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Time-Line of Baptist History
Last Updated:  Saturday, February 23, 2013

This is not to be considered an exhaustive or conclusive historical account of Baptist history.  It is, however, an attempt to present Baptist history by whatever name Baptists have been known.  It is not an attempt to establish the grounds or criteria for what a Baptist is or isn't for it has been said, if you are not a Fundamental Baptist, you are not a Baptist.  The same has been stated by Southern Baptists, Northern Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Calvinists, Arminians, and so on.  The problem with this is that prior to our current time in history, by whatever name we call a Baptist, we seem to have forgotten how to define what a Baptist is, rather than who a Baptist is.  My intent is not to declare the formation of the Baptist denomination (for lack of a better phrase) in the 1st century, but merely to present histories of those who have been known as Baptists since the time of Christ.  We face the continual problem of however further back in time we go of seeing little or no mention of the word 'Baptist', yet we find what a Baptist is the closer we approach the 1st century church.  On the other hand, the further away from the 1st century church we have come, we often see little or no resemblance of 1st century Christianity among many who call themselves 'Baptists'.  A Reformation among Baptists is greatly needed to return to 1st century Biblical Christianity.

Consider the following as a preface to ancient Baptist histories:

bullet History of the Welsh Baptists, from the Year 63 to the year 1770, Jonathan J. Davis, published 1835
bullet History of the Baptists in Wales, Joshua Thomas, published 1835
bullet Baptists in Wales, David Benedict, published 1848

1519

bullet Balthazar Hubmeyer fully embraced Protestantism.

1520

bullet The Anabaptist Movement begins in Germany under the leadership of Thomas Müntzer. Prior to being called Anabaptists in Germany, they were briefly known as Catabaptists, referring to the Swiss Anabaptists by Zwingli and Oecolampadius in their Latin writings. It did not, however, succeed in displacing "Anabaptist," which became the standard term. It is an original Greek word translated into Latin, not found in German or English.

1522

bullet Felix Mantz was a native of Zurich, and had received a liberal education. Having early adopted the principles of the Reformation, he became an intimate friend of Zuingli (Zwingli) and other Swiss Reformers. He began to doubt the scriptural authority of infant-baptism, and of the Church constitution which then existed at Zurich, and he suffered imprisonment in consequence. After this he preached in the fields and woods, whither the people flocked in crowds to hear him, and there he baptized those who professed faith.
bullet Balthazar Hubmeyer returned to Ratisbon, and continued there a year, propagating the principles of the Reformation. When he resumed his residence at Waldshut, he formed an acquaintance with the Swiss reformers, particularly Zuingli and Ecolampadius, and enjoyed frequent opportunities of intercourse with them.

1525

bullet Swiss Anabaptists broke with Zwingli.
bullet Baptism of Hubmäier.
bullet Peasants Revolt led by Thomas Müntzer.
bullet The (Radical) AnaBaptist's bible meetings and antipaedobaptist views were condemended by Zwingli and the Zurich city council. In defiance, on the 25 January, the Radicals formed the first congregation of believers through baptism (by pouring).

1526

bullet Felix Mantz was drowned at Zurich for violating the magistrate's order against re-baptizing. As he came down from the Wellenberg to the fish market,” says Bullinger, “and was led through the shambles to the boat, he praised God that he was about to die for His truth.

1528

bullet Jacob Falk and Heine Reyman were drowned for violating the Zurich's magistrate's order against re-baptizing.
bullet Balthazar Hubmeyer was arrested, probably at Brunn, where he was teacher off the church, at the command of King Ferdinand, and sent to Vienna. After some days he was thrown into the dungeons of the castle of Gritsenstein. After having been sentenced to death, He steadfastly went to the scaffold, and on the 10th of March, from the midst of burning flames and embers, his spirit ascended to that region where those that have come out of great tribulation suffer and weep no more.

1529

bullet Anneken of Friburg, a Christian woman, was drowned, and her body was afterwards burnt for violating the Zurich's magistrate's order against re-baptizing.
bullet Louis Hetzer, another Baptist minister, was beheaded at Constance, on the 4th of February. He also had been on intimate terms with Zwingli, Ecolampadius, and their associates, and was highly esteemed by them till he became a Baptist.

1530

bullet The persecution was so fierce in Germany and Switzerland, that there seemed to be no safety but in emigration. Many thousands of Baptists, inhabitants of the Tyrol, Switzerland, Austria, Styria, and Bavaria, emigrated under the leadership of Jacob Hutter, and settled in Moravia.

