The Baptist Denomination: Largest Christian Denominations In America

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The Baptist Tradition

The Baptist denomination is one of the largest Christian Denominations in America with 33 Million members in the United States and 43 million members internationally although they are mainly in the Western Hemisphere and the UK . Baptist is the 5th largest christian church in the world and are found in almost every country in the world. The term Baptist was coined as a derogatory term and was not recognized till the 19th century by the congregation. The distinguishing characteristic of the Baptist is their three core beliefs. Many of these can be seen in the Schletitheir Confession written for the Anabaptist in 1527. The Anabaptist have heavily influence the Baptist …show more content…

In the 1530 the persecution became so fierce they decided they needed to migrate to survive and they migrate to Moravia. In 1535 the King of Bohemia Ferdinand forcibly expelled them from Moravia and confiscated all of their land and possessions. Then they hid in the forest under the leadership of Jacob Hutter. Their spirits were still high while living in poverty. It is recorded that Hutter said Be ye thankful unto God,” that ye are counted worthy to suffer persecutions and cruel exile for His name. Things whe from bad to worse for them as in 1547 King Edward of England issues an order that all Baptist be sought out to celebrate the execution of the popular Baptist Joan of Kent. The Baptist were hunted through much of Europe and in 1575 a Baptist congregation was found …show more content…

It believed in an early version of the Priesthood of believers where the congregation controlled the doctrine. They stressed that one should be true to their conscience because they would stand before God themselves. The Baptist was also very involved in they complete religious liberty in Rhode Island. Around this time the term Baptist became doctrinally diverse from church to church. With General and particular and seventh day baptist becoming more different. The Baptist church flourished during and after the American Revolutionary war quickly America had more Baptist churches than england. Some attribute this to its democratic nature and freedom from old world authority. After this and durine the American Civil war the diverseness of Baptist Churches becomes more fierce on the issue of slavery some taking the side of the Union and some taking the side of the