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The Six-Principle Baptists is a Baptist Christian denomination in United States.
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| Baptists |
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| Christianityportal |
The Six-Principle Baptists is a Baptist Christian denomination in United States.
The history of General Six-Principle Baptists in America began in Rhode Island in 1652 when the historic First Baptist Church, once associated with Roger Williams, split. [1] The occasion was the development within the congregation of an Arminian majority who held to the six principles of Hebrew 6:1–2: repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, the laying-on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. Of these, the laying-on of hands was the only doctrine really distinctive to this body, and that only because it was advocated as mandatory. This rite was used at the baptism and reception of new members symbolizing the reception of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some Calvinistic Baptist churches were also "Six-Principle," but they did not survive as a separate body. Even the influential Philadelphia Baptist Association (org. 1707) added an article concerning laying-on of hands to their 1742 reprint of the 1689 London Baptist Confession. A distinguishing feature of these "General" Six-Principle Baptists was that they would not commune with other Baptists who did not observe the laying-on of hands. In 1656, members left the First Baptist Church in Newport, the church of John Clarke and Obadiah Holmes, and formed a second Six-Principle Baptist Church.
Churches were planted and conferences rose up in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. The Rhode Island Yearly Meeting was formed in 1670, becoming the first Baptist association in America. It was incorporated in 1895 as the General Six-Principle Baptist Conference of Rhode Island. The word "Hope" and the emblem of the anchor (both taken from Hebrews 6) on the flag and Seal of Rhode Island attest to the historical influence of Six-Principle Baptists in that state. The New York Yearly Conference was organized around 1824. After 1865, it became known as the General Six-Principle Baptist Association of Pennsylvania. The Six-Principle Baptists of New England were called "General", distinguishing that they held the general view of Christ's atonement (making salvation possible for all men) rather than the particular view (that he atoned for the elect only).
Six-Principle Baptists also existed in England, probably pre-dating those in America. [2] The Standard Confession of 1660 specifies the doctrine of laying-on of hands. According to Henry Vedder,
In March 1690, the churches holding these views formed an Association. This continued with varying fortunes for some years; at its strongest, numbering but eleven churches in England, though there were others in Wales when the Calvinistic Baptists withdrew, and the rest of the churches were gradually absorbed into the General body.
In 1954, the Rhode Island Conference lifted their ban on communing with other Christians, preparing the way for their assimilation into the broader Baptist community. One of the last historical churches to survive is the Stony Lane Six Principle Baptist Church in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. [3] As late as 2009 their pastor, Rev. John Wheeler, wrote "We keep the name only for historical purposes and to our knowledge we are the last church to use it in our official name. We don't include it in our stationary etc., nor do we hold to the specific teaching of highlighting Hebrews 6:1–2 over other parts of Scripture." [3] However, in 2022 they no longer include any mention of "Six Principle" on the church website. According to Albert Wardin, there is also "one church, located in Pennsylvania, which still carries Six Principle in its name, but its current pastor does not observe all the six principles." [4] The Pine Grove Church of Nicholson, Pennsylvania and the Stony Lane Church were the last two churches to be considered historically Six-Principle Baptist.
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Saddened by the dissolution of the historic Six-Principle denomination, a small group of Baptist ministers began a reorganization of the movement in 2001. This incorporated reorganization movement was officially renamed on July 10, 2003, as the General Association of Six-Principle Baptist Churches, Inc. It is also known as the General Association of Six-Principle Baptists which is more descriptive of the fact that the General Association includes not only churches, but individuals, ministers, and ministries.
Since its reorganization, the denomination has grown steadily. All of the ministers credentialed by the General Association serve as Missionaries of the General Association. The General Association of Six-Principle Baptist Churches has no direct historical connection to the original body of Six-Principle Baptists.
The "six-principles" [5] adhered to are those listed in Hebrews 6:1–2 :
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only, and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul competency, sola fide, sola scriptura and congregationalist church government. Baptists generally recognize two ordinances: baptism and communion.
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets.
Seventh Day Baptists are Baptists who observe the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as a holy day to God. They adopt a covenant Baptist theology, based on the concept of regenerated society, conscious baptism of believers by immersion, congregational government and the scriptural basis of opinion and practice. They profess a statement of faith instituted on fundamental precepts of belief. Seventh Day Baptists rest on Saturday as a sign of obedience in a covenant relationship with God and not as a condition of salvation.
Reformed Baptists are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinistic Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith was written along Calvinistic Baptist lines. The name “Reformed Baptist” dates from the latter part of the 20th Century to denote Baptists who have adopted elements of Reformed theology, but retained Baptist ecclesiology.
Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists are part of a larger sub-group of Baptists that is commonly referred to as "anti-mission" Baptists. This sub-group includes the Duck River and Kindred Baptists, Old Regular Baptists, some Regular Baptists and some United Baptists. Only a minuscule minority of Primitive Baptists adhere to the Two-Seed doctrine. The primary centers of Two-Seedism were in Northern Alabama, Arkansas, Eastern Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas. As of 2002, five churches or congregations of this faith and order still existed in Alabama, Indiana, Tennessee, and Texas.
