Reformed Baptists#Strict Baptists

Particular Baptists are Puritans that dissented from the Church of England in the 17th century and adopted credobaptism. They are the original Reformed Baptists, dating from the 1630s. Particular Baptists took their name from the doctrine of particular redemption, distinct from the older General Baptists strand. {{cite EB1911|wstitle= Baptists |volume= 03 |last= Newman |first= Albert Henry | pages = 370–378; see page 372 }} They adhere to a higher degree of Reformed theology than other Calvinist Baptists groups and usually subscribe to the Second London Confession of Faith of 1689. Significant figures include John Bunyan, John Gill, and Charles Spurgeon.{{Cite web |title=What are Particular Baptist churches?|url=https://www.gotquestions.org/Particular-Baptists.html |access-date=2024-09-07}} In the last century, Particular Baptists became more popular as more Baptists identified with strong Puritan teachings.{{Cite web |title=Britons Wed Baptist Ecclesiology with Reformed Theology|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/1980/04/britons-wed-baptist-ecclesiology-with-reformed-theology/|access-date=2024-09-07|author-first1=Wayne A. |author-last1=Detzler|work=Christianity Today|year=1980}}

{{See also|List of Strict Baptist churches|Grace Baptist}}

Strict Baptists, also called Strict and Particular Baptists, are Particular Baptists that practice closed communion and generally prefer a more congregationalist polity, differentiating from other Reformed Baptist groups that share the same Calvinist soteriology. {{Sfn | Weaver | 2008 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=ksu3RA-fqzYC&pg=PA224 224]}} The Strict Baptists arose in England in the 18th century, led by the radical itinerant minister William Gadsby. Their religious beliefs continue in the Gospel Standard Strict Baptist denomination. {{Cite web |title=Gospel Standard Home - Home |url=https://www.gospelstandard.org.uk/ |access-date=2024-06-23 |website=www.gospelstandard.org.uk}}

{{Main|Primitive Baptists}}

Primitive Baptists adhere to a Reformed soteriology.{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Morgan |title=History of the Separate Baptist Church: With a Narrative of Other Denominations |date=1901 |publisher=Hollenbeck Press |page=103 |language=en}} Primitive Baptists emphasize the teaching that "God alone is the author of salvation and therefore any effort by human beings to make salvation happen or compel others to conversion is simply a form of 'works righteousness' that implies that sinners can affect or effect their own salvation."{{cite book |last1=Leonard |first1=Bill J. |title=Baptists in America |date=1 April 2005 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-50171-2 |page=104 |language=en}} As such, they have rejected the concept of missions.

{{Main|Regular Baptists}}

Regular Baptists adhere to a Reformed soteriology. Those who are Old Regular Baptists largely hold to the tenets of Calvinism, "but maintain that God never predestined anyone to hell and that only those who do not heed the Word of God will be lost."{{cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Samuel S. |last2=Lippy |first2=Charles H. |last3=Wilson |first3=Charles Reagan |title=Encyclopedia of Religion in the South |date=2005 |publisher=Mercer University Press |isbn=978-0-86554-758-2 |page=66 |language=en}}

Certain denominations of United Baptists teach a Reformed soteriology.

Sovereign Grace Baptists in the broadest sense are any "Calvinistic" Baptists that accept God's sovereign grace{{cite book |title= Sovereign Grace: The place and significance of Christian freedom in John Calvin's political thought | year= 1999 |first= William R. | last= Stevenson| page= 10| isbn= 0-19-512506-1 | publisher = Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jY4KSjeIiYQC&pg=PA10| access-date = 17 November 2012}} in salvation and predestination. In the narrower sense, certain churches and groups have preferred "Sovereign Grace" in their name, rather than using the terms "Calvinism", "Calvinist", or "Reformed Baptist". This includes some who prefer the 1644 Baptist Confession of Faith to the 1689 Confession, and who are critical of covenant theology.{{Sfn | Brackney | 2009 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=2jA7isW1AI8C&pg=PA472 472]}}

All of these groups generally agree with the Five Points of Calvinism – Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. Groups calling themselves "Sovereign Grace Baptists" have been particularly influenced by the writings of John Gill in the 18th century.{{Sfn | Weaver | 2008 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=ksu3RA-fqzYC&pg=PA220 220]}} Among American Baptists who have revived such Calvinist ideas were Rolfe P. Barnard and Henry T. Mahan, who organised the first Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in Ashland, Kentucky, in 1954,{{cite book| title= The Baptist Heritage: Four Century of Baptist Witness|page=[https://archive.org/details/baptistheritage0000mcbe/page/771 771]|year=1987|first=H. Leon |last= McBeth|isbn= 0-8054-6569-3 | publisher =Broadman Press|url=https://archive.org/details/baptistheritage0000mcbe| url-access= registration|access-date= 17 November 2012}}{{cite book|title= Handbook of Denominations in the United States|page=62|year=2001|edition= 11th | first1 =Frank Spencer |last1=Mead|first2=Samuel S.|last2=Hill|first3=Craig D.|last3=Atwood |isbn=0-687-06983-1 | publisher = Abingdon Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nO0pAQAAMAAJ |access-date= 17 November 2012}} though groups designated as Sovereign Grace are not necessarily connected to them.

