Time-Line of Baptist History
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Last Updated:
Sunday, April 20, 2008
This timeline of Baptist
history is not intended to be exhaustive and perhaps many key dates and
events are not included, as yet. 100% authenticity for accuracy of
specific dates/events is not always guaranteed since historical evidence
is not always available for verification. This will be continually
updated as more information is made available. Dating errors are
mainly due to inaccurate, insufficient or sometimes contradictory
information. Send me the evidence for any correction and I will
gladly change whatever is necessary but please make it verifiable (as much
as possible).
1520 —
The Anabaptist
Movement begins in Germany under the leadership of Thomas Müntzer
1525 —
Swiss Anabaptists broke with Zwingli.
—
Baptism of Hubmäier.
—
Peasants Revolt led by Thomas Müntzer.
1535 —
Anabaptists in Zurich were suppressed.
—
The Müntzer
Rebellion.
1537 —
Menno Simons became leader of
Dutch Anabaptists.
1538 —
Efforts made to expel Anabaptists from England.
1606 —
John Smyth formed one of the first Separatist churches in England.
1608 — Smyth’s congregation
fled to Holland to avoid Anglican persecution.
—
Met Mennonites (one of several Anabaptists groups)
—
Smyth became convinced that believer's baptism was biblical and infant
baptism was not.
1609 —
First English General Baptist church formed in Holland under
John Smyth. 1609 is unofficially
— referred to as the
beginning of the Baptist denomination.
1610 —
Smyth sought to merge his congregation with the Mennonites.
—
Pastor John Smyth became an Amsterdam Mennonite.
1611 —
Organization of first General Baptist church in England by
Thomas Helwys and Murton.
— Thomas Helwys led a group opposed
to the merger back to England and established the first
—
Baptist church in England.
— Thomas Helwys
rejected particular atonement, free will and partial depravity.
—
This movement grew into the General Baptists who held to Arminian
theology.
—
Initially baptized by pouring, later by immersion.
—
Lost members to the Quakers and the Unitarians.
1612 — Thomas Helwys led the church back to
England.
—
Plea to James I for religious freedom.
1616 —
Death of Thomas Helwys, one of the founders of the Baptist faith.
—
Henry Jacob began another Baptist movement of non-separatists.
This movement became
— Particular Baptists and held to hyper-Calvinist
theology. Baptized by immersion
1628 — Birth of John Bunyan. Born in the
parish of Elstow, in Bedfordshire, to Thomas Bunyan and
— Margaret
Bentley (Thomas's first wife, Anne Pinney, had died the year
before without any
— surviving children).
1630 — Two groups of Baptists emerge. Both
believe that only those who put their trust in Christ can
— be
saved, but while the so-called General Baptists believe that
anyone can have such faith,
— the Particular Baptists believe that
the only people capable of having such faith are those few
— who
have already been pre-chosen by God.
1634 —
First Baptist church in North America founded in Providence, RI by
Roger Williams. Eventually
— moved toward General Baptist
views
1638 —
The first Particular Baptist church organized by
John Spilsbury.
—
Organization of the first Baptist church in America; at
Providence, R. I., by Roger Williams,
or
— in Newport, R. I., by
John Clarke
1640 —
Particular Baptist church founded in Newport, RI.
—
Southwark church became convinced of believer's baptism and were
baptized by immersion,
— pastored by Henry Jessey.
1641 —
Baptism by immersion emphasized by John Spilsbury.
1644 —
London Confession of 1644:
Calvinistic, emphasized baptism by immersion and religious
— liberty.
—
Organization of Association of London Particular Baptists.
—
John Bunyan enlists in the Parliamentary army, joining with the
Newport Pagnell garrison, at
— the regulation age of sixteen.
1645 — General Baptists published a
pamphlet "The Fountain of Free Grace Opened" which defended
— free
will and general atonement.
—
Newport Pagnell garrison moves to Leicester. Most probably, it
was here that Bunyan's
— comrade was shot. "When I was a
soldier, I, with others, were drawn out to go to such a place to
—
besiege it; but when I was just ready to go, one of the company
desired to go in my room; to which,
—
when I had consented, he
took my place; and coming to the siege, as he stood sentinel, he
was shot
—
into the head with a musket bullet, and died." -
John Bunyan, from "Grace
Abounding"
1649 —
Charles executed;
Oliver Cromwell
rules England as Protector of Commonwealth
1650 —
Welsh Association formed of three churches.
1651 —
Midland Association of
thirty General Baptist churches formed.
—
Cirencester Baptist Church founded.
1653 — John Bunyan joins St. John's
church in Bedford, where he meets Mr. Gifford, the pastor.
1655 — John Bunyan moves to Bedford and
becomes a deacon of St. John's church. First wife dies
— soon
after move, leaving John with four motherless children. Mr.
Gifford dies in September of
— the same year.
1656 — Publishes first work entitled
"Some Gospel Truths Opened".
—
Henry Jessey visits Gloucestershire.
1657 — Publishes second work entitled
"Vindication of Gospel Truths" (year is approximate).
—
John Bunyan is formally recognized as a preacher.
1658 —
Death of Oliver Cromwell
—
Indictment is laid
against John Bunyan at the Assizes for "preaching at Eaton Socon".
The
— charge was most likely dropped.
—
John Bunyan publishes third work entitled "A
Few Sighs From Hell".
1659 — John Bunyan publishes "The
Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded".
This is the last book
— he writes before being placed in prison.
1660 —
Organization of General Assembly of all Associations of General
Baptists in London.
— John Bunyan is
scheduled to preach at the hamlet of Lower Samsell (November
12). Upon
— his arrival, he is informed that a warrant has been
issued for his arrest. After a lengthy
— interview with Mr.
Francis Wingate, and another with Wingate's brother-in-law,
William Foster,
— (who unsuccessfully tries to persuade Bunyan
into a concession), John was placed in Bedford
— prison. He was
charged with "devilishly and perniciously abstaining from coming
to Church to
— ear Divine Service, and for being a common
upholder of several unlawful meetings and
— conventicles, to the
great disturbance and distraction of the good subjects of this
kingdom,
— contrary to the laws of our sovereign lord and king."