The Separate Baptists in Christ are a denomination of Separate Baptists found mostly in United States.
Regular Baptists are "a moderately Calvinistic Baptist denomination that is found chiefly in the southern U.S., represents the original English Baptists before the division into Particular and General Baptists, and observes closed communion and foot washing", according to Merriam Webster. This definition describes Old Regular Baptists, not those who formed as a result of the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy.
Though the annual meeting of this group is denominated The General Association of The Baptists, they are most widely known as the Kindred Associations of Baptists. Other names associated with these churches are the Baptist Church of Christ, The Baptists, and Separate Baptists. The primary location of the churches is middle Tennessee and northern Alabama. Members from this association form the largest body of Baptists in Moore County, Tennessee.
Continental Baptist Churches was an association of "Calvinistic" Baptist churches holding New Covenant theology, organized in June 1983. The roots of this movement are in the Baptist Reformation Review, founded by Norbert Ward at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1972, and the Sword and the Trowel, edited by Ron McKinney of Dallas, Texas. Both of these papers espoused the doctrines traditionally known as Calvinism.
The Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America(IBFNA) is a separatist fundamentalist independent Baptist fellowship for pastors and laymembers. Sometimes confused with the Independent Baptist Fellowship International (IBFI), the IBFNA is a northern-oriented fellowship formed by individuals who left the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC) due to what they felt was a drift of the association away from their original separatist position. The Fellowship was organized in October 1990 at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Its constitution was ratified in 1993 at Providence, Rhode Island. It is composed of individuals rather than churches. Individuals must renew their membership annually; churches are recognized as 'supporting churches' by financially supporting the Fellowship. This body is very local church oriented, and all boards, institutions, and agencies remain in the hands of the churches. Articles of Faith have been adopted, containing statements on the Scriptures, the Triune God, Salvation, Sanctification, the Church, Biblical Separation, Civil Government, Creation, The Fall of Man, the Devil, and End times. The Review is a quarterly published by the IBFNA. A Conference is held annually.
The United American Free Will Baptist Church is the oldest national body of predominantly black Free Will Baptists in the United States.
The National Association of Free Will Baptists (NAFWB) is a national body of Free Will Baptist churches in the United States and Canada, organized on November 5, 1935 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Association traces its history in the United States through two different lines: one beginning in the South in 1727 and another in the North in 1780. The "Palmer line," however, never developed as a formal denomination. It consisted of only about three churches in North Carolina. The NAFWB is the largest of the Free Will Baptist denominations.
The Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (CBAC), formerly known as Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches (CABC), is an association of Baptist Churches in the eastern provinces of Canada. The offices of the CBAC are located in Moncton, New Brunswick. The union is one of four components of Canadian Baptist Ministries.
North American Baptists (NAB) is an association of Baptists in the United States and Canada, generally of German ethnic heritage with roots in Pietism.
United Baptist is name of several diverse Baptist groups of Christianity in the United States and Canada.
The Confession of Faith (1689), also known as the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, or the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, is a Reformed confession of faith. It was written by English Baptists who subscribed to a Calvinistic soteriology as well as to a covenantal systematic theology. Because it was adopted by the Philadelphia Association of Baptist Churches in the 18th century, it is also known as the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. The Philadelphia Confession, however, was a modification of the Second London Confession; it added an allowance for the singing of hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs in the Lord's Supper and made optional the laying on of hands in baptism.
The United Church of God, an International Association is a nontrinitarian, nondenominational Christian church based in the United States.
Baptists in the United States make up a large number of all Baptists worldwide. Approximately 11.3% of Americans identify as Baptist, making Baptists the third-largest religious group in the United States, after Roman Catholics and non-denominational Protestants. Baptists adhere to a congregationalist structure, so local church congregations are generally self-regulating and autonomous, meaning that their broadly Christian religious beliefs can and do vary. Baptists make up a significant portion of evangelicals in the United States and approximately one third of all Protestants in the United States. Divisions among Baptists have resulted in numerous Baptist bodies, some with long histories and others more recently organized. There are also many Baptists operating independently or practicing their faith in entirely independent congregations.
The Triennial Convention was the first national Baptist denomination in the United States. Officially named the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions, it was formed in 1814 to advance missionary work and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In a dispute over slavery and missions policy, Baptist churches in the South separated from the Triennial Convention and established the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. This split left the Triennial Convention largely Northern in membership. In 1907, the Triennial Convention was reorganized into the Northern Baptist Convention, which was renamed American Baptist Churches USA in 1972.
Six Principle Baptist Church is a historic church in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. As of 2009 it was one of the last surviving historical congregations of the Six Principle Baptist denomination and one of the oldest churches in the United States.
