How Many Non-Southern Baptists

[Easystreet]

Just baptist. Not independent. Or Southern.

scratching my head "not independent or southern"

 

[JakeAM]

scratching my head "not independent or southern"

There are other Baptist groupings apart from the SBC....

 

[General Mung Beans]

I go to Falwell's church (Thomas Road), which is dually affiliated with the SBC and Bible Baptist Fellowship Intl(fundamentalist). I think it didn't affiliate with the SBC until 98 or 99.

I was baptized in an SBC church, but my mother goes to an independent Baptist church that I visit with her occasionally.

I understand Independent Baptists are a very diverse group (considering it is not organized) and thus hard to generalize but aren't many of them critical of Southern Baptists?

 

[JakeAM]

I understand Independent Baptists are a very diverse group (considering it is not organized) and thus hard to generalize but aren't many of them critical of Southern Baptists?

Yeah it'd be fair to say that a lot of them are critical of the SBC. A lot of it for bogus legalistic reasons, some of it for legitimate reasons. And then obviously you have people who just dislike the idea of an affiliation at all, in which case I'd say it's more of a personal preference. Personally I like the idea of having that independence while staying connected with other like-minded Christians. You'd also have to distinguish between people who are merely independent Baptists(who can be indistinguishable from So. Baptists) and Independent Fundamental Baptists(who can often times cross over into almost cult territory).

The more conservative the SBC has gotten, the stranger and more disconnected fundamentalism has become, imho. There are still some great independent and fundamentalist teachers and preachers out there, of course (John MacArthur being the most obv example in my mind)...

 

[actionsub]

There are other Baptist groupings apart from the SBC....

For instance, there's the American Baptist denomination. The SBC actually split from this group in 1845 over the then-Northern Baptist refusal to commission missionaries that held slaves.

They're a denomination, so they're not independent. They're based out of Valley Forge, PA, so they're not southern either.

And that's just one of many non-Southern denominations of Baptists!

 

[Texan40]

Yeah it'd be fair to say that a lot of them are critical of the SBC. A lot of it for bogus legalistic reasons, some of it for legitimate reasons. And then obviously you have people who just dislike the idea of an affiliation at all, in which case I'd say it's more of a personal preference. Personally I like the idea of having that independence while staying connected with other like-minded Christians. You'd also have to distinguish between people who are merely independent Baptists(who can be indistinguishable from So. Baptists) and Independent Fundamental Baptists(who can often times cross over into almost cult territory).

The more conservative the SBC has gotten, the stranger and more disconnected fundamentalism has become, imho. There are still some great independent and fundamentalist teachers and preachers out there, of course (John MacArthur being the most obv example in my mind)...

I have been slowly reading through the sermons at the Spurgeon archives but came across some MacArthur stuff and I like it a lot as well. I know that the church I attend is affiliated with the SBC but as far as worship or study is concerned I haven't heard being SBC affiliated with any denominational practice. I think some people are put off because they associate SBC with political conservatives which to me is a pity. IMO it's sad to let something petty like political ideology get in the way of more important things like friendship or worship.

 

[Anoetos]

I attend a congregation (actually a couple congregations) in the North American Baptist Conference, though I am not (yet) a member of either of them.

This is a conference of Baptist churches from a German background who did not use English as their primary language uniformly until the 1940's. This has allowed them to avoid many of the ravages of 19th century revivalism.

They do not require any particular eschatological belief (Amillennial, Postmillennial, Premillennial, etc.) and on the ground are predominantly Calvinistic.

 

[JakeAM]

I have been slowly reading through the sermons at the Spurgeon archives but came across some MacArthur stuff and I like it a lot as well. I know that the church I attend is affiliated with the SBC but as far as worship or study is concerned I haven't heard being SBC affiliated with any denominational practice. I think some people are put off because they associate SBC with political conservatives which to me is a pity. IMO it's sad to let something petty like political ideology get in the way of more important things like friendship or worship.

I think we as a culture, and because of the fractured nature of Christianity found in practice around the world, tend to want to place ourselves in denominations. That leads people to sort of perceive any affiliation as being a denomination. I've been in small SBC churches, big SBC churches, and non-SBC churches. I've attended churches of almost every denomination and stripe, and I was at one time considering joining a Presbyterian(PCA) congregation. I think that the SBC, however, is far less important in the local church's identity than it is in other denominations, and I like that a lot. I think that the model of being independent, but connected, is the most biblical.

I'd agree with you that some people might be turned off with what they percieve as political conservatism on the part of the SBC, which is funny because most independents(especially fundamentalists) would consider the SBC to be liberal. I think the biggest barrier is the fact that we're associated with the South(its in the name, obviously), and people outside the south either have prejudices towards it or have their own regional identity that sort of doesn't fit in. That's changed a lot though, for the better, and in a few little cases I think, for the worse. The "denomination" as a whole though has moved in the right direction in the last 30 years. I think Al Mohler, head of Southern Seminary, said it best when he said that we should be thankful that we're having debates on things like Arminianism vs. Calvinism, instead of having debates on homosexual ordination or the acceptance of abortion, like the old mainline denominations.

We in solid Biblical churches need to be thankful for what we have, because God is awesome and has allowed us to have that which others don't. I'm grateful for what we have, I'm grateful for the independents and fundamentalists out there who are waving the banner for Christ, and I'm grateful for Christians in the mainline denominations who are trying to stem the tide of cultural and social liberalism. Diversity in the area of church governance, and debates on the Biblical merits of infant vs. believers baptism are a good thing, I think. It shows that there are people out there who are reading their Bibles, and even if they have differences, are a fundamental part of the body of Christ.

 

[Anoetos]

It's funny that you should say that, I was just reflecting how useless a link to the denomination's website would be in offering information about a local congregation.

I think this is a Baptist phenomenon. Whether you call them Conferences, Denominations or Synods, they have very little direct bearing on the life of the local congregation in most Baptist churches.

This can be good and bad. While it has allowed good churches to flourish under denominational auspice, it has also allowed some not so good things to do so as well.

I think the SBC is just so big that it has had to assume a moderating position despite the bluster of individual pastors and seminary presidents about the creeping tide of Calvinism on the one hand, or the "emergent" movement on the other.

 

[Buck shot]

I grew up in churches affiliated with the SBC. Have preached in Regular Baptists, General Baptist, Independent Fundamental Baptist, was ordained in a Missionary Baptist that was an American Baptist until the congregation voted to switch, and now pastor a Baptist church with no affiliation to any of the affiliations

What i have found is that most teach the same things. They just send the missionary support through different channels.

 

[JM]

I attend an IFB church that is moving toward a more conservative line, even changing from single elder to plural elders. It's a very Arminian styled church but my wife and I, our children as well, we are strong free grace believers.

jm

 

[Jimmy Thomas]

About 20 years ago my church was strictly Southern Baptist. Since that time the church membership has gradually moved toward the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Since different members have different preferences, the membership can designate whether they want their foriegn mission contributions to go to the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.