptist Convention; National Baptist Conventions; American Baptist Churches; Baptist World Alliance; Reformed and Free Will Baptists; Landmark Baptists; independent fundamental Baptists.
Of note
Baptists supplied the American constitutional principle of religious liberty and, through the Black church, the organisational spine of the civil rights movement. They also split the largest Protestant body in America over slavery.
Its timeline
- 1609 CE Smyth's congregation in Amsterdam.
- 1612 CE Helwys publishes A Short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity, arguing for universal religious liberty, and is imprisoned; he dies in Newgate.
- 1638–39 CE Roger Williams founds Providence and the first Baptist church in America, on the principle of complete separation of church and state.
- 1707, 1814 CE Philadelphia Association; the Triennial Convention.
- 1792 CE William Carey launches the modern Protestant missionary movement from a Baptist base.
- <strong>1845 CE</strong> The Southern Baptist Convention splits from northern Baptists over slavery, in defence of slaveholding missionaries. It formally repented of this in 1995.
- 1773–present The Black Baptist church becomes the central institution of African American life; the National Baptist Convention forms in 1895.
- 1955–68 CE Martin Luther King Jr, a Baptist minister, leads the civil rights movement out of the Black church.
- 1979–2000 CE The conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention.
- 2019–present Investigations reveal widespread sexual abuse and its concealment across Southern Baptist churches; a 2022 independent report confirms it.
Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.