About Baptist Beliefs
Baptists---individuals belonging to a church that identifies with Baptist teachings---are the largest group of Evangelical Protestants worldwide. While various Baptist groups differ in some of the details of their faith, the majority of Baptists share a common core of fundamental beliefs.
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History
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The history of the Baptist church reflects one of the basic schisms between modern-day Baptists: While some Baptists believe Baptist doctrine has its roots in the Reformation and is basically a branch of Protestantism, other Baptists claim that the Baptist tradition is directly descended from the congregations set up by Christ and his apostles and has existed without interruption from the Roman times through the Middle Ages to today.
Either way, historians connect all Baptists to the early Anabaptist tradition of 16th-century Europe. The Anabaptists, disagreeing with the practice of infant baptism, believed that only adults or teenagers who choose baptism as a personal declaration of their decision to follow Christ's teachings should be baptized.
Geography
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Baptist beliefs are prominent in North America, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Recent research indicates that there are more than 110 million professing Baptists worldwide, with the largest concentrations in North America, Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Brazil.
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Types
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In the United States alone, there are at least 27 different Baptist groups. Despite the many groupings, however, most tend to fall withing one of the following types:
* Southern Baptists
* Free Will Baptists
* Missionary Baptists
* Charismatic Baptists.
Features
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Regardless of affiliation, the majority of Baptists believe in eight fundamental concepts:
1. The Bible is God's inspired word and the final authority of right and wrong.
2. The local church is completely autonomous. Baptists do not recognize one central governing authority, believing each church is answerable to God alone.
3. All believers are able to pray directly to God without the intercession of a priest.
4. Two ordinances are sacred: the baptism of believers and the Lord's supper.
5. Each individual is entirely capable of making decisions of faith once he reaches the age of understanding.
6. Church and state matters should be kept separate.
7. Pastors and deacons are the only church officers.
8. Church membership is based on each individual's confession of faith in Christ.
Considerations
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One of the reasons there are so many different groups of Baptists despite their shared fundamental beliefs lies in their disagreement over several key topics, including:
* Whether an individual's free will or God's divine election is the driving force behind a person's decision to follow Christ.
* Which translation of the Bible is correct.
* Whether the Bible requires women to wear head coverings in church services.
* Whether the Lord's supper should be an ordinance observed only by members of the local church, by members of any Baptist church or by any believer in Christ.
* Whether or not the Sabbath should be observed.
* How to interpret the end-time prophecies found in the book of Revelation.
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Resources
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