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Founded by John Smyth in 1609 as a Puritan “Seperatist” movement coming out of the Church of England in Lincolnshire. This group then moved to Holland where Smyth along with his colleague Thomas Helwys, chose to be “Baptised” as adults into Christ. Up until this time, the only groups carrying out “credo baptism” were the Anabaptists out of the Swiss reformation. Every other Christian group was practicing the unbiblical “pedo baptism” whereby an infant only days old was supposedly “baptised” into Christianity – something that was never practiced nor even suggested in the Bible.
After this, Smyth moved back to England and joined the Waterlander Mennonites and was thereafter identified with the Radical Reformation movement.
Helwys was disillusioned with Smyth’s choice not to break with the past and moved back to England and formed the first Baptist gathering on English soil in London in 1612. These earliest Baptists can trace their roots to the teachings of John Wycliffe and were referred to as General Baptists.
The General Baptists were staunchly Arminian in theology – making
it a core belief that Christ died for ALL and not just the Elect.
However, approximately 30 years after Helwys return to England, a branch
of his Baptist congregations emerged with Calvinistic theology (Christ
died only for the elect) under the leadership of Richard Blunt, who went
to Holland to confer with a group that stressed baptism by total
immersion. He returned to England and baptized himself and 53 others in
like manner. It is from this branch of Baptists that many of the
American Baptists owe their Calvinistic beginning.
Perhaps the most famous of Baptist preachers is John Bunyan (1628-1688) who was arrested on a number of occasions in England for “preaching without a license”. Bunyan is responsible for writing the second best-selling book in history called “Pilgrims Progress” (Rick Warren of the false Christian Seeker Sensitive Movement claims that his book holds that title but it’s not even close) – an allegory about the journey of discipleship for the everyday Christian.
Bunyan believed in credo baptism (baptism as a consenting, professing Christian) but had a sharp disagreement with many in the Baptist movement in England over this same issue.
He refused to “make an idol” of Baptism and fully accepted any who were
pedobaptists (believed and practiced the baptism of infants) i.e. Presbyterians, and other Calvinists of the day. This was sharply contested by two Baptist leaders named Kiffin and Paul who contended
that the Lord’s Supper should be refused to any who practice the baptism
of infants. Bunyan was not formally educated, but like the disciples,
he knew the Bible front to back better than any of his time. Bunyan died
in London in 1688 of a severe cold but Pilgrim’s Progress remains a
widely read primer on Christian discipleship to this day.
Besides the Arminian General Baptists, there are a multitude of Baptist denominations with specific distinctives:
Particular Baptists (also called Reformed Baptists) who are decidedly Calvinist, amillennial and usually practice pedo baptism
Strict Baptists who are also Reformed Baptists, amillennial Calvinist and pedo baptists but are more congregational in church polity.
Freewill Baptists who were founded in 1727 and very close to the General Baptists in that they are Arminian and practice credo baptism. They make communion open to all professing believers and occasionally practice foot washing.
Southern Baptists who are mostly premillennial Calvinists who practice credo baptism and are American-based and founded. They make communion open only to Christians in good standing with the church.
Independent Fundamental Baptist (or IFB) denomination which was formed in response to the liberal direction taken by Evangelicals in general. IFB is typically premillennial and somewhere between Arminian and Calvinist. They practice credo baptism and only read and recognize the King James Bible version as the only true word of God. This group thrived in the 1950s and 1960s but have gone into steep decline with a number of sexual scandals from the largest and most influential IFB church pastored by Jack Hyles (himself a recipient of charges of sexual misconduct) and the widespread distribution of a book by James White called “The King James Controversy”. Today the IFB does not have a church among the top 100 largest churches in America. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the “mega church” is a horrific perversion of the Biblical church. To read more about this visit our Seeker Sensitive Churches page.
No one receives eternal life and eternal presence with God, from who all good things come (James 1:17), by belonging to the right church, denomination, world religion, or by having a particular world view. Rather only those who trust in the Lord Jesus preached by the Apostles in the Bible, for their own sin. We will not trust in a Savior for sins that we either don’t believe we have or that we think aren’t deserving of hell. But the Bible says that ALL have sin and the wages of that sin is eternal separation from God (death). The good news is that the Bible says that you can know that YOU have eternal life. Click the button below to see if you are genuinely saved from your sins according to the Bible: