Baptist Identity

The Baptist community across the globe has many expressions; there is a range of practice that we see in Baptists Churches. This can change from country to country, from city to city and suburb to suburb. Baptist practice could look conservative or charismatic and just about everything in between. In saying this, as we look closer at who the Baptists are as a movement, we discover there are core qualities to each one. Foundation blocks that each congregation builds upon as it seeks to live out the call to be Disciples of Christ in their context.

Some of these identity markers include the place of Scripture, how church polity is expressed and religious liberty to highlight a few. Following I will be looking at some of the core elements that

While many had their creeds, it was the Baptists who affirm the authority of Scripture over church council or ecclesiastical leader. The description that the Baptists are not a creedal movement and that they have no creed but the Bible affirms the place of Scripture for them. Scripture is a central part and is seen as the authority when it comes to doctrine. The Word of God as described by Baptists is understood as the final authority when it comes to matters of faith and practice. The Baptists did have confessions that were written and in the early days their purpose was to justify themselves to the state and to the state Churches. The authority of Scripture for the Baptist has been significantly influential in the practical application of their lives and

These, according to Scripture are the two that were ordained by Jesus and therefore should be included in the practice of faith. Baptists have the most consistency in the their understanding and application of baptism by full immersion. This is understood to be the most literal practice of the New Testament. This is also recognized to be believer’s baptism, as a person makes his or her own response in obedience to Gods commands, a conscious faith decision. Immersion has been a long tradition within the Baptists church, although early in Baptists churches pouring of water from a bowl, was how baptism was administered. From 1640 onwards the requirement was that candidates for baptism needed to be fully submerged.

The second ordinance of communion differed from the Catholic understanding of transubstantiation and the Lutheran stance of consubstantiation. The Baptists focused more on the remembrance of Christ, which is usually understood to be “Zwinglian” after the Swiss reformer. This was the most widely practiced form of the Lords Supper within Baptists. In the General Baptists, communion was also only reserved for those who had been through baptism in what is known as closed