—
Within approximately eight days of John's arrest, his wife gives
birth, only for the infant to
— die soon after. "I am but
mother-in-law to them, having not been married to him yet full
two
— years. [Elizabeth, John's second wife, spoke this in 1661.]
Indeed, I was with child when my
— husband was first apprehended;
but being young, and unaccustomed to such things, said
— she, I
being smayed at the news, fell into labour, and so continued for
eight days, and then
— was delivered, but my child died." -
John Bunyan's wife, from "A
Relation of My Imprisonment"
1662 — The Assizes of 1662. John
Bunyan endeavors to have his name entered in the calendar of
— offenders, so his case would come before the judges. However,
the Clerk of the Peace alters
— John's entry, thus making it
possible for Bunyan to remain in prison for the next four years.
—
John Bunyan Writes "I
Will Pray With the Spirit and With the Understanding Also, or a
— Discourse Touching Prayer".
1663 — John Bunyan publishes "A
Discourse Touching Prayer".
—
John Bunyan writes "Christian
Behavior".
1664 — John Bunyan publishes "One
Thing Is Needful" on single sheets to
be sold by his wife and
— children, to aid them financially (date
is approximate).
1665 — John Bunyan writes "The
Holy City", and "The
Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal
— Judgment"
from Bedford prison.
—
John Bunyan writes a poem entitled "Prison
Meditations" in response to a letter
he received,
— exhorting him to hold his head above the flood.
1666 — John Bunyan publishes "Grace
Abounding to the Chief of Sinners". A
brief period of freedom
— follows re-incarceration "He was let
out again, 1666, being the year of the burning of London, and,
—
a
little after his release, they took him again at a meeting, and
put him in the same jail, where he
—
lay six years more."—Charles
Doe, A friend and biographer of John Bunyan.
1670 —
Organization of General
Six-Principle Baptists in Rhode Island.
—
First Baptist Association formed in RI.
1671 — Organization of the first Seventh Day Baptist church in America at
Germantown,
—
Pennsylvania.
—
John Bunyan is released from Bedford prison, after twelve years
of imprisonment. His formal
— pardon is dated September 13, 1672,
but he received a royal license to preach five months
— earlier.
1674 — John Bunyan publishes "Christian
Behavior" as a pocket volume.
1675 — John Bunyan writes "The Pilgrim's Progress" during six months of
incarceration. After being
—
released the same year, he resumes his pastorate in Bedford.
1676 — John Bunyan publishes "The Strait Gate".
1677 — Confession of 1677, a revision of the Westminster Confession.
— 'Some' Baptists felt a need to
identify themselves with a large body of non-Anglicans.
1678 — John Bunyan publishes "The Pilgrim's Progress". Second edition of
"The Pilgrim's Progress" is
—
published in the autumn.
1679 — John Bunyan publishes "A Treatise of the Fear of God".
1680 — John Bunyan publishes "The
Life and Death of Mr. Badman".
1681 — John Bunyan publishes "Come
and Welcome to Jesus Christ".
1682 — John Bunyan publishes "The
Holy War". Publishes the
eighth edition of "The
Pilgrim's
— Progress", and makes last
improvements. Publishes "The
Barren Fig Tree".
1684 —
Baptist beginnings in Middle Colonies of America(?)
—
John Bunyan publishes ninth edition of "The
Pilgrim's Progress". Publishes
the second part
— of "The
Pilgrim's Progress". Publishes
"Seasonable
Counsel".
— Elder Thomas Dungan from Ireland
left his native home to escape persecution, and
—
comingto Rhode Island he joined himself to the First Baptist Church of
Newport, Rhode
—
Island, where Doctor John Clark was the pastor.
— Elder Dungan and a small group of
members left the church at Newport to organize the Cold
— Spring
Baptist Church in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
1685 — John Bunyan publishes tenth edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress".
Bunyan is in danger of
—
returning to prison.
1688 —
John Bunyan publishes
"The
Water of Life". Publishes "The
Jerusalem Sinner Saved" in a
— pocket
volume of eight sheets. Preaches his last sermon from
John 1:13 (August 19).
— Bunyan travels through drenching
rain on behalf of a young man, whose father was angry
— with
him. After succeeding his mission, he returns to his lodging
on Snow Hill. After enduring
— ten days of violent fever, he
dies and is buried in Bunhill Fields. "The
Barren Fig Tree" is
— reprinted a few
months after John's decease.
— Elias Keach came to Pennsylvania
and posed as a minister. While preaching he came under
—
terrible conviction and had to stop. He confessed his lost condition and
the people sent him
— to
Elder Thomas Dungan pastor of the Cold Spring Baptist Church in Bucks
County,
—
Pennsylvania. Elias Keach was saved there by the grace of God. He was
baptized and
—
ordained by the Cold Spring Baptist Church and as a missionary out of the
Cold Spring
—
Baptist Church he organized the Pennepeck Baptist Church (also known as
the Lower Dublin
—
Baptist Church) at Pennepeck, Pennsylvania.
1689 —
General Assembly of General Baptists threatened by Arian
teachings of Matthew Caffyn.
— London Confession of Particular Baptists.
— General Assembly of Particular Baptists organized in London.
1691 — Bunyan's "The
Jerusalem Sinner Saved" is
reprinted (3rd Edition).
—
Charles Doe publishes "An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis,
and Part of the
—
Eleventh", an unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among John
Bunyan's papers after
— his
death, in his own handwriting.
1692 — John Bunyan's "Of Antichrist and His Ruin", "Christ a Complete
Saviour", "A Discourse of the
— House
of the Forest of Lebanon", and "The Saints' Knowledge of Christ's Love",
are
—
published.
1698 — Charles Doe publishes "The Heavenly Footman".
1700 —
24 Baptist Churches in America.
— “Great Awakening”.