1535

bullet Ferdinand, King of Bohemia, ordered the expulsion of the Baptists in Moravia, and sent a military force to carry the order into effect. Their property was seized, and all the indulgence they could obtain was liberty to carry away their movables. They withdrew into the forests, and there lived as they could, worshipped God, and possessed their souls in patience. Hutter exhorted and comforted them. Be ye thankful unto God,” he said, that ye are counted worthy to suffer persecutions and cruel exile for His name.

1537

bullet Menno Simons became leader of Dutch Anabaptists.

1538

bullet Efforts made to expel Anabaptists from England.

1547

bullet King Edward issues a commission to Archbishop "to search after all Baptists", and under that condition the celebrated Joan of Kent, who was a Baptist, was burnt on May 2nd. Several others shared the same fate (Baptist Children's Magazine and Youth's Missionary Repository, Vol. III, p.102, 1853).

1575

bullet In the seventeenth year of Elizabeth's reign, a congregation of them (Baptists) was found without (outside) Aldgate, London, of whom some were banished, twenty-seven were imprisoned, and two were burnt to death in Smithfield. John Fox, the celebrated author of Book of Martyrs, penned a most eloquent letter to the Queen on their behalf; but in vain (Baptist Children's Magazine and Youth's Missionary Repository, Vol. III, p.103, 1853).

1576

bullet A royal proclamation was issued, in which it was ordained that all Baptists, and other heretics, should leave the land; but they seemed to gather fortitude, for some formed themselves into separate societies (Baptist Children's Magazine and Youth's Missionary Repository, Vol. III, p.104, 1853).

1606

bullet John Smyth formed one of the first Separatist churches in England, having renounced Anglicanism and became minister at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, to a group of Separatists who had similarly abandoned the Church of England.
bullet Obadiah Holmes was born in England (year approximate).

1608

bullet Smyth’s congregation fled to Holland to avoid Anglican persecution. Met Mennonites (one of several Anabaptists groups)
bullet Smyth became convinced that believer's baptism was biblical and infant baptism was not and after having adopting Baptist principles in Holland, Smyth baptized first himself and then others, including Thomas Helwys, later an influential London Baptist.

1609

bullet First English General Baptist church formed in Holland under John Smyth. Smyth was later excommunicated by his church when he tried to make them become Mennonites. 1609 is unofficially referred to as the beginning of the Baptist denomination.

1610

bullet Smyth sought to merge his congregation with the Mennonites.
bullet Pastor John Smyth became an Amsterdam Mennonite.

1611

bullet Organization of first General Baptist church in England by Thomas Helwys and Murton.
bullet Thomas Helwys led a group opposed to the merger back to England and established the first Baptist church in England.
bullet Thomas Helwys rejected particular atonement, free will and partial depravity.
bullet John Smyth publishes his confession of 1611 and was the first Baptist confession among English speaking believers.
bullet This movement grew into the General Baptists who held to Arminian theology. Initially baptized by pouring, later by immersion.
bullet Lost members to the Quakers and the Unitarians.

1612

bullet Thomas Helwys, formerly of Smyth’s congregation, returns to England and forms the first General Baptist church. His classic, A Short Declaration of the Mistery of Iniquity, is the first claim for freedom of worship in the English language.
bullet Plea to James I for religious freedom.

1613

bullet After returning to England, Helwys was thrown into Newgate Prison by order of King James I probably for what was in his plea to the (Christian) James I; The King is a mortall man and not God, therefore hath no power over ye immortall soules of his subjects to make lawes and ordinances for them and to set spirituall Lords over them.

1616

bullet Death of Thomas Helwys, one of the founders of the Baptist faith while in prison under King James' order.
bullet Henry Jacob began another Baptist movement of non-separatists. This movement became Particular Baptists and held to hyper-Calvinist theology.
bullet Henry Browne set up a Congregational Society in Norwich before being forced to flee with his followers to Holland. The movement was re-established in London. Societies, known as Independents, were founded in different parts of the country. Like the Baptists, each church was a separate body supporting its own minister, but might belong to a voluntary district association.
bullet The Independent congregation of which Henry Jacob was pastor, having become very numerous, a division took place, and that portion which had adopted the opinions 'of the Baptists, chose Mr. Spilsbury for their pastor. This was the first separate Baptist Church holding the hyper-Calvinistic doctrine (An Analytical and Comparative View of all Religions Now Extant Among Mankind, p.381, 1838, Josiah Conder).

1620

bullet July 22, Under the leadership of John Robinson, English Separatists, began to emigrate to North America - eventually, they came to be known as the Pilgrims.
bullet September 16, The Mayflower left Plymouth, England with 102 Pilgrims aboard. The ship would arrive at Provincetown on November 21st and then at Plymouth on December 21st.
bullet The Baptists present to King James I, Loyal subjects, unjustly called Anabaptists, and to Parliament as the confession of their faith.
 

