What is a Baptist?

[GodisgraciousR325]

Dear Baptist Board,

This should have been asked earlier,

What exactly is a Baptist? I guess I recongized my self as a baptist since that is the church I grew up in but what exactly is a Baptist?

Thanks,

Shawn

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

I heard a true story recently about a man being chased by another group for being a Baptist. This man would be caught& executed for not adhering to the state religion of the time,so he ran for his life and at one point looked back to see one of his pursuers had broken the ice, fallen into the water and was drowning. Well the manonthe run turned around and helped the drounding man and was captured and later hung. That’s a Baptist.. one who has such love that he sacrificed himself to save another. The very emulator of Christ. That’s a Baptist.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Hello Shawn,
This isn't an easy question to answer.
The simplest thing to say is that a Baptist church is one that teaches and practises believers' baptism exclusively. The problem with that is that the Plymouth Brethren, and various charismatic denominations also teach and practise believers' baptism exclusively. So maybe a Baptist church is one that teaches and practises believers' baptism exclusively, but does not follow charismatic practices, or those of the PBs.
Another problem is that many Baptist churches do follow charismatic practices. In Britain, where I come from, most Baptist churches belong to the Baptist Union (the one that C.H. Spurgeon seceded from in the 1880s). The B.U. is a total mixture of theologies. Most are 'broad' evangelical, some are liberal but some are quite conservative; most are Arminian, but some are Calvinistic, and quite a few are charismatic.
Then there are the 'Grace Baptist' churches that follow the 1689 Confession, and also the FIEC churches, which are almost entirely baptistic and conservative, but do not necessarily follow the 1689, having their own 'Basis of Faith' Beliefs - FIEC which govern unity within the fellowship. Then there are some that don't belong to any grouping.

So perhaps the best definition is to say that a Baptist church is one that teaches and practises believers' baptism exclusively and agrees with me on all points of theology and ecclesiology.