England Nonconformists Baptists - International Institute

The original content for this article was contributed by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies in June 2012. It is an excerpt from their course English: Non-Anglican Church Records  by Dr. Penelope Christensen. The Institute offers over 200 comprehensive genealogy courses for a fee ($).

Baptists

History and Beliefs

The Baptists stemmed from the Puritan religions in the early 17th century and regarded each congregation as autonomous. They differed from other Protestants in their objection to baptism of infants (meaning children up to the age of 7). Baptists and Quakers were referred to as Anabaptists in early documents, but the word had negative connotations and was not used by Baptists themselves.

The Baptists were one of the original Three Denominations of Nonconformists. There was a range of beliefs in the very independent early Baptist congregations, but three main groups emerged:

• General Baptists who believed in general salvation (Arminianism). Some of these had fled to Amsterdam with John Smyth owing to persecution by Elizabeth I. They returned in 1611 with Thomas Helwys when times were more tolerant.
  
  
• Particular Baptists believed that only the predestined elect would be saved, a Calvinist viewpoint, and were formed in 1633.
  
  
• Strict Baptists only allowed communion to members.

Some groups were both Strict and Particular Baptists. A co-ordinating body, the General Baptist Assembly was formed in England in 1653, and there were a few congregations in Wales and Ireland, but very few in Scotland until the late 18th century. By 1700 there were about 58,000 members with numbers declining in the following century with some splitting of groups and a partial merger with some Unitarians.

The General Baptists New Connexion was founded in 1770 as part of the 18th century revival. In 1792 the (Particular) Baptist Missionary Society was formed which gave new focus and numbers revived in the 19th century. The Particular Baptists formed the Baptist Union in 1813 and after 1832 they and the General Baptists New Connexion became gradually closer and eventually united in 1891. However congregations tend to remain rather independent with no standard doctrine or form of service other than the central sermon. For more details on doctrinal and organizational differences the reader is referred to Breed.

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