GREAT BRITAIN
Baptist Union
“Downgrade Controversy”
1891-Merger of General & Particular Baptists
20th century: highly secularized society
J.H. Shakespeare (1857-1928)
25 % of Baptist Churches independent from Baptist Union !
Strict and Particular Baptist or Gospel Standard Baptist
The Gospel AdvocateThe Gospel Herald
J.C. Philpot(1802-1869)
William Gadsby(1773-1844)
The Reformed Evangelical Baptists
Dr Peter Masters
London Reformed Baptist Seminary
BAPTISTS IN EUROPE
“In the year of Waterloo (1815) there was no Baptist church on mainland Europe, and, in the year 1850 there were only about 4,000 church members. In 1900 the number had increased to 220,000.” J.H. Rushbrooke The Baptist Movement on the Continent of Europe
Where did they come from?
Anabaptists - No
English Baptists - No
Pietist Awakenings
Philip Spener (1635-1705)
Augustus Francke(
•Intense personal bible study•Intense seasons of prayer•Intense spirit of missions
Count Nicholas Von Zinzendorf(1700-1760)
GERMANY
Johann Gerhard Oncken (1800-1880)
1823 –returns as Bible ambassador1828 – Edinburg Bible Society
April 22, 1834 Baptized in Elbe River
Organized Baptist Church in Hamburg
“Jeder Baptist ein Missionar”(every Baptist a Missionary)
Julius Wilhelm Kobner(1806+1884) Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann
(1799-1882)
SWEDEN
Frederick Nilsson (1809-1891)
Gustaf Palmquist
What about America?
2005: Non SBC34, 412 churches 15,399,000
44,223 churches 16,306,000
78,635 churches 31,705,000
Mainline ProtestantAmerican Baptist Churches of the U.S. A.
•Liberal theology•Social change•Ordination of women/recognition of homosexual unions
Independent, FundamentalBaptist Bible Fellowship (1950) 4,500 churches
G. Beauchamp Vick (1901-1975) 1,200,000 membersSpringfield, MO
Independent Fundamental Fellowship 659 churches61,655 members
General Association Regular Baptists Churches 1383 churches132,300 members
American Baptist Association 1760 churches275,000 members
Baptist Missionary Association of America 1254 churches225,000 members
Shared Characteristics: Premillennial Dispensational
Militant in stance
Some of the predominately black groups
National Assoc. of Free Will Baptists 2425 churches 198,000 members
Ecclesiastical Separation
Evangelical
Predominately black groups:National Baptist Association 2500 churches/3,500,000 membersNat. Baptist Assoc in USA 9,000 churches/5,000,000Progressive Nat Bapt. Assoc 2,000 churches/2,500,000National Primitive Bapt. Assoc 1565 churches/ 600,000
CBAmerica 1200 churches / 200,000
National Assoc of Baptist (Swedish) 902 churches / 145,000
North American Bapt. Conference (German) 272 churches / 47,000
Southern Baptist Convention 44,223 churches16,306,000 members
Today: A somewhat recovered denomination
Epistemology: the Bible is true
Theologically: conservative
Methodology: how do you ‘do’ the gospel?
The Era of the Conservative Resurgence: 1979-2000
The ‘Truth’ Party
The ‘Liberty’ Party
The ‘Compromise’ Party
New Conservative Coalition
Paige Patterson(1942-)
Paul Pressler (1932 - )
Leaders Strategy
•Elect conservative Convention Presidents
They would appoint only conservatives to open trustee positions on various agencies and institutions
•Focus on inerrancy of Scripture
What was the motivation for the takeover?
•Theological purification of agencies & boards
•Particularly concerned about 6 seminaries
1979 Houston Convention
W. A.Criswell (1909-2002)
Adrian Rogers (1931-2005)
1980 Birth of the Moderate Movement
“Gatlinburg Gang”
Cecil Sherman (1927-2010)
L. Russ Bush (1944-2008)
Tom Nettles
“we’re going for the jugular” of the convention
Soul Freedom – We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We affirm the freedom and responsibility of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of creed or the control of clergy or government.Bible Freedom – We believe in the authority of Scripture. We believe the Bible, under the Lordship of Christ, is central to the life of the individual and the church. We affirm the freedom and right of every Christian to interpret and apply scripture under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.Church Freedom – We believe in the autonomy of every local church. We believe Baptist churches are free, under the Lordship of Christ, to determine their membership and leadership, to order their worship and work, to ordain whomever they perceive as gifted for ministry, and to participate as they deem appropriate in the larger Body of Christ.Religious Freedom – We believe in freedom of religion, freedom for religion, and freedom from religion. We support the separation of church and state.
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
1991 Richmond, Virginia
Where is the SBC now?
Covenant for a New Century proposed 1995, adopted 1997
Changes to the Baptist Faith & Message
“One Faith, One Task, One Sacred Trust”
All convention employees required to sign this
Where is the SBC going?
Great Commission Resurgence
Daniel Akin (1957 -)
R. Albert Mohler (1959 - )
Great Commission Resurgence Task Force