United Baptist
Encyclopedia
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
groups of Protestant Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ity in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
History
The name "United Baptist" appears to have arisen from two separate unions of Baptist groups: (1) the union of Regular BaptistRegular Baptist
Regular Baptists are a diverse group of Baptists in the United States and Canada. The presence of the modifier "Regular" in their names attests to the strong influence of the early Regular Baptists on the growth of Baptists in North America. Two strains of Baptists emigrated from England to America...
s and Separate Baptist
Separate Baptist
The Separate Baptists were an 18th century group of Baptists in the United States, primarily in the South, that grew out of the Great Awakening....
s in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and the Carolinas in the United States late in the 18th century and near the turn of the 19th century, and (2) the union of Regular Baptist
Regular Baptist
Regular Baptists are a diverse group of Baptists in the United States and Canada. The presence of the modifier "Regular" in their names attests to the strong influence of the early Regular Baptists on the growth of Baptists in North America. Two strains of Baptists emigrated from England to America...
s and Free Baptists in the Maritime Provinces of Canada near the beginning of the 20th century. Many Baptists in the southern United States were called United Baptists, while most in the north were called Regular Baptists. Missionary Baptist bodies such as the Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
, the American Baptist Association
American Baptist Association
The American Baptist Association , formed in 1924, is an association of nearly 2,000 theologically conservative churches that are Landmark Baptist in their missions and teachings...
(ABA) and even some American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) are descendants of the United Baptists. Churches in the ABCUSA retaining the name United Baptist are primarily in the northeast, especially Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, and are products of the Regular/Free Baptist union. One local association of churches in the ABA maintained the "United Baptist" name into the mid 1990s. A number of churches in the United Baptist Convention of the Atlantic Provinces (now Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches
Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches
Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches - an association of Baptist Churches in the eastern provinces of Canada.The Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces was founded in 1846...
) continue to use the name United Baptist.
Status
The most prominently recognizable United Baptists are the unaffiliated local associations of churches that have remained separate and distinct from affiliation with any national or general organizations. The Churches and Church Membership in the United States 1990 survey found over 54,000 members in 436 churches and 24 associations. Approximately 27 such associations exist in the United States, and fall roughly into three groups:- United Baptist (General), some Arminian-oriented, open communion bodies that fellowship with other bodies (that are moderately Calvinistic and closed communion). The common factor is style of worship;
- United Baptist (Landmark), moderately CalvinisticCalvinismCalvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
closed communion bodies that once nominally cooperated with the Southern Baptist Convention; - United Baptist (Regular), primitivistic closed communion bodies that were early in opposition to Baptist missionary and educational enterprises, but that remained aloof from the Primitive BaptistPrimitive BaptistPrimitive Baptists, also known as Hard Shell Baptists or Anti-Mission Baptists, are conservative, Calvinist Baptists adhering to beliefs that formed out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 1800’s over the appropriateness of mission boards, bible tract societies, and temperance...
s. The largest concentration of these churches is in KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
.
The following associations are believed to exist in 2003:
- United Baptist (General)
- Ancient Christian (IN,KY,OH)
- Bethel (MO)
- Bethlehem (WV)
- Central Missouri (MO)
- Centerpoint (OH)
- First Love (IN)
- Friendship (IN)
- New Bethel (OH)
- Ohio Valley (OH,WV)
- Tri-State (IN,KY,OH)
- Union (AR)
- United Baptist (Landmark)
- Green River (KY)
- South Concord (KY)
- South Fork (KY)
- Stockton Valley (TN)
- West Union (TN)
- United Baptist (Regular)
- Blaine Union (KY)
- Calvary (WV) - called "Regular United"
- Iron Hill (KY)
- Laurel River (KY)
- Mt. Sion (WV) - called "Regular United"
- Mt. Zion (KY)
- New Hope (KY)
- Paint Union (KY)
- Old Bethlehem (WV)
- Old Paint Union (KY)
- Old Tri-State Zion (KY)
- Original Old Paint Union (KY) - No longer in existence
- Red Bird River (KY)
- Town Creek (AL)- "United Baptists of the Primitive Faith and Order"
- Tri-State Zion (KY)
- United (KY)
- Union Bethlehem (WV)
- Wills Creek (AL) - "United Baptists of the Primitive Faith and Order"
- Wills Creek (AL)
- Zion (KY)
These three sub-groups of United Baptists reflect differences in benevolences, (i.e. Sunday School) historical affiliations (i.e. Landmark) and worship styles (i.e. a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
vs. musical instruments).
- Three bodies nominally connected to the name United Baptist:
- Convention of Atlantic Baptist ChurchesConvention of Atlantic Baptist ChurchesConvention of Atlantic Baptist Churches - an association of Baptist Churches in the eastern provinces of Canada.The Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces was founded in 1846...
- a union of Free Baptists and Regular Baptists - United American Free Will Baptist ChurchUnited American Free Will Baptist ChurchThe United American Free Will Baptist Church is the oldest national body of predominantly black Free Will Baptists in the United States.-History:...
- United American Free Will Baptist ConferenceUnited American Free Will Baptist ConferenceUnited American Free Will Baptist Conference, Inc. is the smaller of the two African-American Free Will Baptist conferences in the United States.-History:...
- Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches
Practice
The unaffiliated United Baptist associations differ from one another in their views on the atonement, eternal security, and prerequisites of communion. They are fairly consistent in avoiding general unions and conventions, observing the ordinance of feet washingFeet washing
Foot washing or washing of feet is a religious rite observed as an ordinance by several Christian denominations. The name, and even the spelling, of this practice is not consistently established, being variously known as foot washing, washing the saints' feet, pedilavium, and mandatum.For some...
, and preferring an itinerant and unsalaried ministry. A majority of the churches tend to primitivism, rejecting a trained ministry, Sunday Schools, and even instrumental music. Most prefer natural water baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
s. Associations promote fellowship by "corresponding" with (sending representatives to) other associations that they deem to be of "like faith and order".