where was baptist founded?

Answer 1

Both the Jews and Christians were practising baptisms (immersions in living or running waters) in Biblical times. The Protestant sect of Baptists started in Europe after 1519.

Answer 2

The earliest Baptist church is traced back to 1609 in Amsterdam. However the Baptist church took off during the Second Great Awakening late 1700s.

Answer 3

What baptist? Not clear question.

Answer 4

In the river Jordan around 4 c.e.

Answer 5

wubya ia a baptist (nuff said)

Answer 6

baptist, meaning in the bible???

Answer 7

when isac said you go your way and ill go mine

Answer 8

Although the first Baptist church did not arise until the 17th century, the history of Baptists must be understood against the backdrop of the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church had adopted many beliefs and practices during the Middle Ages which departed from biblical teaching, and ultimately corrupted the gospel of Christ. Whereas the Bible teaches that salvation is by grace alone thorugh faith alone (cf. Rom. 3:21-26; Eph. 2:8-9), the Roman Church came to include works as a requirement for justification. The Protestant Reformation began in 1517 when a German monk named Martin Luther began to "protest" against these false beliefs and call for the reformation of the church. Other reformers and reform movements followed quickly in Luther's wake. Two other prominent reformers who had an influence on Baptist thought were the Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin.
Eventually, the reformation which began in continental Europe reached England. The English King Henry VIII had broken ties with the Roman Church in 1534, and had established the Anglican Church. Anglicans at this time were Roman Catholics in theology even if they were no longer officially tied to Rome. A group of reformers soon arose in the Anglican church known as the "Puritans." It was their goal to purify the Church of England from Roman Catholic errors. The success of the puritans (at least at first) left something to be desired, and many despaired of achieving any lasting reformation. They decided that they had no choice but to separate from the Anglican Church and form their own churches. This latter group were known as "Separatists." The advent of Separatism takes us to the dawn of the Baptist movement.

Separatist congregations went in several directions theologically and ecclesiologically. Some became what are known today as Presbyterians. Others became Quakers. And some became Baptists.
The first Baptist church originated under the leadership of John Smyth. He was an Anglican priest, but he eventually joined a group of Separatists. Because of persecution, this group migrated to Amsterdam, Holland in 1607. Led by Smyth, they adopted believer's baptism and constituted themselves as a church in 1609. Thus was born the first Baptist church.
A few months after this church was established, Smyth came under the influence of the Mennonites (a Continental Anabaptist group). He desired to lead the new Baptist church to join the Mennonites, but some refused and returned to England in 1611 to form the second Baptist church under the leadership of Thomas Helwys.
General and Particular Baptists
The earliest Baptists were known as General Baptists. They received this name because they believed in a "general atonement" in which Christ died for all human beings. They also rejected the doctrine of predestination. Thus, these General Baptists were somewhat Arminian in their theology.
By 1650, there were 47 General Baptist churches in England. However, many of these churches were swayed by unitarianism and universalism. In a few decades, General Baptists were all but non-existent.
Another group of Baptists were called Particular Baptists. They were Calvinists who believed in predestination and affirmed that Christ died only for particular people, namely, the elect. The first Particular Baptist church was founded through the merger of two Separatist groups in 1638 led by John Spilsbury.
Early Confessions of Faith
By 1644, there were 7 Particular Baptist churches in England. They got together and issued a joint confession of Faith known as the First London Confession. This statement affirmed the Calvinistic faith held by other Puritans and Separatists, and sought to clear Baptists of false rumors that they were political revolutionaires and subversives.
Sometime later, the Particular Baptists issued a more comprehensive confession modeled after the Presbyterians' Westminster Confession of Faith. This Second London Confession (adopted in 1689) served as the confessional basis for much of subsequent Baptist life, especially in America.
The first Baptist church in America was established by Roger Williams in 1639. Like most early Baptists, he began as a Separatist. To escape persecution he and his wife fled England to the Massachucetts Bay Colony. Even there, however, he was persecuted for his religious convictions. He and some friends eventually established their own colony outside Massachusetts in what is today Providence, Rhode Island. There Williams and others became convinced of believer's baptism and local church autonomy. They then formed a Baptist church, the first in the new world. Soon, many more Baptist churches sprung up in Rhode Island, Massachucetts, and elsewhere.
In 1682, William Screven formed a Baptist church in Maine. This church is important because in 1696 Screven and most of the Maine church moved to Charleston, South Carolina, and formed the first Baptist church in the American South.