Calvinistic Baptist groups presently using the term Sovereign Grace include the Sovereign Grace Baptist Association, the Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada, and some among the growing Calvinist strand of Independent Baptists,{{cite book|title=Primitive Baptists of the Wiregrass South: 1815 to the Present |author= Crowley, John G. |year=1998|isbn=978-0-8130-1640-5|publisher = University of Florida Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6TTtLEXwYCUC&pg=PA177 | page= 177 | access-date = 17 November 2012}} including several hundred Landmark Independent Baptist churches.{{cite book|title=The Twelve Baptist Tribes in the United States: A historical and statistical analysis|year=2007|first=Albert W.|last=Wardin|isbn=978-1-57843-038-3|publisher=Baptist History and Heritage Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2WvkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22IL-SG%22|access-date= 17 November 2012}}

File:Baptistička crkva u Manchesteru.jpg]]

Reformed Baptist churches in the UK go back to the 1630s. Notable early ministers include the author John Bunyan (1628–88), Benjamin Keach (1640–1704), the divine (theologian) John Gill (1697–1771), John Brine (1703–64), Andrew Fuller, and the missionary William Carey (1761–1834). Charles Spurgeon (1834–92), pastor to the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London, has been called "by far the most famous and influential preacher the Baptists had."{{cite book|title= Religion in Victorian Britain: Traditions |page= 107|year= 1988|first = Gerald | last=Parsons|isbn=0-7190-2511-7 |publisher= Manchester University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YdpRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA107}} The Metropolitan Tabernacle Baptist Church itself has been particularly influential in the Reformed Baptist strand in the UK. Benjamin Keach, John Gill, John Rippon (1751–1836), Charles Spurgeon, and Peter Masters (mentioned below) have all pastored this same church. Their characteristic traits may be the founder (Keach, signer of the Second London), theologian (Gill), hymnist (Rippon), preacher (Spurgeon), and restorer (Masters).

The 1950s saw a renewed interest in Reformed theology among Baptists in the UK.{{Sfn | Weaver | 2008 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=ksu3RA-fqzYC&pg=PA224 224]}}

Peter Masters, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, created the London Reformed Baptist Seminary in 1975.{{Sfn | Weaver | 2008 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=ksu3RA-fqzYC&pg=PA224 224]}}

Baptist churches in the United States continued to operate under the confessional statement, the Second London Confession, but they renamed it according to the local associations in which it was adopted, first the Philadelphia Confession (1742, which includes two new articles),{{citation |title=Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith (1742) |url= http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/pctoc.htm|publisher = The Reformed Reader}} then the Charleston Confession (1761, adopted from the London without changes). When the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was founded, its governing confession, the abstract of principles, was summarized form of the Second London Confession, and its founding president, James P. Boyce wrote his "Abstract of Systematic Theology" from an evident Calvinist position. The first major shift at the seminary away from Calvinism came at the leadership of E. Y. Mullins, president from 1899 to 1928.{{cite news | title= E.Y. Mullins: The Axioms of Religion |last=Mohler |first= Albert R. |access-date= 16 July 2009 |url= https://albertmohler.com/2009/07/16/e-y-mullins-the-axioms-of-religion}} Many of the developments in the U.K. mentioned above during the 1950s and following also made an impact on Baptists in America, seen especially in the Founders Movement (which was connected to the so-called "Conservative Resurgence" in the SBC) and in the works of men such as Walter Chantry,{{citation |title= Walter Chantry |url=https://banneroftruth.org/us/about/banner-authors/walter-j-chantry}} Roger Nicole, and Ernest Reisinger.

