Toward a Classification System of Religious Groups ... - Prolades.com

aptism by immersion" [borrowed from the Mennonites], thereby
negating the established practice of infant baptism by “sprinkling;" in
this way the two principal Baptist subfamilies were established; the third
subfamily represents the Seventh-day Baptists, founded in London in
1617 by John Trask, as keepers of the Sabbath [Saturday], rather than
Sunday.
Some of the first Baptist creedal statements were the following: (1)
the "Twenty-nine Articles of Faith" written in Latin by Smyth in
Amsterdam prior to his death in November of 1612; (2) the "Nineteen
Articles of Faith" written by Helwys around 1611-1612; (3) the “East
London Confession” of 1644 among Particular Baptists; (4) the first
“General Baptist Confession of Faith” of 1651 in Lincolnshire; and a
variety of other confessions of faith produced by English Baptists
between 1650 and 1700. In the USA, the “New Hampshire Confession of
Faith,” produced by the Baptist Convention of New Hampshire in 1833,
is a more complete confession of faith and reflects a “moderate Calvinist
position,” which was widely accepted among Particular Baptists in North
America at the time.
The first Baptist churches in North America were established in the
Colony of Rhode Island by Roger Williams at Providence in 1639, and by
Dr. John Clarke at Newport in the period 1638-1648. Williams, the
governor of the Colony, has been called “the father of religious liberty in
America.”
B2.21 Arminian or General Baptists
Overview: English and Dutch roots: John Smyth, 1608-1612; Thomas
Helwys and John Murton in London, England, 1612; Rhode Island
Colony, Roger Williams in 1639 and John Clarke in 1648; called “General
Baptists” because of their belief in the general atonement of Jesus Christ
for all humanity; theologically, they are Arminians.
B2.2101 National Association of Free Will Baptists (1727, Paul Palmer, North
Carolina; reorganized in 1935 when they adopted their current name;
headquarters are in Antioch, TN; mission work is conducted in Spain,
Panama, Cuba, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands)
B2.21011 General Conference of Free Will Baptists (founded by Benjamin
Randall in New Durham, New Hampshire, in 1792 as an Annual Meeting
and in 1827 as a Conference)
B2.21012 United Free-Will Baptist Church (1901, Kingston, NC; predominantly
among Afro-Americans; in 1952, there were 836 churches with about
100,000 members)
B2.21013 Original Free Will Baptists, North Carolina State Convention (1913,
Ayden, NC; has mission work in Mexico)
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