The Baptist Church

The Baptist Church is found in almost every country in the world and have existed, even under other names, since the apostles.

For Baptists, the concept of family is important. The church can only be as strong as the families that are in that church. The church is not so much a particular place or building as it is a family of believers, committed to God, to one another, and to Christ's great commission to win the lost to Christ.

Each local Baptist church appoints its own pastors to have particular responsibility for preaching, teaching, and pastoral care.

Most Baptists emphasize the local church. These local churches are autonomous, which means they are self-governing and self-reliant. A Baptist church can range in size from twenty or more members to many thousands. Although Baptist Distinctives teach that each church is an independent entity, there are established Baptist conventions that do not uphold this distinctive as Independent Baptists do.

Although many place the Baptist Church as part of the reform, the Baptist Church not only already existed when the Protestant Reformation took place, The early Baptists were never part of the Catholic Church, but historical accounts say they suffered persecution from both Catholic and Protestant elements.

CH. Spurgeon said:

We believe that Baptists are the original Christians. We did not begin our existence in the Reformation, we were Reformers before Luther or Calvin were born; we never come from the Church of Rome, as we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line with the apostles themselves. We have always existed since the days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten, like a river that may run under the earth for a short time, have always had honest and holy adherents. . . (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1861, p. 225.)

Here is a link to a Baptist Church site.