Baptist

Baptist churches are part of a Christian movement often regarded as an Evangelical, Protestant denomination. Baptists emphasize a believer's baptism by full immersion, which is performed after a profession of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. A congregational governance system gives autonomy to individual local Baptist churches, which are sometimes associated in organizations such as the Southern Baptist Convention. In the late 1990s, there were about 43 million Baptists worldwide with about 33 million in the United States.

Questions of Labeling

Some Baptists object to the application of the labels Protestant, denomination, Evangelical and even Baptist to themselves or their churches, while others accept those labels.

Related Topics:
Protestant - Denomination - Evangelical

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Those who reject the label Baptist prefer to be labeled as Christians who attend Baptist churches. Conversely, others accept the label Baptist because they identify with the distinctives they consider to be uniquely Baptist.

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The name Protestant is rejected by some Baptists because Baptists do not have a direct connection to Luther, Calvin or the Roman Catholic Church. They do not feel that they are protesting anything and Landmark Baptists believe they pre-date the Roman Catholic Church. Other Baptists accept the Protestant label as a demographic concept that describes churches who share similar theologies of sola scriptura, sola fide, the priesthood of all believers and other positions that Luther, Calvin and traditional reformers held in contrast to the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s.

Related Topics:
Protestant - Luther - Calvin - Roman Catholic Church - Sola scriptura - Sola fide

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The label denomination is rejected by some because of the local autonomous governance system used by Baptist churches. Being a denomination is viewed as having a hierarchy that substitutes for the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Another reason for the rejection of the label is the influence of the Restoration period on Baptist churches, which emphasized a tearing down of denominational barriers. Other Baptists accept the label, feeling that it does not carry a negative connotation but rather is merely a synonym for a Christian or religious group.

Related Topics:
Denomination - Restoration

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The label Evangelical is rejected by some fundamentalist Baptists who consider the term to describe a theological position that is not fundamentalist enough. It is rejected by some liberal Baptists who consider the term to describe a theological position that is too conservative. It is accepted by moderate Baptists who identify with the revival in the United States in the 1700s known as the First Great Awakening.

Related Topics:
Evangelical - First Great Awakening

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