Diversity of Baptists

[Spirit of Pentecost]

As with every Christian denomination, faith, and/or movement (or any other name that may apply), the Baptist subdivision has a great many diversities.

Baptists are traditionally Calvinist, and derive their name from believer's baptism. Beyond that, however, there is often a great diversity in individual beliefs that has led to a multitude of different denominations that fall under the Baptist banner.

Southern Baptists
Independent Baptists
Free Will Baptists
Full Gospel Baptists
Holiness Baptists
Primitive Baptists
Reformed Baptists
United Baptists
American Baptists

Of course, these aren't all of them. And even for the ones I have mentioned have their own individual sects underneath.

Which kind of Baptist are you?

 

[☦Marius☦]

An ex-Baptist.

 

[Not David]

As with every Christian denomination, faith, and/or movement (or any other name that may apply), the Baptist subdivision has a great many diversities.

Baptists are traditionally Calvinist, and derive their name from believer's baptism. Beyond that, however, there is often a great diversity in individual beliefs that has led to a multitude of different denominations that fall under the Baptist banner.

Southern Baptists
Independent Baptists
Free Will Baptists
Full Gospel Baptists
Holiness Baptists
Primitive Baptists
Reformed Baptists
United Baptists
American Baptists

Of course, these aren't all of them. And even for the ones I have mentioned have their own individual sects underneath.

Which kind of Baptist are you?

Why are there so many baptists?

 

[judson1982]

I was saved through a Southern Baptist collegiate ministry (Baptist Student Union, or BSU for short), was baptized in a Southern Baptist(SBC) church, have been a member of several SBC congregations, and have even been a member of churches relating quite strongly to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF)--including one in Mississippi that seemed to be more of a hub for those supportive of LBGTQ lifestyles and other liberal Democratic tenets than a fellowship where repentance and faith are pre-eminent This church also supports the credo "It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you're sincere"

 

[drjean]

When I was a young Christian there were 80 different "Baptist" groupings. Mostly because being non-Protestant (Baptist did not protest the Catholic church, they were never part of that lineage) they had the ability to create their own mission groups they wish to connect with...so a different "Baptist".

National bodies

• Alliance of Baptists
• American Baptist Association
• American Baptist Churches
• Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America
• Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists
• Baptist Bible Fellowship International
• Baptist General Conference
• Baptist Missionary Association of America
• Central Baptist Association
• Christian Unity Baptist Association
• Conservative Baptist Association of America
• Continental Baptist Churches
• Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
• Enterprise Association of Regular Baptists
• Free Will Baptist
• Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship
• Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association
• Fundamental Baptist Fellowship of America
• General Association of Baptists
• General Association of General Baptists
• General Association of Regular Baptist Churches
• General Conference of the Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc.
• General Six-Principle Baptists
• Independent Baptist Church of America
• Independent Baptist Fellowship International
• Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America
• Indian Bottom Association of Old Regular Baptists
• Institutional Missionary Baptist Conference of America
• Interstate & Foreign Landmark Missionary Baptist Association
• Landmark Baptists
• Liberty Baptist Fellowship
• Macedonia Baptist World Missions
• Mainstream Baptist Network
• National Association of Free Will Baptists
• National Baptist Convention of America, Inc.
• National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
• National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A.
• National Missionary Baptist Convention of America
• National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A.
• North American Baptist Conference
• Old Regular Baptist
• Old Time Missionary Baptist
• Original Free Will Baptist Convention
• Primitive Baptist Universalists
• Primitive Baptists
• Progressive National Baptist Convention
• Reformed Baptist
• Regular Baptist
• Roger Williams Fellowship
• Separate Baptist
• Separate Baptists in Christ
• Seventh Day Baptist General Conference
• Southern Baptist Convention
• Southwide Baptist Fellowship
• Sovereign Grace Baptists
• Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists
• United American Free Will Baptist Church
• United American Free Will Baptist Conference
• United Baptists
• Unregistered Baptist Fellowship
• World Baptist Fellowship
• Worldwide Baptist New Testament Missions

State and interstate bodies

• Association of Fundamental Baptist Churches of Northern California
• Association of Independent Baptist Churches of Illinois
• Baptist General Association of Virginia
• Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma
• Baptist General Convention of Texas
• Dakota Baptist Association
• District of Columbia Baptist Convention
• Empire State Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches
• General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Inc.
• Inter-Mountain Baptist Fellowship
• List of state and other conventions associated with the Southern Baptist Convention
• Minnesota Baptist Association
• Minnesota Baptist Conference
• Mountain States Baptist Fellowship
• New England Evangelical Baptist Fellowship
• Ohio Valley Association of Christian Baptist Churches of God
• Southern Baptists of Texas Convention
• Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches

I've been independent, Southern, Fellowship, Liberty and now am ex-

 

[Micah888]

Baptists are traditionally Calvinist...

If you read The History of the Baptists (2 volumes starting the history from the apostolic period) by Thomas Armitage, Baptists are NOT traditionally Calvinist. Indeed the Reformers were bitterly opposed to the Baptists and Ana-Baptists. They persecuted and killed them. Even today Reformed Baptists are in a minority. And as you note, there are many different kinds of Baptists, but they all hold to believer's baptism by immersion as the scriptural mode.

 

[Tayla]

Which kind of Baptist are you?

I was the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church, but only because that denomination made it so easy.

 

[twin1954]

If you read The History of the Baptists (2 volumes starting the history from the apostolic period) by Thomas Armitage, Baptists are NOT traditionally Calvinist. Indeed the Reformers were bitterly opposed to the Baptists and Ana-Baptists. They persecuted and killed them. Even today Reformed Baptists are in a minority. And as you note, there are many different kinds of Baptists, but they all hold to believer's baptism by immersion as the scriptural mode.

Actually Baptists have been traditionally Calvinist but it depends on which Baptist history you believe. If you can find it Cook's history of the Baptist is very good and very accurate. Thomas Nettles " By His Grace and for His Glory" is very good as well as being well documented.

While the free will Arminian sect of Baptists have probably been around almost as long as the Calvinist they were in the minority. History, as studied from all sides, will show this to be true.

A lot also depends on your view of the three theories of Baptist history. Do you hold to the spiritual kinship view, the English Baptist view or the trail of blood view?

You see that Baptist history is not a subject that everyone agrees on. If you are Armininan free will works religion you will start from that and work upward. If you are Calvinist the opposite is true.

 

[twin1954]

I was the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church, but only because that denomination made it so easy.

Wow what a statement! I realize that many Baptist churches don't care about whether the pastor is a man truly called of God but your statement actually breaks my heart.

 

[Radagast]

Baptists are NOT traditionally Calvinist.

But Calvinistic Baptists do go back a very long way (to the 1600s, I believe).

Within the SBC, I understand that around a third are Calvinistic. That number is probably rising.

 

[☦Marius☦]

But Calvinistic Baptists do go back a very long way (to the 1600s, I believe).

Within the SBC, I understand that around a third are Calvinistic. That number is probably rising.

Yes my family's church pastor is a 4 point Calvinist.

 

[Micah888]

But Calvinistic Baptists do go back a very long way (to the 1600s, I believe).

And non-Calvinist Baptists go back much further -- from the time of the apostles. They may not have consciously called themselves Baptists, but they practiced New Testament church principles, including believer's baptism.

“...on the Continent of Europe small hidden Christian societies, who have held many of the opinions of the Anabaptists, have existed from the times of the apostles. In the sense of the direct transmission of Divine Truth, and the true nature of spiritual religion, it seems probable that these churches have a lineage or succession more ancient than that of the Roman Church.”

John T. Christian, A.M., D.D., LL.D., A History of the Baptists: Together With Some Account of Their Principles and Practices, Vol. II. Nashville, TN: Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, © 1926, p. 85.

 

[Micah888]

Within the SBC, I understand that around a third are Calvinistic. That number is probably rising.

And this is a relatively recent phenomenon, I believe since Mohler and others of his persuasion began to push Calvinism.

Calvinism is already shaping the next generation of Southern Baptist pastors through the influence of R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the SBC’s flagship seminary in Louisville, Ky., and popular charismatic speakers like Minneapolis author John Piper and Seattle’s Mark Driscoll.

How Calvinism Is Dividing The Southern Baptist Convention | HuffPost

 

[Radagast]

And non-Calvinist Baptists go back much further -- from the time of the apostles.

Since this is the Baptist forum, I won't debate you on that.

 

[Radagast]

How Calvinism Is Dividing The Southern Baptist Convention | HuffPost

I don't get my religious advice from HuffPost. "Nearly 35 years after conservatives launched a takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention..."

Oh, those dreaded "conservatives."

And the HuffPost is wrong; Calvinistic Baptists have existed longer than the USA. The HuffPost doesn't seem to understand exactly what Calvinism is, either.

 

[Spirit of Pentecost]

Why are there so many baptists?

There's just as many different Baptists as there are Pentecostals, Charismatics, Methodists, Catholics, and so on and so forth I would presume.

I was the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church, but only because that denomination made it so easy.

Could you elaborate there, please? Does that mean you were not Southern Baptist in mindset?

Actually Baptists have been traditionally Calvinist but it depends on which Baptist history you believe. If you can find it Cook's history of the Baptist is very good and very accurate. Thomas Nettles " By His Grace and for His Glory" is very good as well as being well documented.

While the free will Arminian sect of Baptists have probably been around almost as long as the Calvinist they were in the minority. History, as studied from all sides, will show this to be true.

A lot also depends on your view of the three theories of Baptist history. Do you hold to the spiritual kinship view, the English Baptist view or the trail of blood view?

