I would be interested to learn more because I am currently attending church a fair distance away, due to it's non-denominational status, and would like to attend a Baptist church which is more local. However, I'm not entirely sure of the differences so not sure how aligned it would be to my beliefs where I consider Scripture to be the authority.
From the 1689 Second Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 1:
1. The Holy Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible standard of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.1 The light of nature and the works of creation and providence so clearly demonstrate the goodness, wisdom, and power of God that people are left without excuse; however, these demonstrations are not sufficient to give the knowledge of God and his will that is necessary for salvation.2 Therefore, the Lord was pleased at different times and in various ways to reveal himself and to declare his will to his church.3 To preserve and propagate the truth better and to establish and comfort the church with greater certainty against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and the world, the Lord put this revelation completely in writing. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures are absolutely necessary, because God’s former ways of revealing his will to his people have now ceased.
Source:
Chapter 1 - The Holy Scriptures - Founders Ministries
I would recommend reading the whole thing, if you have the time:
1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in Modern English - Founders Ministries That will tell you how well that the Baptists align with your beliefs. Out in the United States, we do have a problem where the Baptist churches are less cerebral/intellectual and focus more on Gospel altar calls and less on detailed Scripture memorization and exegesis than their non-denominational cousins, but in the UK I imagine that they might be focused more on the historic creeds than the rough country Gospel that is America's legacy from the pioneer days and the Great Awakenings. I would check it out if I were you. (I attend a non-denominational church FYI.)
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Is there worship style similar?
What are the major differences?
The major difference between Pentecostals and Baptist really comes down to attitudes about Spiritual Gifts, and also the weight that is placed on Scripture versus personal experience.
From the outside, it can look confusing here in the United States, because the Baptist churches here got all tangled up with American cultural history because, well, the Baptists fled here from England to avoid religious persecution, and the non-denominational churches bailed out of that to get back to deep Scriptural study and exegesis and away from the country gospel songs.
If one spent some time listening to the Gaithers or even a recent tobyMac album (though the Gaithers are really the epitome) you'd be forgiven for thinking that Pentecostals and Baptists were the same, especially given the emphasis on emotion.
Pentecostals are more into ultra-modern worship music like Hillsong, though, and that's not a slam. I said
like Hillsong. They have found better alternatives. Also, that's just talking about my area, I have a small Pentecostal church that I visited. Their music, like the country gospel music, invited more emotional expression. And I read a pamphlet from them afterwards that used Scripture as the authority to present the Gospel.
The difference has to do with spiritual gifts. Baptists, as quoted in the creed above, are cessationists. They believe that the canon of Scripture is closed and the sign gifts (speaking in tongues, miracles, etc) are no longer active. These miracles were to authenticate the Gospel message before Scriptural authority was available, and now that the canon is closed, there is no longer any need for those Sign Gifts and they are gone. I don't exactly what the Baptist believe about non-sign gifts, but the non-denominational "Bible Church" folk believe they are still active, just aligned with Scripture. For example, we believe that the gifts of teaching and prophecy and prayer still exist, they are just Scripturally guided.
By contrast, the Pentecostals believe that all of the spiritual gifts are still active and available today. People will speak in tongues in services. The Pentecostals also claim things like "your words determine your future" and that you can declare things to be true and they will be. They think prophecy is more than using a Scriptural understanding to realize how God likely will respond to your prayer request.
Likewise, Pentecostals put a lot of weight on emotion and your experience of God through faith. The Baptists may enjoy the Gaithers, but if you go to an actual Baptist service, you're going to realize that, for the Baptists, the Gathiers and tobyMac are just entertainment to us. Christian entertainment in line with the Scripture, to be sure, but entertainment nonetheless. The Pentecostals actually believe that emotional experience of God is important. The Baptists emphasize the head, rather than the emotions. It's what you know, and what you do based on what you know. The intellect comes first. The Scripture comes first.
If you come to a Pentecostal preacher with a spiritual experience, they will talk and agree, maybe give you a slight admonition to test the Spirits, and thank the Lord for blessing you. A Baptist preacher will give you a skeptical look, and start talking about what they Scripturally believe.
That's been my experience, anyway. I've attended non-denominational churches most of my life, but I have visited the local Baptist church and the local Pentecostal church in my area for various reasons, and that's my understanding.
If you wanted more information, reading the historical Baptist creeds could help as referenced above, as well as reading the
Statement of Faith from the Assemblies of God webpage. I think you will notice some major theological differences very quickly.
