The United American Free Will Baptist Church is the oldest national body of predominantly

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

Free Will Baptists Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

The

Free Will Baptist Church Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

in America grew up on two separate fronts:

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

. In the South the denomination began in 1727 when Paul Palmer started a church in Chowan,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The work in the north began with a congregation organized by

Benjamin Randall Benjamin Randall (February 7, 1749 – October 22, 1808) was an American Baptist minister the main organizer of the Freewill Baptists (Randall Line) in the northeastern United States. Biography Early years Benjamin Randall III was born Februa ...

in 1780 at

New Durham, New Hampshire New Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,693 at the 2020 census. It is drained by the Merrymeeting, Cocheco and Ela rivers, and is known for Merrymeeting Lake. New Durham is home to the Pow ...

. Though they arose independently and there was no organizational connection between them, both taught the doctrines of free grace, free salvation and

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...

. Free blacks and

black slaves The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

were members of predominantly

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

Free Will Baptist congregations of the South. African-Americans organized their first separate congregation, Shady Grove Free Will Baptist Church, at Snow Hill, Greene County,

, in 1867. The first annual conference was organized in 1870, and the first association in 1887. The first General Conference for United Free Will Baptists convened at St. John's church in

Kinston, North Carolina Kinston is a city in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 21,677 as of the 2010 census. It has been the county seat of Lenoir County since its formation in 1791. Kinston is located in the coastal plains region of e ...

, on May 8, 1901. The greatest strength of this body is in North Carolina, where it maintains headquarters and a tabernacle and operates

Kinston College Kinston may refer to: *Kinston, Alabama *Kinston, North Carolina (Kingston until 1784) See also *Kingstone, Somerset *Kingston (disambiguation) *Kingston Bridge (disambiguation) *Kington (disambiguation) *Kingstown (disambiguation) Kingstown is th ...

in North Carolina. In 2007, there was an estimated 75,000 members in about 500 churches. The General Conference has published a book of discipline since 1903 and publishes a periodical called ''The Free Will Baptist Advocate''. The United American Free Will Baptist Church is a member of the

National Fraternal Council of Negro Churches National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. Bishop J. E. Reddick currently serves as General Bishop. In 1968, a division brought about a second group of black Free Will Baptists, the

United American Free Will Baptist Conference United American Free Will Baptist Conference, Inc. is the smaller of the two African-American Free Will Baptist conferences in the United States. History Prior to emancipation, black slaves and Free blacks were members of predominantly white F ...

.''The Twelve Tribe of Baptists in the USA'', Wardin, p. 85

References

Sources

*''Encyclopedia of African-American Religions'', Larry G. Murphy, et al., editors *''Encyclopedia of American Religions'', J. Gordon Melton, editor *''Baptists Around the World'', by Albert W. Wardin, Jr., 1995 *''Dictionary of Baptists in America'',

Bill J. Leonard Billy Jim Leonard (born 20 March 1946) is an American historian of religion. Bill Leonard was born on 20 March 1946 in Decatur, Texas to a salesman, Marvin R. Leonard, and his wife Lavelle, who worked as a secretary. After he turned ten, Leonard ...

, editor, 1994 *"The History and Theology of the National Fraternal Council of Negro Churches" (Master's Thesis, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY), by Spurgeon E. Crayton *''The Twelve Tribe of Baptists in the USA'', by Albert W. Wardin, Jr., 2007

External links

United American Free Will Baptist Church
Free Will Baptists Religious organizations established in 1887 Baptist denominations in North America Historically African-American Christian denominations 1887 establishments in the United States {{Baptists-stub