You see that Baptist history is not a subject that everyone agrees on. If you are Armininan free will works religion you will start from that and work upward. If you are Calvinist the opposite is true.

Not all Baptists I have come across are Calvinist, so maybe I was wrong in assuming that traditionally they were. I'm sure the opposing Calvinistic and Arminian viewpoints will (probably) each persist that their theology is the "root" of the faith. (However, I could be wrong there, too.)

 

[twin1954]

And this is a relatively recent phenomenon, I believe since Mohler and others of his persuasion began to push Calvinism.


How Calvinism Is Dividing The Southern Baptist Convention | HuffPost

Nonsense. The SBC started as Calvinists. Apparently you know very little of SBC history.

 

[twin1954]

There's just as many different Baptists as there are Pentecostals, Charismatics, Methodists, Catholics, and so on and so forth I would presume.

Could you elaborate there, please? Does that mean you were not Southern Baptist in mindset?

Not all Baptists I have come across are Calvinist, so maybe I was wrong in assuming that traditionally they were. I'm sure the opposing Calvinistic and Arminian viewpoints will (probably) each persist that their theology is the "root" of the faith. (However, I could be wrong there, too.)

Many are not in this idolatrous age.

 

[twin1954]

There's just as many different Baptists as there are Pentecostals, Charismatics, Methodists, Catholics, and so on and so forth I would presume.

Could you elaborate there, please? Does that mean you were not Southern Baptist in mindset?

Not all Baptists I have come across are Calvinist, so maybe I was wrong in assuming that traditionally they were. I'm sure the opposing Calvinistic and Arminian viewpoints will (probably) each persist that their theology is the "root" of the faith. (However, I could be wrong there, too.)

Calvinism, though I dislike the label as it didn't start with John Calvin, is founded on the Scriptures as a whole not upon snippets and single verses. It is very clear that Christ, the Apostles and very clearly Paul were all "Calvinists".

 

[drjean]

My being Baptist goes back to 1967 only. In all my years since then, including Baptist Bible College and Liberty Baptist University, I had NEVER heard of Baptists being "Calvinists". Now, perhaps it's a moot point and merely semantics that the term wasn't used? Calvinism is a Protestant term, remember, and Baptists are not Protestants. With that said, each Baptist group with which I was associated accepted the same beliefs of TULIP but they never, ever used the Protestant terms.
Let me be so bold to post the TULIP version (either there are 5 points or there is no Calvinism btw) so all are on the same page.

• 
  The central assertion of these points is that God saves every person upon whom he has mercy, and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or inability of humans.
  • "Total depravity", also called "total inability", asserts that as a consequence of the fall of man into sin, every person is enslaved to sin. People are not by nature inclined to love God, but rather to serve their own interests and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to trust God for their salvation and be saved (the term "total" in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not that every person is as evil as they could be).[75] This doctrine is derived from Augustine's explanation of Original Sin.[76] While the phrases "totally depraved" and "utterly perverse" were used by Calvin, what was meant was the inability to save oneself from sin rather than being absent of goodness. Phrases like "total depravity" cannot be found in the Canons of Dort, and the Canons as well as later Reformed orthodox theologians arguably offer a more moderate view of the nature of fallen humanity than Calvin.[77]
  • "Unconditional election" asserts that God has chosen from eternity those whom he will bring to himself not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people; rather, his choice is unconditionally grounded in his mercy alone. God has chosen from eternity to extend mercy to those he has chosen and to withhold mercy from those not chosen. Those chosen receive salvation through Christ alone. Those not chosen receive the just wrath that is warranted for their sins against God.[78]
  • "Limited atonement", also called "particular redemption" or "definite atonement", asserts that Jesus's substitutionary atonement was definite and certain in its purpose and in what it accomplished. This implies that only the sins of the elect were atoned for by Jesus's death. Calvinists do not believe, however, that the atonement is limited in its value or power, but rather that the atonement is limited in the sense that it is intended for some and not all. Some Calvinists have summarized this as "The atonement is sufficient for all and efficient for the elect."[79]
  • "Irresistible grace", also called "efficacious grace", asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (that is, the elect) and overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith. This means that when God sovereignly purposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved. The doctrine holds that this purposeful influence of God's Holy Spirit cannot be resisted, but that the Holy Spirit, "graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ." This is not to deny the fact that the Spirit's outward call (through the proclamation of the Gospel) can be, and often is, rejected by sinners; rather, it's that inward call which cannot be rejected.
  • "Perseverance of the saints" (also known as "perseverance of God with the saints" and "preservation of the believing") (the word "saints" is used to refer to all who are set apart by God, and not of those who are exceptionally holy, canonized, or in heaven) asserts that since God is sovereign and his will cannot be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. Those who apparently fall away either never had true faith to begin with (1 John 2:19), or, if they are saved but not presently walking in the Spirit, they will be divinely chastened (Hebrews 12:5–11) and will repent (1 John 3:6–9).[80]