Baptist
Baptist
Scripture alone, believer's baptism, soul competency, religious liberty.
Baptists are the largest Protestant tradition in the United States. The Baptist family is unified by a cluster of distinctives — the authority of Scripture alone, believer's baptism by immersion, the autonomy of the local church under Christ's lordship, soul competency before God, and religious liberty for all. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (BFM 2000) is the confessional statement of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Source of faith: Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (BFM 2000)
Distinctive doctrines
The doctrines that most shape this tradition.
Soul Competency
Soul competency — sometimes called "the competency of the soul in religion" — is the Baptist conviction that every individual stands directly before God. No priest, no churc…
Read more →Believer's Baptism by Immersion
The name "Baptist" itself comes from one of our distinctives. Baptism, according to the New Testament, is for those who have already believed — and it is by immersion, picturi…
Read more →The Lord's Supper as Memorial
On the night before His death, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper as a way for His people to remember Him. Baptists hold to a memorial view — the bread and cup symbolize Chris…
Read more →The Autonomy of the Local Church
Baptists have no bishop, no synod, no presbytery with binding authority over a local church. Each congregation is autonomous, governing itself under the direct lordship of Jesus…
Read more →Religious Liberty
Baptists have been champions of religious liberty since the 17th century — fighting for it when it cost them their freedom and sometimes their lives. The conviction is rooted …
Read more →The Priesthood of All Believers
In Baptist understanding, every believer is a priest before God — with direct access through Christ, the responsibility to read and interpret Scripture, and a calling to minis…
Read more →Cooperative Missions
A Baptist church cannot reach the world by itself. The Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program, launched in 1925, channels gifts from over 40,000 churches into a unifi…
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