1628

bullet Birth of John Bunyan 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).
bullet September 6, Puritan colonists landed at Salem and started the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
 

1629

bullet Roger Williams accepted the post of chaplain to Sir William Masham at his manor house at Otes in Essex. His courtship of Jane Whalley was brought to an abrupt termination by the disapproval of her aunt, Lady Barrington. Stung by the rejection, the young clergyman became ill of fever and was nursed back to health by Mary Barnard, a member of Lady Masham's household. She is believed to have been the daughter of the Rev. Richard Barnard in Nottinghamshire. Rogers Williams and Mary Barnard were married at High Laver Church in Essex on December 15.
bullet Williams became a chaplain in the household of a wealthy family.
bullet Samuel Skelton was elected the first pastor of Salem, Massachusetts. The church covenant created by Skelton made his congregation the first non-separating congregational Puritan Church in New England.

1630

bullet 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.
 

1631

bullet After fifty-seven days of a storm-wracked voyage, Roger Williams and his wife anchored off Nantasket on February 3 and arrived in Boston on the 5th. His arrival in America was duly noted by the MA Bay Colony Governor, John Winthrop, in his carefully kept diary. Winthrop described Williams as a "godly minister" and it is certain the young clergyman was welcome in the new colony in Boston.
bullet Williams refused an invitation to become the minister of the church in Boston because he opposed its ties to the Church of England.
bullet The General Court of the Massachusetts issued the decree that "no man shall be admitted to the body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits" of the colony.

1633

bullet Roger Williams returned to Salem.

1634

bullet First Baptist church in North America founded in Providence, RI by Roger Williams. Eventually moved toward General Baptist views.
Williams became the minister of a church at nearby Salem.
 

1635

bullet Roger Williams was ordered by the General Court (MA Bay authorities) to be banished from Massachusetts and threatened with deportation to England if he did not renounce his convictions. "Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the Elders of the church of Salem, hath broached and divulged new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates, as also written letters of defamation, both of the magistrates and churches here, and that before any conviction, and yet maintaineth the same without any retraction; it is, therefore, ordered that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now next ensuing," etc. Williams publicly proclaiming that the MA Bay charter was invalid, since the king (James I) had no right to give away lands belonging to the Indians. He also denounced them for forcing religious uniformity upon the colonists. He believed in what he called "soul-liberty", which meant that every man had the complete right to enjoy freedom of opinion on the subject of religion.
 

1636

bullet An attempt was made to seize Roger Williams and transport him to England, and he, forewarned, escaped from his home at Salem and proceeded alone to Manton's Neck, on the east bank of the Seekonk river.
bullet September 8, Harvard College (later University) was founded by the Massachusetts Puritans at New Towne. It was the first institution of higher learning established in North America, and was originally created to train future ministers.
 

1638

bullet The first Particular Baptist church organized by John Spilsbury.
bullet Organization of the first Baptist church in America; at Providence, R. I., by Roger Williams, or in Newport, R. I., by John Clarke.
bullet March 22, Religious dissident Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony as punishment for heresy.
 

1639

bullet Roger Williams joined the Baptist faith and founded the first Baptist church in America. However, within a few months he withdrew from this group and became a "Seeker".
bullet Baptists persuade Roger Williams and Ezekial Holliman to accept their view of the church, and thus the first Baptist congregation in America is formed, in Providence, Rhode Island
bullet At the request of Massachusetts, Williams' mediation prevented a coalition of the Pequots with the Narragansetts and Mohegans. He wrote of this service in later years: Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequot ambassadors, whose hands and arms me thought reeked with the blood of my countrymen murdered and massacred by them on Connecticut River.
bullet June 21, American theologian Increase Mather was born.
 

1640

bullet Particular Baptist church founded in Newport, RI.
bullet Southwark church became convinced of believer's baptism and were baptized by immersion, pastored by Henry Jessey.
 

1641

bullet Baptism by immersion emphasized by John Spilsbury.
 

1643

bullet Roger Williams went to England to obtain a charter to unite Providence with the settlements of Warwick, Newport and Portsmouth, which were coveted by MA Bay, Plymouth and CT. On the voyage wrote his Key to the Indian Languages. In his dedication he says, "A little key may open a box where lies a bunch of keys." The charter he obtained proved to be very important as it was indisputable for the next 20 years.
 