— Birth of Separate Baptists–revivalistic
— In the north, Separate Baptists merged with older Baptist
churches
— In the south, Separate Baptists remained separate
1701 — John Bunyan's "A
Book For Boys and Girls" is
first published.
1707 —
Organization of
Philadelphia Baptist Association. The Philadelphia Baptist
Association was the
— first
Baptist Association in America and it adopted the Calvinistic 1689 Baptist
Confession
— from
London with two additions, the laying on of hands and the singing of
Psalms, and
— became
the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith in 1742.
1719 — The Pennepek Baptist Church of
Pennepeck, Pennsylvania organized the Montgomery Baptist
— Church
of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
1727 —
Organization of Original Freewill Baptists
in Virginia and North Carolina.
—
The first Baptist
congregation in North Carolina forms as Shiloh Church, in
Chowan Precinct.
1728 — German Seventh Day Baptists
founded the cloisters of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, (date
— approximate)
1739 — Division of American Baptists into Regular and
Separate Baptists as a result of differences
— over the
Great Awakening, (date approximate)
1742 —
London Confession of Particular Baptists (1689)
adopted by the Philadelphia Association.
1750 — Organization of the River Brethren in Eastern Pennsylvania, (date approximate)
1755 — The Reverend Shubal Stearns
leads a group of 15 Separate Baptists from Connecticut to
— Orange County and establishes Sandy Creek Baptist Church,
the "mother of Southern Baptist
— churches."
— The
Separate Baptist movement in the South established itself first in
north-central North
—
Carolina as a result of the coming to that area in 1755 of a small colony
of Baptist from
—
Connecticut who themselves had been awakened spiritually in connection
with the revivalism
— of
English evangelist George Whitfield.
1758 —
Sandy Creek Association in North Carolina
—
One of the first recorded black congregations is organized
on the plantation of William Byrd
— in Mecklenburg,
Virginia.
1761 — William Carey born at
Paulerspury, Northampton, England, August 17.
1762 — The Montgomery Baptist Church in Montgomery Township, Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania
—
released John Marks on August 12, 1761 to go to Virginia where he and a
man by the name
— of
David Thomas organized the Broad Run Baptist Church on December 2, 1762.
1763 — 13 Baptists from Swansea,
Massachusetts arrive in Tantamar to establish a Baptist
Church
— and settle near Silver Lake in Middle Sackville.
1764 —
Founding of the College of Rhode Island by Baptists, now
known as Brown University.
1770 —
"New Connection" Free
Grace General Baptist Assembly organized in England.
1771 — Twelve Virginia Separate churches, standing apart from other kinds
of Baptists, organized
— their
“General Association of the Separate Baptists in Virginia”
1773 —
c.1773-1775, Plantation slave preacher George Liele, the
first black Baptist in Georgia,
— founds the Silver Bluff
Baptist Church in Silver Bluff, South Carolina. The
congregation
— includes free and enslaved blacks. One of
Liele's original followers, Andrew Bryan, goes on to
— become ordained by the Baptist Church in 1788, and founds
the Bryan Street African Baptist
— Church, which is later
renamed the First African Baptist Church of Savannah.
1775 —
Baptists grew from 494 congregations to 1,152
—
The first German
Baptist (Dunker) congregation in the state forms near
Muddy Creek in
— present-day Forsyth County, (date approximate).
1776 — Black Baptist churches
organize in the Virginia cities of Williamsburg and
Petersburg.
1777 — William Carey apprenticed to
the shoemaking trade.
1779 — William Carey attended
prayer-meeting that changed his life, February 10.
1780 —
Organization of Freewill Baptists in New Hampshire.
1782 —
George Liele is considered to be the first American
missionary. In 1782 this former pastor of
— the First
African Church of Savannah, Ga., hearing that the British
were declaring peace with
— the colonies, indentured himself
to a British officer in order not to be re-enslaved by his
— former master's heirs. He and his family moved to
Kingston, Jamaica. After two years he had
— paid back his
indenture and was able to devote all his energy to
preaching. With four other
— former
American slaves, he
formed the First African Baptist Church of Kingston. In 10
years
— the church grew to over 500 members.
1783 —
John Ryland
baptized William Carey in the River Nene and Carey later
joined a Baptist church
— in Olney. 30 years later
Ryland wrote the following: "On October 5, 1783, I
baptized in the
— Nene, just beyond Dodridge's meeting
house, a poor journeyman shoemaker, little thinking
— that
before 9 years elapsed he would prove the first instrument
of forming a society for
— sending missionaries from England
to the heathen world, and much less that later he would
— become professor of languages in an Oriental College, and
the translator of the Scriptures
— into 11 different
tongues."
1784 — The Baptist General Association of Virginia was dissolved and
replaced by a General
—
Committee made up of delegates from the district associations.
1785 — Baptist General Committee meetings met to discuss grievances having
to do with religious
—
liberty.
—
Jefferson’s Statute for Religious Liberty was adopted by the General
Assembly (Baptist
—
General Association of Virginia), and Virginia became the first state to
establish by statute
— the
separation of church and state.
— The minutes of the Broad Run
Baptist Church (Abbeville County, SC) state that on
— October the 25th several families
including the Shurley's and the Foster's where dismissed to
— go
south. These families traveled to Abbeville County, South Carolina and the
Turkey Creek
—
Baptist Church was organized on January the 29th in 1785.
1786 — William Carey is called to
the ministry at Olney, August 10.
1787 —
The General Assembly of General Baptists in England sent a
petition to Parliament in behalf
— of abolition of slavery.
—
William Carey was formally ordained to the gospel
ministry.
1789 — The Middle District Association (Baptist General Association of
Virginia) divided, resulting in
— the
constitution of the Roanoke Association (since 1926 called the
Pittsylvania). Seventeen
—
churches formerly associated with the Middle District joined with three
North Carolina churches
— in
organizing the new association.
