What Is a Baptist?

Religion

November 28, 2006

Baptist

What is a Baptist?

A Baptist is a member of a Baptist church or any follower of Jesus Christ who believes that baptism is administered by the full immersion of a confessing Christian. Baptist churches are usually regarded as an Evangelical Protestant denomination originating from the English Puritan movement, when they were often called "Anabaptists".

Evangelical Protest Denomination

Evangelicalism refers to religious practices and traditions that are found in conservative, usually Protestant, Christianity. Evangelism is typified by an emphasis on evangelism, a personal experience of conversion, biblically oriented faith and a belief in the relevance of Christian faith to cultural issues. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, Protestant people, churches and social movements have often been called evangelical in contrast to Protest liberalism.

Organization Churches

Baptist churches are congregational in matters of government. Such general associations are formed do not have control over the individual churches. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest body of churches, with about 16 million members. The original national organization of black Baptist churches is the National Baptist Convention, USA; it has about 8.2 million members ( Landis 26). As a result, the Baptist World Alliance was formed in 1905 as an alliance of Baptist Churches from around the world.

Life as a Christian

We must not expect to come into the Christian life in a mature state. This is indicated by the figure of being born. We are at first immature in all our spiritual faculties. We comprehend the things in the kingdom of God with comprehension of a child and not with that of an adult. Our knowledge at best is only fragmentary. Of experience, we have nothing at all. Since we have no data from which to draw our conclusion, our views and conclusions will often be imperfect. We may hear others talk and see them act in a way that seems not to correspond to our views. Their more developed reason may make things appear differently to them from what they now appear to us, and things will later appear to us quite differently in many respects from what they do now( Landis 45).

In the beginning, we know little about God. We must be patient and be willing to learn. Furthermore, be willing to grow and develop according to the laws