1644

bullet London Confession of 1644: Calvinistic, emphasized baptism by immersion and religious liberty.
bullet Organization of Association of London Particular Baptists.
bullet John Bunyan enlists in the Parliamentary army, joining with the Newport Pagnell garrison, at the regulation age of sixteen.
 

1645

bullet General Baptists published a pamphlet "The Fountain of Free Grace Opened" which defended free will and general atonement.
bullet 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".
 

1646

bullet John Tombes, BD, a man of great ability and a native of Bewdley, was appointed Curate of St. Anne's. He entertained very strong objections to infant baptism, and so, while still retaining his office in the Church, he founded a separate Baptist society, which numbered 20 persons.
bullet George Fox tells us that Tombes said he had a wife, and he had a concubine ; and his wife was the baptized people (Baptists) and his concubine was the world.
bullet A confession of faith of seven Baptist Churches in London is published.
bullet New England Puritan theocracy enacts laws requiring church attendance and belief in the Bible.
 

1648

bullet George Fox founds Society of Friends

1649

bullet Charles executed; Oliver Cromwell rules England as Protector of Commonwealth.
bullet The first Baptist church in Wales was established at Ilston on the Gower peninsula in 1649. Baptist churches are generally self-governing within a Baptist Union. There are separate Baptist Unions for English and Welsh speaking congregations.
bullet The colony of Maine passed legislation creating religious freedom for all citizens, but only on the condition that those of "contrary" religious beliefs behave "acceptably."
 

1650

bullet Welsh Association formed of three churches.
 

1651

bullet Midland Association of thirty General Baptist churches formed.
bullet Confessions, signed by some of the General Baptists, were published in 1651 by thirty churches in the Midland counties.
bullet Cirencester Baptist Church founded.
bullet In the month of July, in company with Dr. John Clarke and Mr. Crandall, Obadiah Holmes made a visit to William Witter, A Baptist, who resided at Lynn, Massachusetts. The day after their arrival being the Sabbath, they arranged to have a religious service at Witter's home. While Dr. Clarke preached, two constables presented to him the following warrant: "By virtue hereof, you are required to go to the house of William Witter, and to search from house to house for certain erroneous person, being strangers and them to apprehend, and in safe custody to keep, and to-morrow morning at eight o'clock to bring before me. Robert Bridges."
September 5, Obadiah Holmes Whipped for writing a catechism, among other Baptist beliefs.
 

1652

bullet Obadiah Holmes was ordained to preach the gospel, and took Dr. Clarke's place as pastor of the Baptist church in Newport.
 

1653

bullet John Bunyan joins St. John's church in Bedford, where he meets Mr. Gifford, the pastor.
bullet First meeting of the General Assembly of General Baptists at London. Baptists are prominent in Parliament and Cromwell’s New Model Army

1654

bullet Roger Williams became the president of the Rhode Island Colony. He held this position until 1657.
 

1655

bullet John Bunyan moves to Bedford and becomes a deacon of St. John's church.
bullet First wife dies soon after move, leaving John with four motherless children. Mr. Gifford dies in September of the same year.
 

1656

bullet Publishes first work entitled "Some Gospel Truths Opened".
bullet Henry Jessey visits Gloucestershire.
bullet July 1, The first Quakers (Mary Fisher and Ann Austin) to arrive in Boston are arrested. Five weeks later they were deported back to England.
bullet August 5, Eight Quakers arrived in Boston. They were immediately imprisoned by the Puritan authorities because Quakers were generally regarded as politically and religiously subversive.
 

1657

bullet Publishes second work entitled "Vindication of Gospel Truths" (year is approximate).
bullet John Bunyan is formally recognized as a preacher.
bullet Roger Williams contributed to Rhode Island's decision to provide refuge for Quakers who had been banished from other colonies, even though he disagreed with their religious teachings.

1658

bullet Death of Oliver Cromwell
bullet Indictment is laid against John Bunyan at the Assizes for "preaching at Eaton Socon". The charge was most likely dropped.
bullet John Bunyan publishes third work entitled "A Few Sighs From Hell".

1659

bullet John Bunyan publishes "The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded". This is the last book he writes before being placed in prison.

1660

bullet 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"
bullet Organization of General Assembly of all Associations of General Baptists in London.
bullet Beginning of the time known as the Great Persecution and the Restoration of the Monarchy (through 1688). Baptist women especially come under persecution.
bullet General Baptists publish their confession of faith.
bullet On July 26, the Baptist churches of Lincolnshire, in their petition to Charles II., say: "We have been much abused as we pass in the streets, and as we sit in our houses, being threatened to be hanged if but heard praying to our Lord, in our own families, and disturbed in our so waiting upon Him by continual beating at our doors and sounding of horns; stoned when going to out meetings ; taken as evil-doers, and imprisoned when peaceably met together to worship the Most High in the use of His most precious ordinances.
bullet The Bloody Theater or Martyrs Mirror , was published by Herald Press.
bullet There were more than 200 Baptist churches in England (about 130 Particular Baptist, and 110 General Baptist), with more in Wales.