1790 —
Baptists had grown to 979 churches
—
Prince Williams, a freed slave from South Carolina, went
to Nassau, Bahamas, where he
— started Bethel Meeting
House. In 1801 he and other Blacks organized the Society
of
— Anabaptists. At age 70 Williams erected St. John's
Baptist church and pastored there until he
— died at age
104. Subsequently, 164 Baptist churches were
planted in the Bahamas.
1792 —
William Carey
and others
found The Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the
Gospel
— among the Heathen (later named the Baptist
Missionary Society) at Kettering. William Carey
— writes
Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use means
for the conversion of the
—
heathen
— Andrew Fuller was appointed the first Secretary and
William Carey, bound for India, the first
— missionary.
— The birth of Conventionism is traced to Kettering,
England, in October 1792, when the English
— Baptist
Missionary Society was formed, for the purpose of
"spreading the Gospel among the
— heathen nations. Andrew
Fuller was appointed the first Secretary and William
Carey, bound
— for India, the first missionary.
— David George left the Silver Bluff, S.C. Baptist Church
- the first Black Baptist church in
— America - to go to
Nova Scotia and minister to exiled Blacks there. Later,
in 1792, he
— traveled with 12,000 Black settlers to
Sierra Leone, West Africa where Great Britian had
— established a city of refuge for former slaves. About
the same time, Brother Amos, from the
— Savannah church,
sailed for the Bahamas and settled in New Providence,
where he planted a
— church that grew to 850 members by
1812.
1793 —
William Carey and Dr. John Thomas were appointed
Baptist missionaries to India by the
— British Society
for the Evangelization of the Heathen.
1794 — Arthur Durham and David McGladery petitioned the Turkey Creek
Baptist Church for the
—
privilege of collecting members about them to see if they were "ripe for
constitution." On July
— the
14th 1794 the Poplar Springs Baptist Church was organized in Ware Shoals
County,
— South
Carolina.
1796 — William Carey Baptized a
Portuguese, his first convert.
1797 —
Formation of English Baptist Home Mission Society.
— Baptist Itinerant society formed.
1799 —
Formation of Baptist
Union of Wales.
1800 —
At least 48 Baptist Associations existed and became
interested in foreign missions.
— William Carey moved to Serampore, January 10; Baptized
Krishna Pal, first Bengali convert,
— December 28;
Elected Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali languages in
Williams College.
1801 — William Carey completes
the New Testament in Bengali, February 7.
1802 —
Organization of Massachusetts Baptist Missionary
Society, the first state convention to be
— organized in
America.
—
The principles of Conventionism were borrowed from our
English Baptist Brethren and born in
— America, when the
Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was organized
to "extend the
— influence of the Gospel. Article IV
states: The object of this society shall be to
furnish occasional
—
preaching and to promote the
knowledge of evangelic truth in the new settlements
within these
—
United States; or farther if
circumstances should render it proper.
—
General Conference of Seventh Day Baptists created.
1803 — The Massachusetts
Baptist Missionary Society votes to publish a
missionary magazine now
— known as The American
Baptist, the oldest surviving religious
magazine in the U.S.
—
William Carey, self-supporting missionary organization
founded.
1807 — Doctor of Divinity
conferred to William Carehy by Brown University of
U.S.A.;
—
Becomes a member of Bengali Asiatic Society.
1808 —
Organization of the Baptist Church of Christ in
Tennessee.
— William Carey publishes New Testament in Sanskrit.
1809 — William Carey
completes translation of Bible in Bengali, June 24.
1811 — William Carey
publishes New Testament in Marathi.
1812 —
Adoniram and
Ann Judson (after having
only been married for 2 weeks) along with Samuel
— and
Harriet Newell sailed for India on the Caravan.
A Congregationalist and paedo-Baptist,
—
Adoniram was convinced believer's baptism was the only Biblically correct
view and was
—
converted. His wife, Ann was not immediately convinced but later
was.
1813 —
Organization of General Union of Baptist Ministers
and Churches in England, forerunner of
— Baptist Union
of Great Britain and Ireland.
— Luther Rice was an
appointed Congregational missionary, who like his
contemporary
— Adoniram Judson, became a convinced
Baptist after leaving America. After his baptism in
— Calcutta, Rice set sail back to America for the
purpose of gathering support for the mission
— effort
among Baptists.
— Adoniram and Ann (Nancy) Judson were forced to leave
Madras, India and boarded the only
— ship in harbor
ready to sail, which was bound for Rangoon, Burma;
they arrived at that port
— July 13, 1813. It
would be 6 years before they would baptize their
first convert.
— Conversion of Adoniram Judson to Baptist principles.
1814 —
Formation of the Triennial Convention (General
Convention of the Baptist Denomination in
— the United
States for Foreign Missions) in Philadelphia.
Convened in order to pool resources
— for the support
of Baptist foreign missionaries Luther Rice and
Adoniram Judson. A
— completely voluntary
organization that exercised no control over matters
of theology. Its sole
— purpose was the financial
support of foreign missions, and supporters of its
work could be
— found in local churches and
associations throughout Southern and Northern
states. In
— response to appeals made by Luther
Rice, among American Baptists, to raise support for
— Adoniram Judson in India, "The General Convention of
the Baptist Denomination in the
— United States for
Foreign Missions" was organized May 1814 at
Philadelphia. Because this
— convention met every
three years, it came to be known as "The Triennial
Convention".
— Organization of the Irish Missionary Society.
— American Baptist Home Mission
Society
— American Baptist Publication Society
— First recorded baptism of a Chinese convert, Cai Gao;
American Baptist Foreign Mission
— Society formed.
— Netherlands Bible Society founded; four Native
Americans from beyond the Rocky Mountains
— come east
to St. Louis seeking information on the "palefaces'
religion".
— First missionaries arrive in New Zealand led by
Samuel Marsden.
1815 —
Lott Carey was born a slave in Virginia. He became
pastor of the 800-member African Baptist
— Church in
Richmond, Va., and in 1815 led in the formation of
the Richmond African Baptist
— Missionary Society.
