Baptist Church

This is one of the famous Christian traditions that claim apostolic succession or continuity. Based on such claim, many millions of converts seek to reach Yahoshea and his way through the Baptist tradition, conventions and Churches.

Baptists are converts who comprise of Baptist group of denominations and churches that hold firmly to the belief that baptism should be done to only professing believers which is against infant baptism.  The movement hold that such baptism for the adult must be by emersion alone.  The Christian group totally reject effusion or sprinkling of water during baptizing of members.

History Of The Sect

The religious group can be traced to earliest church labeled as Baptists in Amsterdan in 1609.  The body was formally established by an English Separatist John Smyth as its pastor.

The Baptist spread to England and became filled of many Separatists and Protestants.  This mixture began to ferment troubles as the issue of doctrinal differences began to unfold and confront the new fold.

During the Protestant Reformation, the Church of England cut-off from Catholic Church of Rome.  Within Anglican Communion, there were members that were not comfortable by the level of separation from the mainstream Christianity.  Those members queried some of the doctrines of Anglican Communion that compromised with the errors of Roman Catholic Church.

Some of such converts existed within Anglican Communion and were identified as the Puritans. Some of them that could not bear to remain in Anglican left and found their separate Christian tradition or bodies and were termed as Separatists.

Pastor John Smyth was a Separatist who began to preach on the errors of infant baptism.  Records of the life of John Smyth bear that originally, he was an Anglican convert, later he became a Puritans, later became a Separatist, later became a Baptist and finally became a Mennonite. 

As a Separatists, he joined with about 70 fellows and established the Baptist movement in England. Being faced by great danger of persecution that visited upon non-conformists in England led Smyth and his supporters to move to exile in Amsterdam.  John Smyth had a strong support from Thomas Hewys and in 1609, Smyth baptisted first himself and then baptized Helwys and others.

At Amsterdam, Joseph Smyth and Helwys worked effectively to established the tradition. Smyth wrote some tracks in which he pointed that real followers of the saviour must have confession of faith that will be demonstrated by baptism through emersion.

Joseph Smyth began to attack the doctrine of infant baptism that was observed by Separatists. Later, Symth became uncomfortable of self baptism that he confected upon himself and thereby left the group and approached the Mennonite group for proper baptism.

As Smyth left the group, Thomas Helwys took over the leadership and led the congregation back to England.

Consolidation Of The Theory

The Baptists were often referred as Anabaptists but the group rejected the identity but maintained itself as an independent Baptist group.

Anabaptists shared much in common with Baptist conventions.  Such doctrines includes – believers baptism, religious liberty, separation of church and state, views of salvation, predestination and original sins.

As the movement kept flourishing, many bodies or conventions began to emerge within the general Baptists.  There were equally group identified as Particular Baptists which was formed 1638 by John Spilsbury, a Calvinistic minister who hold to the doctrine of believers baptism by emersion.

When Symth left the group, Helwys led the congregants back to London where it established the General Baptists with support of other Baptist Churches that sprang up.

The movement extended to North America by Roger Williams and John Clerk.

Baptist movement grew faster for sake of few reasons, one was the Great Awakenings.  The next energizer was the struggle within Baptist congregation over slavery and missions in United States of America.

Abolitionism And Controversy

The controversy generated by the slavery brought a split on the movement. The two major groups that rose from the crises were the Southern Baptist Convention and the American Baptist Churches that was made up of Northern Congregations.

Leading to the period of American civil war, the Baptist movement became entangled in the war of slavery in United States of America. In 19th century, the Northern Baptists began to distaste slavery and started restricting its members of owing slaves. Shareholders were excluded in missionary works.

In 1844, the Home Mission Society made bold steps to discourage slavery and made it public that the board do not  condone slavery.

The Southern Baptist convention  that was instituted by nine states conventions in 1845 opposed the abolition of slavery and conclude that slavery was sanctioned by the bible and acceptable to Christianity. Majority of the Baptists of the Southern convention were planters and they owned slaves.

Responding on the development, Black Baptists began to set up Independent Baptist Congregations which was separated from the white congregations and associations. This helped the blacks to be free from white supervisions.

In 1860, black Baptists from South and West formed the consolidated American Baptist Convention which helped to set up black state conventions.

The black state conventions formed National Foreign Mission Convention that supported black Baptist missionary work. This group joined with two other national conventions to form the National Baptist Convention.  This body went through some changes and brought out other conventions.

The Baptists took effective measures against slavery in Carrbian nations.  For example, in Jamaican, William Knibb worked for the emancipation of slaves in British West Indies.  He was credited to have created free villages in rural communities that centred around Baptist Church where emancipated slaves could farm their own land.

Baptist movement equally helped in education to the black in Carribian nations.  Through orientation of Baptist movement, many blacks formed their own spiritual Baptist movements which often expressed resistance to oppression.

