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Chapter
4
Baptists
in America
Dr. Robert A.
Baker, longtime professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary and now deceased, took delight in recounting the
story of Southern Baptists. He wrote:
“Southern Baptist beginnings were filled with exciting events. To
capture this excitement requires describing Baptist beginnings in
America
, why the Southern Baptist Convention was organized, why some call it a
different kind of Baptist body, and how it got so large. The story will go
as far as the founding of the Sunday School Board in 1891, which was a
very important event in Southern Baptist life.
“The
First Baptists in
America. Most early Baptists in America
originally came from England
in the seventeenth century when the king and the state church persecuted
them for holding their distinctive religious views. Baptists like Roger
Williams and John Clarke migrated to
New England
in the 1630s; Elias Keach and others entered the Middle Colonies in the
1680s; and still others purchased land in the Southern Colonies in the
1680s and 1690s.
“The oldest
Baptist church in the South, First
Baptist
Church, Charleston, South Carolina, was organized in
Kittery, Maine, in 1682, under the leadership of William Screven. The church moved to
South Carolina
a few years later. A Baptist church was formed in the
Virginia
colony in 1715 through the preaching of Robert Norden, and one in North Carolina
in 1727 through the ministry of Paul Palmer. By 1740, there were probably
only eight Baptist churches in these three colonies with a total of no
more than 300 or 400 members.
“A great
revival affecting all denominations swept through the American colonies
about 1740. Shortly thereafter, Baptists in the South began a period of
rapid growth. The principal Baptist
leaders in this revival were Shubal Steams and Daniel Marshall, who were
called Separate Baptists. In 1755, these two Baptist preachers from
Connecticut
and a few of their followers organized a church at Sandy Creek, North
Carolina. During the next few years they preached zealously in all the
southern colonies, stormed the new western frontier, and provided patterns
of church life that Southern Baptists still follow.
“This rapid
spread of Baptists in the South was strongly opposed by the churches
supported by public taxes. In
Virginia
, especially, many Baptist preachers were whipped and imprisoned in the
decade before the American Revolution. [In spite of such treatment,]
Baptists soon became active patriots in the Revolutionary War. With their
demands for religious liberty, they included a cry for political liberty.
They loyally supported patriots like Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, and George Washington, and received their praise. Baptists
in the South played an important role in securing the adoption of
religious liberty in Virginia. Like their fellow Baptists in the North, they helped lay foundations for
the national Bill of Rights, which guaranteed religious liberty for all in
the new Constitution of the United States
.
“After the
close of the Revolutionary War, Baptists in the southern states grew
steadily during the remainder of the 1700s. A second great revival broke
out among several denominations west of the
Allegheny Mountains
just at the turn of the century. Baptist churches in the South gained many
new members as a result of this revival.”
Baptist
Associations. “Baptists in
America
, like their English Baptist forefathers, desired the larger fellowship
and united strength for Christian tasks that could come only through
joining hands. In 1707, Baptists around
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, organized the first [continuing] Baptist association in
America
by sending messengers from nearby churches. The second [continuing]
association, a daughter of the first, was formed in Charleston,
South Carolina, in 1751. After this, the number of associations began to increase
rapidly.
“At first
the principal functions of the associations were to provide a larger
fellowship and to allow counsel concerning common problems facing the
churches. By common understanding, associations had no authority over the
churches which affiliated with them. Some Baptists, however, were not
willing to relate to an association for fear that their churches might
lose some of their freedom and authority. When the Philadelphia
Association began a home missions program in 1755, many churches viewed
this as another way in which the associations might rob them of their
freedom. They began to consider other ways to do mission work which would
safeguard the authority of the churches.
“One of
these new methods came into being in 1792 when William Carey led in the
formation of the Baptist Missionary Society in
England. This kind of missionary body would make it possible for individuals to
work together in missions or any other Christian task without surrendering
any church authority. Called the society method, it differed from the
older associational method by removing the churches from the supervision
of the associations in missionary activity. Under this new plan, any
Baptists interested in foreign missions could organize an independent
society for foreign missions whose membership would consist of those who
would make a financial gift for foreign missions. Similarly, those
Baptists interested in home missions could organize another independent
society for that purpose, or another society could be organized in this
way for any kind of Christian work. Massachusetts Baptists adopted such a
plan in 1802. Within a decade, most of the associations had turned their
missionary programs over to independent missionary societies.”
Baptist
Missionaries. “A larger challenge soon faced Baptists in America. In 1812, Adoniram and Ann Judson and Luther Rice sailed to
India
as missionaries for another denomination. En route, they studied the Bible
and other books carefully, concluding that Baptist beliefs were closer to
the New Testament teachings than their former views. All three were
baptized in
India
. They desired to become missionaries for Baptists of the
United States
, but at this time there was no Baptist foreign mission society in the
nation. Local societies were formed in the North and the South to meet the
immediate needs of these new Baptist foreign missionaries.
“Then, on
May 18, 1814, thirty-three messengers representing Baptists in
America
met at
Philadelphia
and formed a national foreign mission society called the General
Missionary Convention. Meeting only once every three years, this body was
sometimes called the Triennial Convention. The Convention was organized on
the society pattern (that is, organizing a separate society for each
Christian ministry), although southern leaders sought for several years to
change it into the associational type (that is, one denominational body
fostering several different Christian ministries). Baptists in
America
formed a second society in 1824 for tract publication and distribution. In
1832, they organized a home mission society. Seemingly, these Baptists had
permanently united on the society model for Christian work.”
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