After collecting $700, Carey and his wife sailed for
Sierra leone in 1821
— and established a mission among
the mandingoes. He dies in 1828 during a battle with
— inhabitants in Liberia. Carey is credited with being
the first American missionary to Africa.
— William Carey publishes New Testament in Punjabi.
1817 —
Organization of the
Church of God by
John Winebrenner in Philadelphia.
— Peck and Welch sent out as home missionaries to
the Middle West by the Triennial
— Convention.
— James Thompson begins distributing Bibles
throughout Latin America.
— General Baptist Missionary Society formed.
1818 —
Founding of Hamilton Literary and Theological
Institution in New York.
— William Carey publishes Old Testament in Sanskrit.
1819 —
Organization of the first Baptist church in
France.
1820 — William Carey
publishes Marathi Old Testament.
1821 — The Sabbath Recorder
(Seventh Day Baptist) created. Unbroken
publication since 1844
— Serampore college opened (William Carey)
1824 —
Organization in Washington, D. C. of the Baptist
General Tract Society, now known as the
— American
Baptist Publication Society.
1825 —
Founding of Newton Theological Institution near
Boston, oldest Baptist Seminary in America.
— William Carey Completes Dictionary of Bengali and
English.
—
The Bethel Baptist Association, located in and
around Logan County, Kentucky, was formed
— in
answer to a controversy. A contentious spirit of
disagreement had lately begun to enter
— the Red
River Association concerning the issues of limited
atonement and the preaching of
— the gospel to the
unregenerate.
1826 — Origin of Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian
Baptists, (date approximate).
— Government gave William Carey "Grant in Aid" for
education.
—
The Division of the Red River
Association, written by
a committee of the following: Reuben
— Ross, Pastor
of Spring Creek West Fork, William Tandy, ordained
Minister of Bethel, Sugg
— Fort, pastor of Red
River.
1829 —
Suttee (former Indian funeral practice in which
the widow immolated herself on her husband’s
—
funeral pyre) prohibited thru William Carey's
efforts, December 4.
1830 —
Alexander Campbell drew many Baptist Churches
into the Disciples of Christ.
1831 —
Organization of Adventists by
William Miller.
1832 —
The American Baptist Home Mission Society was
organized in the Meeting House of the
— Mulberry
Street Baptist Church, New York, New York, on
Friday April 27, 1832, during an
— adjournment of
the Triennial Convention. Article II of its
Constitution states: "The great
— object of the
Society shall be to promote the preaching of the
Gospel in North America," H. C.
— Vedder in "A Short
History of the Baptists" (page 328) states: ...During
its earliest years, Elder
—
Peck [John Mason Peck]
was the Home Mission Society in the West - its
visible embodiment, its
—
chief advisor, and local
executive...
— William Knibb's agitation against the slave
traffic in the British Colonial Empire.
— The Baptist Irish Society and British and Irish
Baptist Home Mission formed.
1833 —
New Hampshire Confession
written to combat the Arminianism of
Free-will Baptists.
— Baptist work in Thailand begins with John Taylor
Jones.
— Free-Will Baptist Foreign Missionary Society
begins work in India
1834 —
Organization of the first Australian Baptist
church in Sydney.
— William Carey died at age 73 on June 9. He
was surrounded by Jabez and William Carey
— (his
sons) who were both also missionaries as well as
Jonathan Carey who had finally gotten
— saved after
much prayers by his father.
1835 —
Organization of the
Primitive Baptists in New York and
Pennsylvania.
— Appointment of Oneken as an agent for the
Triennial Convention in Germany.
1836 —
The Providence Missionary Baptist District
Association was formed, one of at least six
— national organizations among African American
Baptist whose sole objective was African
— missions.
1837 —
Organization of the American and
Foreign Bible Society in Philadelphia by
Baptists.
1839 —
Organization of the first Danish Baptist church.
1840 —
Formation of the Bible Translation Society in
England.
1841 —
Organization of the first Lithuanian Baptist
church under Oncken's guidance.
1843 —
American and Foreign Free Baptist Missionary
Society organized by abolitionists in Boston.
— A baptist pastor from Vermont named William
Miller calculated that Christ's second coming
— would occur this year. He later revised the date
to 1844. The Seventh Day Adventist church
— started from these false predictions.
— Baptist John Taylor Jones translates New
Testament into Siamese
1845 — Baptists split
North and South, never re-united.
— On May 8,
1845 about 293 Baptist leaders of the South,
met in the First Baptist Church,
— Augusta,
Georgia and organized the Southern Baptist
Convention. While this division
— between
Northern and Southern Baptists was several
years in the making, the final catalyst
— came
in 1844, when Georgia Baptists were refused an
appointment for a missionary, who was
— a
slaveholder. Later that same year, Alabama
Baptists asked if the American Baptist Home
— Mission Society would appoint a slaveholder as
Missionary, the answer was no. This resulted
— in Virginia Baptists calling for Baptists of
the South to meet at Augusta, Georgia in early
May,
— 1845.
— The Triennial Convention renamed
American Baptist Missionary Union.
— Southern
Baptist Convention formed, splitting from the
Triennial Convention in support of
— slavery
because of opposition to appointing slave
holding missionaries by the Triennial
— Convention.
— International Mission Board,
originally referred to as the Foreign Mission
Board, is founded.
— William Bullein Johnson,
of South Carolina, becomes the first President
of the Southern
— Baptist convention.
— Jeremiah Bell Jeter called the first
meeting of the Board of Managers of the
International
—
Mission Board. The
members gathered in the library of
Second Baptist
Church, Richmond,
— Virginia. Their
primary concern was to secure a
permanent Corresponding Secretary.
— May 20, 1845 – Jeremiah Bell Jeter
called the first meeting of the Board of
Managers. The
— members gathered in the
library of Second Baptist Church,
Richmond, Virginia. Their primary
— concern was to secure a permanent
Corresponding Secretary.
— June 30, 1845 – China was chosen as the
first mission field.
— September 1, 1845 – The board appointed
the first missionary, Samuel C. Clopton.
