General Baptists are

Baptists Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

who hold the ''general'' or

unlimited atonement Unlimited atonement (sometimes called general atonement or universal atonement) is a doctrine in Protestant Christianity that is normally associated with Amyraldism (four-point Calvinism), as well as Arminianism and other non-Calvinist tradition ...

view, the belief that

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

died for the entire world and not just for the chosen

elect An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

. General Baptists are theologically

Arminian Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...

, which distinguishes them from

Reformed Baptists Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith w ...

(also known as "Particular Baptists" for their belief in particular redemption).

Free Will Baptist 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 ...

s are General Baptists; opponents of the English General Baptists in North Carolina dubbed them "Freewillers" and they later assumed the name. General Baptist denominations have explicated their faith in two major

confessions of faith 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 (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

, "The Standard Confession" (1660), and "The Orthodox Creed" (1678).

History

The first Baptists, led by John Smyth and

Thomas Helwys Thomas Helwys (c. 1575 – c. 1616), an English minister, was one of the joint founders, with John Smyth, of the General Baptist denomination. In the early seventeenth century, Helwys was principal formulator of demand that the church and th ...

in the late 16th and early 17th century, were General Baptists. Under Helwys' leadership, this group established the first Baptist church in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Spitalfields Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, ...

outside

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Helwys is credited with the formation of a general Baptist congregation in Coventry in 1614 or earlier when he gathered with Smyth and leading Coventry Puritans at the residence of Sir William Bowes and his wife, Isobel, in 1606.

Thomas Grantham Sir Thomas Grantham (bap. 1641 – 1718 non.br>‘Grantham, Sir Thomas (bap. 1641, d. 1718)’ rev. Peter Le Fevre, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 8 Sept 2008) was a ...

, along with others, presented a confession of beliefs to King Charles II in 1660. A respected Biblical scholar, Dr. Charles Marie Du Veil, was baptized into the St. Paul's Alley congregation, published his new views, and helped the General Baptist influence after 1685. In 1733 a case against several Northamptonshire congregations was presented to the General Assembly of General Baptists for "singing the psalms of David or other men's composures" which determined no fixed rule on congregational singing, but deferred to the local church to set forth their own reasons as the general assembly had in 1689. The term is also used as a designation for specific groups of Baptists. In 1825, opponents of General Baptists in North Carolina dubbed them "Freewillers" and they later assumed the name

s. General Baptists who accepted the existence of a

second work of grace According to some Christian traditions, a second work of grace (also second blessing) is a transforming interaction with God which may occur in the life of an individual Christian. The defining characteristics of the second work of grace are tha ...

during the

Holiness Movement The Holiness movement is a Christian movement that emerged chiefly within 19th-century Methodism, and to a lesser extent other traditions such as Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Restorationism. The movement is historically distinguished by its emph ...

established denominations such as the

Ohio Valley Association of the Christian Baptist Churches of God The Ohio Valley Association of the Christian Baptist Churches of God is a Holiness Baptist denomination in the Ohio Valley area of the United States. It was formed January 3, 1931 in Portsmouth, Ohio. Four churches—Firebrick Chapel of Firebrick, ...

and

Holiness Baptist Association {{Baptist The Holiness Baptist Association is a holiness body of Christians with Baptist historical roots. Holiness movement In 19th century America, the Holiness movement developed out the "new measures" and teachings of revivalist Charles Grandi ...

General Baptist denominations

* Evangelical Free Baptist Church *

General Association of General Baptists The General Association of General Baptists is a group of Baptists holding the doctrine of general atonement (that Christ died for all persons), whose membership is located mostly in the Midwestern United States. Though theologically similar to th ...

General Six-Principle Baptists The Six-Principle Baptists is a Baptist Christian denomination in United States. History 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 Wi ...

* Some

Independent Baptist Independent Baptist churches (some also called Independent Fundamental Baptist or IFB) are Christian congregations, generally holding to conservative (primarily fundamentalist) Baptist beliefs. Although some Independent Baptist churches refuse af ...

churches *

Marianas Association of General Baptists The Marianas Association of General Baptists is an association of General Baptist churches in the Mariana Islands. Baptist missionary work in the Mariana Islands began in 1911 on the island of Guam, and was supported by the ''General Baptist Foreig ...

National Association of Free Will Baptists 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 State ...

New Connexion of General Baptists New Connexion of General Baptists was a revivalist offshoot from the Arminian Baptist tradition, one of two main strands within the British Baptist movement. Formed in 1770, whilst the New Connexion owes its existence to Dan Taylor, the Yorkshire- ...

Old Baptist Union The Old Baptist Union is a group of evangelical Baptist churches in the United Kingdom. The ''Old Baptist Union'' was founded in 1880, owing largely to the labours of Henry Augustus Squire, an itinerant preacher. Currently the ''Old Baptist Unio ...

Original Free Will Baptist Convention The Original Free Will Baptist Convention is a North Carolina-based body of Free Will Baptists that split from the National Association of Free Will Baptists in 1961. The ''Original Free Will Baptist State Convention'' was established in 1913. In 1 ...

United American Free Will Baptist Church The United American Free Will Baptist Church is the oldest national body of predominantly black Free Will Baptists in the United States. History The Free Will Baptist Church in America grew up on two separate fronts: North and South. In the S ...

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 ...

References

External links

The Standard Confession
- confession of faith upheld by General Baptists
The Orthodox Creed
- confession of faith upheld by General Baptists Protestant theology English Reformation Baptist movements Arminian denominations Christian terminology {{Baptists-stub