Baptist Union of Great Britain

The Baptists in the UK its historical roots in the established in Spitalfields in London by Thomas Helwys in 1611 the first British Baptist church. Over time, several Baptist unions emerged. The largest among them are the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, the Baptist Union of Wales and the Baptist Union of Scotland.

• 2.3.1 organization
• 2.3.2 Statistics

Origins

Core group of these early church were English Congregationalists who had left their homeland in 1606 as religious refugees and settled in Amsterdam as asylum seekers. Here they constituted themselves under Mennonite influence as a congregation of baptized believers Christians. The line took over John Smyth and Thomas Helwys. While some followers and Helwys returned to England in 1611, remained a part of the refugee community under the direction Smyth in the Netherlands and went in the course of history in the Mennonite movement. Another part emigrated to the United States and laid there the foundation for the emergence of the American Baptist (see Roger Williams).

Already in his early years saw the young Baptist movement a split in so-called General and Particular Baptists. Taught the latter under Calvinist influence, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ had only one meaning for the elect, stressed the General Baptists, salvation through Jesus Christ, applicable in principle to all men; they would have it only on the basis of a free will decision to accept ( Arminianism ).

1792 founded the Calvinistic Baptists, the Particular Baptist oriented Missionary Society among the Heathen ( German: Missionary Society of Parikular Baptists among the nations ). To lead this mission society were Andrew Fuller, John Sutcliff and William Carey.

Baptist associations in the UK

Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland

The foundation of the oldest and still the largest Baptist Association The Baptist Union of Great Britain until 1813 was completed. Heard at first only Particular Baptists of this Union, was allowed in 1833 and General Baptists entry into the Union of Municipalities. In 1891 they merged into the Baptist Union both groups, so that the old divisions applies largely overcome as.

Core beliefs

The base of the Baptist Union consists mainly of three basic beliefs:

• Only faith in Jesus Christ saves.
• Only the believer's baptism is to be regarded as a Bible-based baptism.
• The main objective of an association of autonomous communities has publicize its basis in the Great Commission of Jesus to the world with the gospel.

Organization

Design and structure of the Baptist Union are simple: in addition to an annual conference to which all community members are invited and which serves mainly the Gemeinschaftsspflege and the common approach, the Council of the Baptist Union 's ( Baptist Union Council), where it focuses on issues the mission, the diakonia and the theological education and training goes. Council to appoint the 13 British regional associations according to their membership deputies, among other things, Select the Presidium of the Baptist Union and decide on all important matters of Municipalities. For Council includes voting representatives of the six theological seminars and other works that are in organizational connection with the Union.

The central office of the Baptist Union of Great Britain is Didcot in Oxfordshire.

Statistics

The Baptist Union consists of about 2,150 local congregations, to which a total of approximately 140,000 baptized members ( with no friends and not baptized family members) belong.

Cooperation

The Baptist Union is a member

• The European Baptist Federation
• The Baptist World Alliance
• The Baptist Fellowship in Great Britain, an association of various Baptist groups Britain
• The Baptist Missionary Society

At various levels, the Baptist Union of Great Britain cooperates with other churches. The Union is one of the British and Irish organization Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (comparable to the Council of Christian Churches ) to, the Conference of European Churches and the World Council of Churches

Baptist Union of Wales

• See article: Baptist Union of Wales

Baptist Union of Scotland

The beginnings of the Scottish Baptist go back to the mid-17th century. Also different teaching beliefs led very early to a split that could be overcome only in the second half of the 19th century. While one group, the so-called Scotch Baptists, in the doctrine of predestination were of a very strict point of view, the other group, the so-called English Baptists remained at a rather moderate Calvinism. A conference in Edinburgh in 1869 led to the unification of the two groups and thus establishing Baptist Union of Scotland. At the inaugural meeting 51 communities had sent their deputies, representing approximately 3500 members.

Organization

The Scottish Baptist Union corresponds in structure to the Baptist Union of Great Britain. While the local communities in the matter of their life and doctrine have a high degree of autonomy, the responsibilities of the Union is limited to common missionary work, education and training of full-time and volunteer staff as well as on the production and distribution of Christian literature. The headquarters of the Scottish Baptist Union is located in Glasgow.

The Scottish Union belongs neither to the European Baptist Federation nor the Baptist World Alliance.

Statistics

For the Baptist Union of Scotland include 170 municipalities with a total of about 15,000 members ( 2003 figures ).

Other smaller Baptist Unions

Besides the aforementioned mergers in the UK there are a number of other Baptist associations that do not belong to the European Baptist Federation and the Baptist World Alliance. These are in addition to free the Old Baptist Churches Baptist Union, the Strict Baptists, the Association of Grace Baptist Churches and the verschwisterte with the latter group Grace Baptist Assembly. Overall, these unions have about 20,000 members.