1846 —
The Baptist General Missionary Convention
reorganizes as the American Baptist Missionary
— Union (ABMU)
— James Robinson Graves organized the Nashville
Indian and Missionary Association.
— James B. Taylor (1846-1871) was appointed the
first Corresponding Secretary of Foreign
— Mission Board.
— The Foreign Mission Board appointed two
African-Americans to serve in Liberia. Brother
John
— Day occupied a mission station at Grand
Bassa and Brother A. L. Jones at Cape Palmas
on
— the west coast of Africa.
— The board appointed the first medical
missionary, Dr. J. Sexton James, to serve in
China.
— The monthly publication, Southern Baptist
Missionary Journal, began.
1848 —
Establishment of the first Baptist church in
Sweden.
— The design of Baptist associations was
discussed by members of the Bethal Baptist
— Association, as it relates to the church, S.
Baker, pastore of Russellville. The author
stresses
— that a church ought always to
retain her independence while cooperating
with other sister
— churches in the Lord's
work.
1849 —
Beginning of Baptist work in Hungary.
— Robert Hill was sent to Liberia by the
Southern Baptist Convention.
— The board began publication of The
Commission. Monthly circulation of the
periodical reached
— 7,000 by April 1850.
— The board’s first single woman, Miss Harriet
A. Baker of Powhatan County, Virginia, was
— appointed to China.
1850 —
Organization of the American Bible Union.
— Mary Sharp College for Women Winchester, TN
is organized.
— Adoniram Judson dies and is buried at sea in
the Bay of Bengal on April 12.
1851 —
Organization of the first New Zealand
Baptist church.
— James Robinson Graves is a leader in the
Landmark movement as it seeks to make its
— ideology predominant in Southern Baptist
life.
1853 —
John Mason Peck urged the creation of the
American Baptist Historical Society, an
adjunct of
— the American Baptist Publication
Society.
1854 —
Hudson Taylor was the only passenger in the
sailing vessel, Dumfries. He had a
— tempestuous voyage as the ship on two
occasions was within a few feet of being
wrecked.
— One harrowing experience is worth
remembering. The sailing vessel was becalmed
in the
— vicinity of New Guinea. The captain
despaired as a four knot current carried
them swiftly
— toward sunken reefs near shore.
"Our fate is sealed!" Cannibals were eagerly
awaiting with
— delight and fires burning
ready. Taylor and three others retired to
pray and the Lord
— immediately sent a strong
breeze that sent them on their way. Again
one of his favorite
— texts, John 14:13 was
proven. He finally reached Shanghai, China,
March 1.
1857 —
An effort is made to establish a Southern
Baptist Sunday School Union. James Robinson
— Graves is a leader in this effort.
1858 —
Through strong opposition the Southern
Baptist Sunday School Union is finally
organized.
1859 —
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary opens
in Greenville, SC. Among the first
professors is
— John Albert Broadus.
1860 —
Approximately 12,000 Baptist Churches in
America.
— Organization of the first Baptist church in
Norway.
1861 —
First baptism on Latvian soil.
— 1861-1865 – Throughout the Civil War the
Foreign Mission Board continued limited
— operations in China and Africa and most
missionaries were self-supporting.
— Tai Ping rebels in Yentai, Shantung
Province, China, murdered Missionary J.
Landrum
— Holmes.
1864 — Baptists enter
Argentina
1865 —
Fusion of the Bible Translation Society and
the Irish Missionary Society into the
British and
— Irish Baptist Home Mission
Society.
— The Foreign Mission Board had no available
funds so the Treasurer was authorized to
charge
— to profit and loss the Confederate
bonds so as to balance his books.
— Exhortation to enter the work with renewed
energy in light of the war having ended,
G. W.
— Inman, pastor of Spring Creek Baptist
church (Bethel Baptist Association)
1868 —
Mission Society by the American Baptist
Missionary Union.
— Begins the journey of Baptist Women in
Ministry.
— Canadian Baptist missionary Americus Timpany
begins work among the Telugus in India.
1869 —
Formation of the Baptist Union of Scotland.
— Organization of the first Baptist church in
Finland.
1870 —
Southern Baptists undertake work in Italy.
— Southern Baptist Convention opposes efforts
to reunite boards of the North and South.
1871 —
Organization of the Woman's Baptist Foreign
Mission Society (forerunners to the Board of
— International Ministries (BIM) of the ABC/USA)(East).
— Mercer University moves from Penfield, GA
where it was founded in 1833.
— James B. Taylor died (Foreign Missions
Board)
—
The first Baptist church
was organized in Brazil, on the 10th
of September, 1871, in the City
—
of Santa
Barbara, State of São Paulo. This was a
church founded by North-American colonists
—
who, after the Secession War (1861-1865)
established several colonies in Brazil. In
Santa
—
Barbara the Presbyterians, the
Methodists and the Baptists organized
churches.
1872 — Benajah Harvey Carroll began his
teaching of Theology and Bible at Baylor
University. He
— taught until 1905 when he
started organizing the Baylor Theological
Seminary.
1873 —
Lottie Charlotte Moon is appointed
missionary to China on July 7 by the Foreign
Mission
— Board, Southern Baptist Convention.
1877 —
Organization of the
Women's Baptist Home Mission Society of
the East; also organization of
— the Women's
Baptist Home Mission Society of the West.
1879 —
Important decision of the Southern Baptist
Convention to maintain its organization
apart
— from the American Baptist Missionary
Union.
—
Beginning of first permanent mission work in
Spain.
—
Baptist Foreign Mission merged and formed
the National Baptist Convention USA.
—
Brazil was being considered as a Mission
field.
—
Another
church was organized for North-American
colonists, called Station Baptist Church,
—
also in Santa Barbara, and in this same year
Elijah Hoton Quillin, pastor of the first
church in
—
Santa Barbara, wrote to Richmond,
affirming his desire to be recognized as a
self-sustaining
—
missionary, for the
purpose of carrying on missionary work in
the surrounding country, both among
—
emigrants from the Unites States and native
Brazilians.