Other controversy that supported the growth and spread of the Baptist movement was the mission crises.  In the early 19th century, the need for missionary activities brought division amongst Baptists in America.

By this dispute, Fundamentalists and Churches that profess of such ideology merged into a movement led by Alexander Campbell.

Another dispute emerged during 19th century by a group called the Southern Baptist Landmarkists who aspired to reset the ecclesiastical separation that was the character of old Baptist Churches when inter-denominational union meetings were favoured by majority.

Polity And Doctrines

The Landmarkism was a reaction against modernism that began to flourish amongst the movement.  The modernism and its opposition gave birth to many separate conventions.

The conventions came into existence because of the non-hierarchical authority that covered all Baptists. By this character, each Baptist Church exercised autonomy.  This freedom existed among associations and even among churches within same association.

Many Baptist Churches choose to affiliate with associations or groups for sake of fellowship but not for control.  The largest of such groups are Southern Baptist Convention.  There are equally some Baptist Churches that choose to remain independent from any convention, denomination or association.

On doctrines, the Baptist movement is defined by some doctrines that are either common to orthodox or evangelical or distinctive to both.

There are confessions of faith by various Baptist groups that are different to orthodox and main-line Baptist movement.  Some Baptists are evangelical in model but each varies because of autonomous standing of each group.

The major doctrines shared by Baptists with other evangelical believers include the believe of one creator whom it identify as God as other Christian bodies do.  The virgin birth of  Yahoshea whom the equally identify as Jesus Christ in accord to other Christian traditions.

Other doctrines include miracles, burial and bodily resurrection of Yahoshea, the Trinity doctrine, the salvation through belief in the sermon whom it identify as Jesus Christ being viewed as son of God, his resurrection and confession that the saviour whom it identify as Christ is the Lord.

The movement holds to the doctrine of grace, the kingdom of Yahweh that it identified as God, the second coming of the saviour, the judgment that will uphold the righteous for Yahweh and condemnation of sinners to hellfire.

The movement holds that evangelism or missionary work is of vital tool as prescribed by the scriptures.  It hold to biblical inerrancy and hold that all church activities must run in accordance of the Bible.

There are some significant Baptist doctrinal documents that include the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1659 and Philadelphia Baptist Confession of 1742 etc.

The movement believe strongly on the second advent of Yahoshea Meshiyach in what they regard as the “End Time” that include a millennialism and dispensationlism, pre-millennialism and post-millennialism.

Some doctrines varies amongst Baptists. Such doctrines include the extend by which non-members may participate in the last supper service, the extend to which the missionary boards should be used to support missionary, how the Bible should be interpreted, which translation of scriptures to be used, the role of women in marriage, the ordination of women as deacons or pastors etc.

Conclusion

The Baptist movement in Christianity is one of the claimants of apostolic succession or perpetuity. This view is totally unacceptable because it joined with other Christian tradition to observe Greek and Roman related doctrines and practices and has no regard for Hebrew syncretism that Yahoshea Meshiyach and his apostles stood for.

By all inclination, the movement is a continuity to Catholicism but with few doctrinal changes that directly pointed to believer's baptism by emersion.  All doctrinal issues that were effected by First-Seven Ecumenical Councils of Roman Catholic Church are observed by Baptists.  All Creeds or dogmas laid by the church  Fathers from second to fifth century Ad are adopted by Baptists.

The movement can only be credited with emersion baptism, its roles towards religious freedom from the state, abolition of slavery and its liberal nature that accommodated adherents with their views and opinions.

The movement is equally credited to operate under assistance of secular authorities.

Truthfully, many converts seek to reach Yahoshea Meshiyach through the movement or tradition but such aspiration is totally impossible because it is never a comforter approved movement or tradition rather it is a simple resistance to few errors of Catholicism.

By this dislocation of the movement to the apostolic order, important doctrines of the early apostles are not been observed in the movement.

The group identify the creator with various names of Gods of nation as against the revelation that he is bearing a single name as Yahweh and his son bearing the name Yahoshea Meshiyach.  The movement rather addresses Yahoshea in an earthly or Greek form – Jesus Christ.  The movement had no recognition to Sabbath observation.  It neither partake on approved feasts by the early apostles.

These points directly express that Baptists are non-observers off all laws of Yahweh that appeared on the vertical laws or plate.  They cannot be the true way of Yahweh or Yahoshea Meshiyach.

The body is only aimed at the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, the soul competence (liberty), the scriptures alone, action amongst local congregations, recognizes the office of pastors and deacon.

These points are not the real expectation of a reformer, protestant, puritan or separatist.  A real separatist or puritan must argue against Sunday rest observation, Holy Communion, Easter festival, Christmas, New year on 1st of January, and others.

            So may Yahweh help a Baptist to realize that salvation come from the Hebrews and to the Greece but not from Greek to the Chosen people.  A Baptist must think fast over how to reconnect with the scriptural Hebrew practices but not to lean on decrees of church commands and fathers.