Baptist Associations
By 1700, a sizable group of Baptist churches had arisen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The formed the Philadelphia Baptist Association in 1707, and adopted (with minor modifications) the Second London Confession, calling it the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. As intimated earlier, this confession shaped Baptist theology for the next two centuries.
The first association in the South was formed in 1751, when the Charleston church and three others joined toghether. The Charleston Baptist Association also used the Second London Confession as its doctrinal basis. The fact that both of these associations (and most others) adopted this confession of faith demonstrates their theological continuity with the Particular Baptist tradition and the Protestant Reformation.

The Triennial Convention
On May 18, 1814, thirty-three delegates from Baptist churches in North and South met in Philadelphia to form The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions. Because the convention met every three years, it was more popularly known as the Triennial Convention. This was the first Baptist organization of national scope. It was formed, as its official title suggests, to facilitate missionary work. It raised financial support for missions and sent out missionaries, the first of which were Luther Rice and Adoniram Judson.



The Southern Baptist Convention
Unfortunately, there was great tension between Northern and Southern Bapitsts in subsequent years. Though there were several contributing factors, the primary disagreement had to do with slavery. Northerners refused to appoint as missionaries anyone who owned slaves. But, most Southerners advocated that the Convention adopt a neutral stance with regard to slave-owners.
The disagreement eventually led to a schism. In May of 1845, delegates from Southern churches met in Augusta, Georgia to form The Southern Baptist Convention. At the same time they established boards for the promotion of both foreign and home missions.
The new Convention did not adopt a confession of faith, but all of the delegates at the first meeting came from churches that stood firmly on the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. Also, when the first Southern Baptist Seminary was formed in 1856, it adopted as its doctrinal basis the Abstract of Principles, an abridgement of the Philadelphia Confession.
In 1925, the Convention finally adopted its first formal confession, called The Baptist Faith and Message (revised in 1963). It was based not on the Philadelphia Confession but on the New Nampshire Confession. This confession was used because its Calvinism is less obvious, and would be acceptable to the less Calvinistic churches that had arisen in Southern Baptist life in the early 20th Century.

Southern Baptists Today

Since its inception in 1845, by the Grace of God, the Southern Baptist Convention has grown tremendously both in numbers and religious influence. Southern Baptists count nearly 40,000 churches nationwide. Its Foreign Mission Board supports over 4,000 missionaries all over the world. The convention has publishing houses which supply Sunday School literature and theological texts to millions of Baptists and other evangelical Christians. It operates six theological seminaries for the training of pastors and other church leaders.
The catylyst and the motive for this growth has been the deep concern of Southern Baptists to reach the world for Jesus Christ, and the conviction that the faithful preaching of the gospel will be used by the Holy Spirit to bring lost souls to saving faith.
As you can see, Baptists have a rich and significant heritage. They arose in the midst of persecution, standing firmly for the causes of sound, evangelical doctrine and religious liberty. They have striven to fulfill the Great Commission in obedience to Christ, and they have sought to bring every aspect of their lives into conformity with the teachings of Holy Scripture. This is the heritage of Southern Baptists as well, and it is the legacy we desire to pass on to future generations.

Some Important Baptists in History



Isaac Backus (1724-1806). Baptist leader during and after the American Revolution. He was a leading spokesman for religious liberty in America.


James P. Boyce (1827-1888). Early Southern Baptist pastor and theologian. Founder of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1859).


John A. Broadus (1827-1895). Early Southern Baptist leader instrumental in founding Southern Seminary and the Baptist Sunday School Board.


John Bunyan (1628-1688). Early English Particular Baptist. Most known for his book Pilgrim's Progress.


William Carey (1761-1834). Particular Baptist. Founder of the modern Missions Movement and the first foreign missionary.


John L. Dagg (1794-1884). Southern Baptist theologian of the 19th Century. Most important works were his Manual of Theology and A Treatise on Church Order.


Andrew Fuller (1754-1815). Particular Baptist revival leader. Most famous for his treatise on evangelism, The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation.


John Gill (1696-1771). An important and influential Particular Baptist theologian. His most important work was his Body of Divinity.


Adoniram Judson (1788-1850). First foreign missionary from America.


Benjamin Keach (1640-1704). Particular Baptist leader. Influential in introducing hymn-singing into English churches. Wrote the first Particular Baptist catechism.


Basil Manly, Jr. (1825-1892). Early Southern Baptist leader and theologian. Drafted the "Abstract of Principles" for Southern Seminary.


John Smyth (1570-1612). Founder of the first Baptist church.


A.H. Strong (1836-1921). Prominent 19th-century Northern Baptist theologian.


Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892). Prominent English Baptist preacher. Published thousands of sermons still read today.


Roger Williams (1603-1684). Founder of the first Baptist church in America.