Help with a change?

Question

Can anyone provide me with information as to why Opeckon Baptist Church outside Winchester, VA changed from being a General Baptist Church to a Particular Baptist Church?

Note: the history of the church does not include that information.

Thanks in advance......

Answer 1

This gets a little tricky, because the difference between a General Baptist and a Particular Baptist are doctrinal, centred upon interpretations of Jesus Christ's atonement for the sins of the world. A General Baptist believes that Jesus, by his death, offered salvation to all those who believe in him. A Particular Baptist believes that Jesus does not save all Christians, but only a select few, generally referred to as "The Elect": not surprisingly, Particular Baptists believe that The Elect consist almost exclusively of Particular Baptists. This belief in an "Elect" is a trait shared with many other churches with Calvinist roots.

So, there is a very big difference between a General Baptist church and a Particular Baptist church. A General Baptist church, nowadays at least, is likely to welcome worshippers of many stripes. A Particular Baptist church is likely to be ... well, particular about the use of its welcome mat.

You may already have this, but I found the following quote from Source 2 below illuminating on the Opeckon change from General to Particular: -
"The church on Opeckon creek appears to have been the oldest of the three, and was gathered and renovated in the following manner. In the year 1743, a number of the members of the General Baptist church at Chesnut Ridge, in Maryland, removed to Virginia, and settled in this place; the most noted of whom were Edward Hays and Thomas Yates. Soon after their removal, their minister, Henry Loveall, followed them, and baptized about fifteen persons, whom he formed into a church on the Arminian plan. Mr. Loveall, becoming licentious in his life, was turned out of the church [Life of Gano, pp. 40 and 50], and returned to Maryland; and the church was broken up, or rather transformed into a church of Particular Baptists, in 1751, by the advice and assistance of Messrs. James Miller, David Thomas, and John Gano, who was, at that time, very young. Mr. Miller had visited this church in some of his former journies, and had been instrumental of much good among them; and when they, in their troubles occasioned by Loveall's misconduct petitioned the Philadelphia Association for some assistance, he and Mr. Thomas were appointed by the Association for the purpose."

So, the minister (Loveall) fell out of favor with some influential parishioners. He may or may not have become "licentious" in the sense we would understand it today. Perhaps he was simply too easy-going, not in favor of restricting salvation to just The Elect? In any case, the outcome is clear enough. The church that had started as General Baptist became more radical and converted itself to Particular in 1751.

Answer 2

I am assuming that the ways of worship didn't change but that the name itself changed because their are a few different baptists and they all worship differently....so maybe they wanted to have one specific denomination join and not several different ones come together in a church attempting to worship only one way....??? best i can do!

Answer 3

couldn't tell ya sorry