Only thirty years after John Smyth and Thomas Helwys organized the first Baptist church in Amsterdam, the first Baptist baptismal service in America took place.[1] Sometime in early 1639, a group of about twenty believers gathered for worship in Providence, Rhode Island. This group had studied the New Testament and had rejected infant baptism. They concluded that only believers who had professed their faith were to be baptized. They also decided that magistrates should not have control over religious convictions or practices.
Having committed themselves to these Baptist beliefs, the group and their leader decided that the time had come to hold a baptismal service. Their leader was Roger Williams. A fellow believer, Ezekiel Holliman, performed the baptis
m of Williams and then Williams baptized the other believers.[2] This group had ended up in Rhode Island because of the General Courts appeal to Williams to give up his Separatist and Anabaptist beliefs that were like those of John Smyth.[3] Instead of giving up his beliefs, Roger Williams moved to Providence, Rhode Island with the intent to live in a colony with religious freedom. This place became a haven for those seeking this freedom. The colony’s charter was granted in 1663 and it guaranteed that all citizens could exercise and enjoy “all their civil and religious rights.”[4] During the early years of this colony most of the settlers could be described as Separatists. However, in early 1639, Williams and his followers embraced the New Testament teachings that they had been studying. Williams did not remain a Baptist long. Despite his departure, the Baptist church in Providence survived.
A few years after the formation of this first church, a second Baptist church was formed in Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport church had as its leader, John Clarke. He was born in England and baptized as an infant. He was trained as a physician but was also knowledgeable in law and theology. His Separatist views led him to move his family to New England to escape the influence of the state church. Many historians view Clark as the Father of American Baptists. After the English government granted the charter for Rhode Island the dream of Williams and Clarke had come true. The Baptist Churches in American did begin to sprout up in other colonies, but slowly. Following Rhode Island, Baptists could be found in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine. Following were New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Many of the first Baptists in these colonies were women.[5]
The Middle Colonies did not suffer from the religious intolerance that the New England colonies did. Pennsylvania was the first to have Baptist churches. The first permanent Baptist Association was established in Philadelphia in 1707 when five small churches banded together. Churches in the south also formed. A Baptist church in South Carolina was formed in Charleston when a minister from Maine moved his congregation to get away from the Indian raids. The second Southern colony where a Baptist church was established was Virginia. Virginia Baptists ended up making a plea to the General Baptists in England for help asking them to send qualified clergy. Their request was made over and over. Finally two men were sent and one died in route. The other, Robert Norden formed the Prince George church and they were a General Six Principle Baptist church which was based on the six principles found in Hebrews 6:1-2.[6]
Baptists beliefs slowly spread throughout the colonies and Baptist churches gradually were formed. For about one hundred years Rhode Island served as a major center for Baptists, and until 1750 Baptists in that colony outnumbered Baptists in any other colony.[7] The theological differences among Baptists in early America were most clearly evidenced by the number of Baptist groups that formed from 1639 to 1750. At least eleven Baptist groups organized during that period. [8]
Baptists continued to grow and form congregations all over the colonies. As is evidenced in the number of Baptist groups that were organized, groups could form based on any kind of beliefs and principles, however the one key truth that all Baptist’s believe in is that of believer’s baptism. This is still the strongest belief that holds Baptists together today.
No comments:
Post a Comment