1661

bullet Members of the Seventh Day Baptist congregation at Bull-Stake-Alley in London are jailed at Newgate Prison and their pastor, John James, is hung, drawn, and quartered.
bullet Parliament passes a series of acts that exclude Baptists and other Nonconformists from holding public offices, forcing them out of schools and penalizing them for not attending Anglican services and for preaching without a license (1661-1664)

1662

bullet 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.
bullet John Bunyan Writes "I Will Pray With the Spirit and With the Understanding Also, or a Discourse Touching Prayer".

1663

bullet John Bunyan publishes "A Discourse Touching Prayer".
bullet John Bunyan writes "Christian Behavior".
bullet John Myles, founder of the first Baptist church in Wales, persuades most of his congregation to emigrate to the colonies, and they settle at Swansea, Massachusetts.

1664

bullet 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.
bullet Isaac Backus arrives in New England and at once joined with Dr. Clarke's First-day Baptist Church at Newport, though his views favored the observance of the seventh day.
bullet March 24, Roger Williams was granted a charter to colonize Rhode Island.
bullet May 27, At the age of 24, colonial theologian Increase Mather became the minister of Boston's Second (Congregational) Church. He would serve there until his death in 1723.

1665

bullet John Bunyan writes "The Holy City", and "The Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment" from Bedford prison.
bullet John Bunyan writes a poem entitled "Prison Meditations" in response to a letter he received, exhorting him to hold his head above the flood.
bullet Thomas Goold refuses to allow his children to be baptized in the Puritan church and is banished from the colony. Later in the year he helps to organize the first Baptist church in Boston.

1666

bullet John Bunyan publishes "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners".
bullet 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

bullet Organization of General Six-Principle Baptists in Rhode Island.
bullet First Baptist Association formed in RI.

1671

bullet Organization of the first Seventh Day Baptist church in America at Germantown, Pennsylvania.
bullet 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

bullet John Bunyan publishes "Christian Behavior" as a pocket volume.

1675

bullet John Bunyan writes "The Pilgrim's Progress" during six months of incarceration. After being released the same year, he resumes his pastorate in Bedford.
bullet May 3, Massachusetts passed a law that required church doors to be locked during services - evidently to keep people from leaving before the long sermons were finished.

1676

bullet John Bunyan publishes "The Strait Gate".

1677

bullet Confession of 1677, a revision of the Westminster Confession.
bullet Some' Baptists felt a need to identify themselves with a large body of non-Anglicans.

1678

bullet John Bunyan publishes "The Pilgrim's Progress". Second edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress" is published in the autumn.
bullet The first Baptist meetinghouse in the colonies is raised in Boston.
bullet English General Baptists produce the Orthodox Creed that seeks to unite all Protestants against the Catholic tendencies of King Charles II.

1679

bullet John Bunyan publishes "A Treatise of the Fear of God".

1680

bullet John Bunyan publishes "The Life and Death of Mr. Badman".

1681

bullet John Bunyan publishes "Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ".

1682

bullet John Bunyan publishes "The Holy War". Publishes the eighth edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress", and makes last improvements. Publishes "The Barren Fig Tree".
bullet Obadiah Holmes dies, his sufferings having made a lasting effect upon the lives of many, (William Cathcart, Baptist Encyclopedia, 1881)
bullet May 11, After two years, two key laws were repealed by the General Court of Massachusetts: one which prohibited people from observing Christmas and another that set capital punishment for Quakers who returned to the colony after being banished.

1683

bullet Roger Williams dies.
bullet Traditional date of the founding of the first Baptist church in Charleston, SC (this date is often questioned).

1684

bullet Baptist beginnings in Middle Colonies of America(?)
bullet John Bunyan publishes ninth edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress". Publishes the second part of "The Pilgrim's Progress". Publishes "Seasonable Counsel".
bullet Elder Thomas Dungan from Ireland left his native home to escape persecution, and coming to Rhode Island he joined himself to the First Baptist Church of Newport, Rhode Island, where Doctor John Clark was the pastor.
bullet 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

bullet John Bunyan publishes tenth edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress". Bunyan is in danger of returning to prison.
bullet Forced Out of New England, Baptists Thrive in Carolina – Somerton, South Carolina

1688

bullet 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).
bullet 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.
bullet "The Barren Fig Tree" is reprinted a few months after John's decease.
bullet 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.
bullet Even after William and Mary of Orange ascended to the throne and abolished oppressive laws, Baptists still had to pay taxes to support the state church.