1880
—
Bacone College founded to meet the education
needs of Native Americans.
1882
—
Organization of the Baptist Union of New
Zealand.
1883
—
Bible controversy settled in the Bible
Convention at Saratoga, N. Y.
1884 —
Immersion of first Baptists in Esthonia.
1885
— The Baptist
General Convention of Texas (BGCT) was
formed as the merger of two Texas
— Baptist
organizations.
1886
—
Fannie Exile Scudder Heck is President of
the Woman's Missionary Union of North
Carolina
— from its beginning in January.
1888
— Organization of the American Baptist
Education Society at Washington, D. C
—
American Baptist Education Society founded
to promote higher education, Becomes the
— American Baptist Board of Education (ABBE)
(a forerunner ofthe Board of Educational
— Ministries (BEM) of the ABC/USA.
—
Lottie Moon is able to have the first
Christmas offering started. This offering
provided
— support for three additional
persons to aid Lottie Moon in China.
1889 —
Southern Baptist work in Japan actually
begun.
1890 — Dr. J.M Frost
considers starting a publishing house just
for Southern Baptists.
1891 —
Formation of the Baptist Union for Great
Britain and Ireland; a merger of the
Particular
— Baptists and the New Connexion of
General Baptists.
— James Marion Frost goes to
Nashville, TN to begin his secretariship of the Sunday School
— Board.
He founded the Sunday
—
Lifeway Christian Resources is founded.
—
Organization of the Baptist Young People's
Union of America.
1893
—
Participation of Baptists in the National
Free Church Council in England.
—
Landmark leader, J.R. Graves, died in
Memphis.
—
The Baptist Sunday School Board begins the
practice of contributing funds toward the
support
— of other denominational agencies.
—
Dr. T. P. Bell is elected second chief
executive.
1894
—
Fortress Monroe (VA) Conference: agreement
between Baptists of North and South
— recognizing territorial limits; eased
tensions caused by work of the ABPS and the
ABHMS in
— South
1895
—
The National Baptist Convention. Several
Baptist organizations combined to form the
— National Baptist Convention of the U.S.A.;
the Baptist church is the largest black
religious
— denomination in the United States.
—
William Heth Whitsett is President of
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
1896
—
WMU adopted the Sunbeams, the children’s
missions organization begun in 1886 by the
— Foreign Mission Board.
—
Dr. J.M. Frost is re-elected as chief
executive.
1897
—
Christian Flag is created on Sunday
September 26. The speaker for a Sunday
School Rally at
— Brighton Chapel in Coney
Island, NY does not show up. This impromptu
opportunity for
— Charles C. Overton to fill
the space gave way to the flag. There was an
American flag draped
— across the pulpit he
spoke from, thus inspiring him to discuss
its symbolism. The symbolism
— was then
stressed as necessary for the Christians to
also have a flag that expresses their
— presence in the world.
1898
—
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) formed
a Centennial Committee for preparation of
— the new century.
—
Baptist Sunday School Board publishes its
first book, a venture which later results in
— Broadman Press.
1899
—
Edgar Young Mullins becomes President of
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He,
— without consent, succeeds William Heth
Whisitt.
1900 —
The SBC Committee suggested a continuing
Committee on Co-Operation to come up with a
— plan to more efficiently raise and disburse
funds.
1901 —
Missionary work undertaken in the
Philippines.
—
Central Baptist Theological Seminary is
founded.
1904 —
Baptist Sunday School Board's first
published hymnal helps standardize worship
in Southern
— Baptist churches.
1905 —
Organization of the Baptist World Alliance
in London.
1906 —
Union of Freewill and Particular Baptists
in the United Baptist Convention of
Canada, possibly
— as early as 1905.
1907 —
Formation of the Northern Baptist
Convention; attempt to integrate work of
various special-
— purpose societies (now the
American Baptist Churches, USA).
—
A general meeting of all the three
societies-Foreign, Home and
Publication-met to set up the
— Northern
Baptist Convention.
—
Laymen’s Missionary Union of the Southern
Baptist Convention organize. Purpose was
for
— world mission. A counterpart to the
already established Women’s Missionary
Union (WMU)
—
Southern and Northern Baptist Conventions
formally divided the country following WW
II, the
— SBC abandoned regional limitations
and spread across the country
1908 —
The first Congress of European Baptists,
meeting at Berlin.
—
The Annie Walker Armstrong building in
Burnsville, NC was dedicated in
appreciation for her
— service.
—
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
is founded.
—
Baptist Historical Society founded.
1909 —
Union of the two Women's Home Mission
Societies into the Woman's American
Baptist Home
— Mission Society (WABHMS).
1910 —
The American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU)
becomes the American Baptist Foreign
— Mission Society (ABFMS)
—
First known paid Sunday School
Superintendent (pastoral staff),1st
Baptist, Dallas.
—
Southwestern Theological Seminary moves to
Fort Worth, TX.
1911 —
Merger of the Free Will Baptists with the
Northern Baptist Convention.
— The Ministers and Missionaries
Benefit Board (M&M) founded.
— Second Congress of Baptist World
Alliance at Philadelphia.
1913 — Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is founded.
1914 — The Commission on Efficiency established to improve the plans and
methods of SBC.
— Candler School of Theology is
founded. School joins with Emory in 1915.
1915 —
World Wide Guild founded
—
Founded in 1913 in Nanjing, China as a
women's Christian college, Ginling College
officially
— opens with eight students and
six teachers. It was supported by four
missions: the Northern
— Baptists, the
Disciples of Christ, the Methodists, and
the Presbyterians.
1916 —
M.H. Wolfe of the SBC moved to amend and
revise articles of the Constitution in
order to
— create one strong executive board.
—
I.J. Van Ness is elected third chief
executive of the Baptist Sunday School
Board.
1917 —
Executive Commitee formed to oversee all
SBC ministries.
—
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
is founded.
—
James Bruton Gambrell is elected president
of the SBC.