In March 2009, noting the resurgence of Calvinism in the United States, Time listed several Baptists among current Calvinist leaders.{{cite news | url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314031124/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884760,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=14 March 2009 | title= The New Calvinism |last= Van Biema |first= David |date= 12 March 2009 | publisher= Time Magazine | access-date= 17 November 2012}} Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is a strong advocate of Calvinism, although his stand has received opposition from inside the Southern Baptist Convention.{{cite book | title = Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1859–2009 |page= 542|year=2009|first= Gregory |last=Wills|isbn = 978-0-19-983120-3 |publisher=Oxford University Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vsE1kXv2OgYC&pg=PA542 | access-date =17 November 2012}} John Piper, who was pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for 33 years, is one of several Baptists who have written in support of Calvinism.

While the Southern Baptist Convention remains split on Calvinism,{{cite book|title=The Great Commission Resurgence: Fulfilling God's Mandate in Our Time |page=73|year=2010 |first=Chuck |last=Lawless|isbn = 978-1-4336-6970-5 |publisher= B&H |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w4rj_louFH8C&pg=PA73| access-date = 17 November 2012}} there are a number of explicitly Reformed Baptist groups in the United States, including the Confessional Baptist Association,{{cite book|title=The Baptist river: essays on many tributaries of a diverse tradition| page= 273|year= 2006| editor-first = William Glenn | editor-last = Jonas|isbn=0-88146-030-3|publisher=Mercer University Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9cJjleldIVEC&pg=PA273}} the Continental Baptist Churches, the Sovereign Grace Baptist Association of Churches, and other Sovereign Grace Baptists.{{Sfn | Weaver | 2008 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=ksu3RA-fqzYC&pg=PA220 220]}} Such groups have had some theological influence from other Reformed denominations, such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.{{Sfn | Brackney | 2009 | p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=Noz7WtnOV-kC&pg=PA473 473]}} An example of this is the 1995 adaptation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church's Trinity Hymnal which was published for Reformed Baptist churches in America as the Trinity Hymnal (Baptist Edition).{{cite book|last1=Music|first1=David W|title="I will sing the wondrous story": a history of Baptist hymnody in North America|last2=Richardson|first2=Paul Akers|year= 2008 | publisher =Mercer University Press|page=491 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zNaHK9lnR6MC&pg=PA491 |access-date=17 November 2012 |isbn= 978-0-86554-948-7}}

By 2000, Calvinist Baptist in the United States totaled about 16,000 people in 400 congregations.{{cite book|title=A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches |page=358|year=2010 |first=Robert E. |last = Johnson |isbn=978-0-521-70170-9 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DnsXxtEiNlAC&pg=PA358}}

Several Reformed Baptist Seminaries currently operate in the US; International Reformed Baptist Seminary (IRBS), Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary, Grace Bible Theological Seminary, & Reformed Baptist Seminary are four that each subscribe to the Second London Confession of Faith in some form.{{Cite web|title=Reformed Baptist Seminary|url=https://rbseminary.org/about|access-date=2021-04-21|website=Reformed Baptist Seminary|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=IRBS Theological Seminary|url=https://irbsseminary.org/about-us/|access-date=2021-08-11|website=IRBS Theological Seminary|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary|url=https://cbtseminary.org/about/|access-date=2021-08-11|website=Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary|language=en-US}}{{cite web |title=About GBTS |url=https://gbtseminary.org/learn-about-gbtseminary |website=Grace Bible Theological Seminary |access-date=17 March 2022}}

The Sovereign Grace Baptist Association of Churches (SGBA), which was organized in 1984, sponsors an annual national conference and churches cooperate in missions, publications, retreats, camps and other activities. The Missionary Committee serves under the Executive Committee to screen candidates and recommend them to the churches for support. They currently (2009) are supporting one missionary endeavour. The Publication Committee reviews and approves submissions, and supplies literature to the churches. Grace News is published quarterly. A Confession of Faith was adopted in 1991. Membership in the SGBA is open to any Baptist church subscribing to the Constitution and Articles of Faith. There are 12 member churches, half of which are located in Michigan.{{cite web|url=http://www.sgba.net/ |title= Sovereign Grace Baptist Association Website: Churches |access-date=17 November 2012}} The association is recognised as an endorsing agent for United States military chaplains.{{cite web| title = Armed Forces Chaplains Board Endorsements| publisher= US Department of Defense |url=http://prhome.defense.gov/mpp/chaplains%20board/endorsements.aspx|access-date = 17 November 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110709094304/http://prhome.defense.gov/MPP/CHAPLAINS%20BOARD/ENDORSEMENTS.ASPX |archive-date=9 July 2011}}

Notable Reformed Baptist figures in Africa include Conrad Mbewe in Zambia, who has been compared to Spurgeon; Kenneth Mbugua and John Musyimi of Emmanuel Baptist Church Nairobi, Kenya.{{cite book | title = The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church | volume = 7. Our Own Time |first= Hughes Oliphant | last= Old | author-link= Hughes Oliphant Old | isbn = 978-0-8028-1771-6 | publisher = William B Eerdmans |year=2010 |page=228 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xdwT0NZo0WUC&pg=PA22 |access-date= 17 November 2012}}

In South Africa, the Afrikaanse Baptiste Kerke's 34 churches follow Reformed doctrines, as opposed to the mainly English speaking Baptist Union of Southern Africa, which does not.