1689

bullet General Assembly of General Baptists threatened by Arian teachings of Matthew Caffyn.
bullet Congregational Singing 'Unsafe' – General Baptist Convention Rules – London, May 23.
bullet London Confession of Particular Baptists is published.
bullet General Assembly of Particular Baptists organized in London.
bullet The Piscataway Baptist Church of Shelton, Middlesex County, New Jersey was organized as a separate, or independent church. Until that time in history, it had been a branch of the Lower Dublin Baptist Church under the ministry of Elias Keach.

1690

bullet General Six Principle Baptists, who practice the laying on of hands, organize the first Baptist association in America in the environs of Providence, Rhode Island.

1691

bullet Bunyan's "The Jerusalem Sinner Saved" is reprinted (3rd Edition).
bullet 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

bullet 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

bullet Charles Doe publishes "The Heavenly Footman".

1699

bullet Thomas Bonger first General Baptist minister in Virginia.

1700

bullet 24 Baptist Churches in America.
bullet “Great Awakening”.
bullet Birth of Separate Baptists–revivalistic
bullet In the north, Separate Baptists merged with older Baptist churches and in the south, Separate Baptists remained separate.

1701

bullet John Bunyan's "A Book For Boys and Girls" is first published.

1702

bullet English General Baptists who had settled in the Province of Carolina requested help from the General Baptists in England.
bullet After the Keithians had all but dissolved any assembly, John Hart and many former Keithians became Baptists. Hart joined Pennypack Baptist Church, in lower Dublin township (PA), and was made assistant minister and became as satisfactory a preacher among the Baptists as he had among the Quakers.

1706

bullet Shubal Stearns was born in Boston, Mass, Jan. 28th.

1707

bullet Organization of Philadelphia Baptist Association, first Baptist Association in America, July 27.

1712

bullet December 12, The colony of South Carolina passed a "Sunday Law" which required everyone to attend church each Sunday and to refrain from both skilled labor and traveling by horse or wagon beyond what was absolutely necessary. Violators received a fine and/or a two hours in the village stocks.

1714

bullet General Baptist Robert Nordin constitutes first Baptist church in Virginia.

1718

bullet Baptists, Established Church Finally at Peace in Boston – Boston, Mass., May 21.

1719

bullet The Pennepek Baptist Church of Pennepeck, Pennsylvania organized the Montgomery Baptist Church of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

1727

bullet Organization of Original Freewill Baptists in Virginia and North Carolina.
bullet The first Baptist congregation in North Carolina forms as Shiloh Church, in Chowan Precinct.

1728

bullet German Seventh Day Baptists founded the cloisters of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, (date approximate).

1729

bullet Twenty-Eight Baptists Jailed for Refusal to Pay Clergy Tax – Bristol, Mass., March 20.
bullet Baptists, Quakers Exempted from Tax to Support Clergy –Boston, Mass., May 10.
bullet Progress of Baptists Alarms Governor of North Carolina – Shiloh, N. C., October 12.

1733

bullet First Baptists arrive in Georgia with General Oglethorpe.

1739

bullet Rev. George Whitefield preaches in Philadelphia, Pa starting America’s first Great Awakening.
bullet Rev. Whitefield preaches in Williamsburg, VA invited by Anglican preacher James Blair.
bullet Division of American Baptists into Regular and Separate Baptists as a result of differences over the Great Awakening, (date approximate).

1741

bullet Isaac Backus was converted during the Great Awakening under the preaching of Eleazar Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College.
bullet July 8, Jonathan Edwards preached his classic sermon, 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,' a key step in the beginning of New England's Great Awakening.

1742

bullet The Philadelphia Baptist Association 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.
bullet Baptist Churches Split over Revival Practices – Philadelphia, Pa., January 5.
bullet Connecticut Passes Laws to Keep Out Evangelists – Hartford, Conn., June 1.

1745

bullet Shubal Stearns joins the "New Lights", as the converted Congregational communities that originated from the ministry of George Whitefield in New England were designated.

1746

bullet Isaac Backus was called to preach and traveled for five years as an itinerant evangelist.

1749

bullet February 6th, Isaac Backus was arrested for not paying taxes to a church, he didn't attend.

1750

bullet Organization of the River Brethren in Eastern Pennsylvania, (date approximate)

1751

bullet Shubal Stearns' church became involved in the controversy over the proper subjects of baptism. Soon, Stearns rejected infant baptism and sought baptism at the hands of Wait Palmer, Baptist minister of Stonington, Connecticut.