—
1917 Oswald Chambers (b. 1874), Scottish
Bible teacher and evangelical mystic,
died. The
— son of a Scottish Baptist
pastor, Chambers was converted after
hearing C. H. Spurgeon
— preach. While
studying for the Baptist ministry,
Chambers met William Quarrier and from
— him
learned a simplicity of faith and prayer.
For three years he worked as a traveling
— missioner for the Pentecostal League of
Prayer (founded by Reader Harris). He then
became
— principal of the League's Bible
Training College at Clapham Common in
London. Chambers
— died in 1917 in Egypt
after two years of working as a YMCA
chaplain among the desert
— troops. He was a
man of mystic faith and intense prayer who
taught that the Christian life
— was to be a
victorious one. His most important book is
his classic devotional "My Utmost for
—
His Highest", still in print and
available in several languages.
1918 —
Woman's Baptist Foreign Missions
Societies East and West merge to form
the Woman's
— American Baptist Foreign
Mission Society (would eventually become
the Board of Education
— Ministries, BIM)
Annuity Board is founded.
1919 —
White Cross project to help medical
missionaries begun. Effects of the
Landmark still
— evident, Baptist Standard
editor J.B. Gambrell wrote, "Baptists
antedate the Reformation by
— many long
centuries. Spurgeon said with a good
view of truth: "Baptists sprang
directly from
—
the loins of Christ and
his Apostles."
—
At Denver convention of the NBC the New
World Movement was launched. This was an
effort
— to collect $10 million between
1919-1924. Money was to be used to
strengthen Baptist work
— at home,
overseas, and ecumenical projects. The
movement was able to raise
— $45,009,378.04.
— $75 million campaign launched by
the Southern Baptist Convention, it was an effort to raise
— $75
million between the years 1919-1924. As with the NBC the SBC didn't have
much success
—
because of the world war economy. Raised $58,591,713.69.
—
The SBC considers requiring FMB
missionary candidates to subscribe to "A
Statement of
— Belief" but rejects the
proposal.
1920 — Curtis Lee
Laws, editor of the Baptist
Watchman-Examiner, coins the term
fundamentalist.
—
Conservatives in the Northern Baptist
Convention organize the Fundamentalist
Fellowship to
— combat spreading
liberalism.
—
Baptist Mid-Missions formed; Church of
the Nazarene enters Syria.
—
The Baptist book store operation begins.
—
The department of survey, statistics and
information begins.
1921 —
Helen Barrett Montgomery is elected the
first women president of the Northern
Baptist
— Convention in Indianapolis,
Indiana.
1923 — Baptist Bible Union formed.
1924 —
Committee on Basis of Representation
formed to deal with increased attendance
at Southern
— Baptist conventions.
—
Baptist Mid-Missions begins work in
Venezuela.
1925 —
Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of
the 1920's
—
The 1920s mark a time of great debate
between the Fundamentalist W.B. Riley
and the
— Modernist George Foster,
1858-1918, Walter Rauschenbusch,
1861-1918.
—
Cooperative Program Formed by the
Southern Baptist. Encouraged the
churches to send their
— offerings for
denominational ministries and state
conventions. The states would keep a
— portion and send the rest to the SBC
office in Nashville.
—
A victory for the fundamentalist. The
1925 Confession of Faith was adopted
despite much
— opposition.
1926 —
Duke University Divinity School is
founded.
1927 —
George Washington Truett is President of
the SBC.
1928 — The SBC
issued a statement on Relation of
Southern Baptist Convention to Other
Baptist
— Bodies.
—
The Baptist Sunday School Board assumes
responsibility from the Southern Baptist
— Convention Executive Committee for the
operation of Ridgecrest Baptist
Assembly.
1931 — Baptist
Mid-Missions enters Liberia.
1932 —
General Association of Regular Baptists
formed, leaving Northern Baptists.
1935 —
Ministers Council founded.
—
T.L. Holcomb is elected fourth chief
executive of the Baptist Sunday School
Board.
1939 —
Lee Rutland Scarborough is President of
the Southern Baptist Convention.
1940 — The
Broadman Hymnal is produced.
1941 — The church
music department of the Baptist Sunday
School Board is organized.
1943 —
Eleven American Baptist Foreign Mission
Society Missionaries die as martyrs for
the Gospel of
— Jesus Christ at Hopevale
in the Philippines during WWII.
—
Southern Baptist Convention received
some California churches into its
membership violating
— the Fortress Monroe
Conference committee agreements and
beginning the expansion of
— Southern
Baptists into all the United States.
—
Organization of the Conservative Baptist
Foreign Mission Society; leads to
secession from
— the Northern Baptist
Convention in 1947
1944 — Founding of American Baptist Assembly and Green Lake, Wisconsin.
—
Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary
is founded.
1946 —
Following controversy and heated debate,
a resolution is passed at Grand Rapids
convention
— stating: "We reaffirm our
faith in the New Testament as divinely
inspired record and
— therefore
trustworthy, authoritative and
all-sufficient rule of our faith and
practice..."
—
Southern Baptist Foundation is
founded.
1947 —
Conservative Baptists formed, leaving
Northern Baptists.
—
Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission
Society begins work among the Senufo
tribe in Cote
— d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
1948 —
Northern Baptist Convention became
constituent member of the World Council
of Churches;
— first assembly held at
Amsterdam.
1949 — Southern
Baptist Mission opens work in Venezuela.
1950 —
Northern Baptist Convention (NBC)
changed name to American Baptist
Convention (ABC)
—
First World Fellowship Offering, now the
World Mission Offering, WMO
—
Northern Baptist Convention becomes one
of the founding communions of the
National
— Council of Churches of Christ.
—
Approximatley 77,000 Baptist Churches.
1951 —
First America for Christ Offering
collected.
—
Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary is founded.
1953 — James L.
Sullivan is elected fifth chief
executive of the Baptist Sunday School
Board.
1955 —
American Baptist Foreign Mission Society
and Woman's American Baptist Foreign
Mission.
— Society merge administrative
functions leading to a merger in 1968.
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