There is a small but growing network of Reformed Baptist churches in Europe. The Italian churches are organized in the Evangelical Reformed Baptist Churches in Italy association; several French speaking churches sprung from the work of English missionary Stuart Olyott at the Église réformée baptiste de Lausanne, VD, CH, started in the 1960s.{{Citation | url = http://www.baptiste-lausanne.ch/ | title = Église Réformée Baptiste de Lausanne | language = fr |trans-title=Lausanne Reformed Baptist Church}}. There is a growing network of Reformed Baptist Churches in Ukraine. There are few small communities churches in Germany, where the largest is in Frankfurt am Main.{{Cite web |title=Evangelisch-Reformierte Baptisten |url=https://erb-frankfurt.de/ |access-date=2023-05-18 |language=de-DE}} In March 2023, a new national association of churches formed in the United Kingdom, organized as the "Association of Confessional Baptist Churches in the United Kingdom".{{Cite web |title=Association of Confessional Baptist Churches in the United Kingdom |url=https://acbcuk.org/ |access-date=2023-06-09 |language=en-US}}

In Brazil there is a modest association, the Comunhão Reformada Batista do Brasil (Baptist Reformed Communion of Brazil) sprung mostly from the work of US missionary Richard Denham at São José dos Campos, SP.{{Citation |trans-title= Brazilian Reformed Baptist Communion | url = http://comunhaobatista.blogspot.com.br/ | title = Comunhão reformada batista do Brasil | publisher = Google blogger | language = pt}}. As it did not correspond to expectations of dynamism and effectiveness, it is being supplanted by a newer Convention, the {{ill|Convenção Batista Reformada do Brasil|pt|Convenção Batista Reformada do Brasil}} (Reformed Baptist Convention of Brazil).{{Cite web |title=Convenção Batista Reformada do Brasil {{!}} Convenção Batista Reformada do Brasil |url=https://batistasreformados.com/ |access-date=2024-02-26 |language=pt-PT}}

{{main|Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada}}

The Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada (SGF) is a fellowship of Baptist churches in Canada{{cite book | title= Christianity and ethnicity in Canada |page= 2008|year= 2009| last1 =Bramadat | first1 = Paul | last2 = Seljak | first2 = David|isbn= 978-0-8020-9584-8 |publisher= University of Toronto Press|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4HzXN4HQkQC&pg=PA411 | access-date= 17 November 2012}} holding to either the First London Confession of Faith or the Second London. {{cite web|url= http://www.sgfcanada.com/introduction/constitution/ | title= Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada Website: Constitution | access-date = 17 November 2012}} SGF had 10 member churches when it was formally inaugurated, located in New Brunswick and Ontario.{{cite web |url= http://www.sgfcanada.com/ | publisher =Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada | title = Introduction | access-date= 17 November 2012}} As of 2012, there were 14 churches, including the Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto.{{cite web|url= http://www.sgfcanada.com/introduction/member-churches/ | work = Sovereign Grace Fellowship of Canada | title = Member Churches|access-date=17 November 2012}} SGF is one of the Baptist groups associated with the Toronto Baptist Seminary and Bible College.{{cite web |url = http://www.tbs.edu/mission/ | publisher = Toronto Baptist Seminary and Bible College | title = Mission | access-date = 17 November 2012}}

• Baptist successionism
• Grace Baptist
• List of Reformed Baptist groups
• List of Reformed Baptists
• New Covenant theology

{{reflist |32em}}

• {{Citation | title = Historical Dictionary of the Baptists | year=2009|first= William H |last= Brackney | edition = 2nd | isbn = 978-0-8108-5622-6 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Noz7WtnOV-kC |access-date = 17 November 2012}}.
• {{Citation | title= In Search of the New Testament Church: The Baptist Story | year= 2008|first= C Douglas | last = Weaver |isbn= 978-0-88146-105-3|publisher= Mercer University Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ksu3RA-fqzYC}}.

{{UK baptist denominations}}

{{US baptist denominations}}

Category:Protestant denominations established in the 17th century

Category:Baptist movements