1752

bullet Baptist Church in North Carolina Formed by New England Evangelists – Sandy Creek, N. C., November 22.

1754

bullet The Separate Baptist movement migrated south in 1754, largely through the labors and influence of Shubal Stearns and Daniel Marshall.
bullet The two ministers worked for a while in Virginia with Baptists connected to the Philadelphia Association prior to moving on.

1755

bullet 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."
bullet 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 and ended December 31, 1776.

1756

bullet January 16th, Isaac Backus formed the first Baptist church in Middleborough. Backus would have stayed with the Separates, but when he changed his views on baptism, his congregation grew cold toward him.

1758

bullet Sandy Creek Association created in North Carolina. It became the epicenter of the Separate Baptist revival in the South, spawning 42 churches and 125 ministers within 17 years.
One of the first recorded black congregations is organized on the plantation of William Byrd in Mecklenburg, Virginia.

1761

bullet William Carey born at Paulerspury, Northampton, England, August 17.

1762

bullet 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

bullet 13 Baptists from Swansea, Massachusetts arrive in Tantamar to establish a Baptist Church and settle near Silver Lake in Middle Sackville.

1764

bullet Founding of the College of Rhode Island by Baptists, now known as Brown University.
bullet When the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia refused to allow women to participate in the election of deacons, the women held a separate meeting and framed a vigorous protest. They pointed out that they had voted since the church's founding in 1698. The men pointed out that they had no political voice in society and, therefore, should have none in the church (Southern Baptist Sisters: in Search of Status, 1845-2000 by David T. Morgan).

1767

bullet Warren Association was organized with particular reference to the large and influential Separate Baptist interest, and not without reference also to the General Baptists, who had held the ground before the arrival of the Separates.

1770

bullet "New Connection" (Connexion) Free Grace General Baptist Assembly organized in England.
bullet Morgan Edwards published the first of a proposed twelve-volume series on American Baptist history, Materials Toward a History of the Baptists in Pennsylvania. By doing so, Edwards became the first Baptist historian in America.
bullet Baptists agree to establish Virginia General Baptist Association

1771

bullet Twelve Virginia Separate churches, standing apart from other kinds of Baptists, organized their “General Association of the Separate Baptists in Virginia”.
bullet The first session of the Virginia Separate Baptist Association was held at Craig's Meeting-house in Orange county in May. Delegates from fourteen churches were present, representing thirteen hundred and eighty-five members.

1772

bullet Kiokee, the oldest Baptist church in Georgia, is constitute.

1773

bullet 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.
bullet Patrick Henry Wins Freedom for Jailed Baptist Preacher – Chesterfield, Va., October 20.

1774

bullet The Baptists analogized their persecution to that of Americans by the British, Isaac Backus and other New England Baptist leaders protested, even taking their plea to the First Continental Congress.
bullet Because of Baptist oppression, James Manning, President of College of Rhode Island, was a firm supporter of the colonial stance against Parliament but advocated loyalty to the Crown until just before the war, hoping that the king might come to the rescue of New England dissenters.

1775

bullet Baptists grew from 494 congregations to 1,152.
bullet The first German Baptist (Dunker) congregation in the state forms near Muddy Creek in present-day Forsyth County, (date approximate).
bullet July 29, The American Army began employing chaplains, making theirs the oldest branch of army after the Infantry.

1776

bullet Black Baptist churches organize in the Virginia cities of Williamsburg and Petersburg.
bullet Separate Baptist Revival of the South; Began: Wed, Jan 1, 1755, Ended: Tue, Dec 31, 1776.

1777

bullet William Carey apprenticed to the shoemaking trade.

1779

bullet William Carey attended prayer-meeting that changed his life, February 10.
bullet Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson introduces bill for religious freedom.

1780

bullet Organization of Freewill Baptists in New Hampshire.

1781

bullet Constitution date listed in John Asplund's 1794 Baptist Register for “Negro Baptist Church - York and James City Counties”.
bullet The First Baptist Church of Manchester was formally organized on June 22, 1781 under the name “The Church of Jesus Christ in Manchester” by Elder Nathan Mason and a delegation from the Baptist Church of Lanesborough, Massachusetts. The fellowship that signed the sixteen articles of faith drawn up as a covenant were one hundred and ten members from Manchester and eighty-two from Dorset.
bullet Severn's Valley, constituted June 18, 1781. Members 37

1782

bullet George Liele is considered to be the first American missionary. As pastor of the First African Church of Savannah, Ga., hearing that the British were declaring peace with the colonies, Liele 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

bullet 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

bullet The Baptist General Association of Virginia was dissolved and replaced by a General Committee made up of delegates from the district associations.
bullet The Georgia Baptist Association, the state’s first, is formed.

1785

bullet Baptist General Committee meetings met to discuss grievances having to do with religious liberty.
bullet 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.
bullet 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.
bullet Baptists held aloof from the Great Awakening, but thousands of converted Congregationalists turned Baptist and these Separate Baptists won the South. In Virginia, Regular and Separate Baptists, having co-operated in a successful struggle for religious liberty, united in 1785. Widespread revivals after the Revolution brought multitudes into their ranks. Religious enthusiasm and dearth of educated ministers caused hundreds of illiterates to enter the ministry and a widespread aversion to educated ministers and to every form of denominational work resulted.

1786

bullet William Carey is called to the ministry at Olney, August 10.
bullet The first Baptist association in Tennessee, the Holston Association, was founded at the Cherokee Church by several churches which had previously identified themselves with the Sandy Creek Association in North Carolina. The association linked churches for fellowship, discipline, and doctrinal inquiry.
 

1787

bullet The General Assembly of General Baptists in England sent a petition to Parliament in behalf of abolition of slavery.
bullet William Carey was formally ordained to the gospel ministry.
bullet Regular and Separate Baptists in Virginia formed a union, adopting the name "United Baptist Churches of Christ in Virginia." In course of time similar unions were formed in most of the other states in which the southern branch of the Separate Baptists had organizations. A few Separate Baptist churches, however, refused to join in this movement, and they have maintained distinct organizations until the present time.
 

1788

bullet Andrew Marshall, an African-American, is ordained as pastor of the First Colored Church in Savannah.
bullet The earliest church organization among them (colored Baptists) was the First African Baptist Church of Savannah, Ga., instituted January 20, 1788, at Brampton's barn, three miles west of Savannah, by Abraham Marshall (white) and Jesse Peter (colored).

1789

bullet 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.
bullet May 31, The first General Baptist sermon in Derby (United Kingdom) was delivered in the open air, on Willow Row, by Rev. Dan Taylor.

1790

bullet Baptists had grown to 979 churches
bullet 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

bullet William Carey and others found The Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen (later named the Baptist Missionary Society) at Kettering.
bullet William Carey writes Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathen.
bullet May 30, William Carey preached the Missionary Sermon that founded the Baptist Missionary Society at Friar Lane Baptist Church, Nottingham.
bullet Andrew Fuller was appointed the first Secretary and William Carey, bound for India, the first missionary.
bullet The birth of Conventionism is traced to Kettering, England, in October 1792, when the English.
bullet 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.
bullet 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 Britain 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

bullet William Carey and Dr. John Thomas were appointed Baptist missionaries to India by the British Society for the Evangelization of the Heathen.
bullet In 1793, there were only three (known) Baptist ministers west of Albany. By 1798, fifteen were laboring. Nearly all were connected with the Otsego Association.

1794

bullet 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

bullet William Carey Baptized a Portuguese, his first convert.
bullet August 28, William Ward was baptised at George Street Baptist Church, Hull.

1797

bullet Formation of English Baptist Home Mission Society.
bullet Baptist Itinerant society formed.
bullet John Leland speaks on abolition of slavery.

1799

bullet Formation of Baptist Union of Wales.
bullet May 24, William Ward embarks on the American sailing ship 'Criterion' for Serampore, India for missionary work.

1800

bullet At least 48 Baptist Associations existed and became interested in foreign missions.
bullet January 10, William Carey moved to Serampore.
bullet December 28, Baptized Krishna Pal, first Bengali convert.
bullet William Carey elected Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali languages in Williams College.

1801

bullet William Carey completes the New Testament in Bengali, February 7.
bullet The General Association of General Baptists dates to the work of Benoni Stinson. He was a member of a United Baptist group formed in Kentucky by the union of Separate Baptists and Regular Baptists. These United Baptists adopted an article of faith that allowed Arminian preaching, which emphasized free will, not predestination.

1802

bullet Organization of Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society, the first state convention to be organized in America.
bullet 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.
bullet General Conference of Seventh Day Baptists created.
bullet The First African Church multiplied until 1802, when on the 26th of December the Second Baptist Church, Savannah, GA, (colored) was organized with two hundred members.

1803

bullet 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.
bullet William Carey, self-supporting missionary organization founded.

1806

bullet Isaac Backus dies, November 20th.
bullet Mississippi Baptist Association organized (preliminary).

1807

bullet Doctor of Divinity conferred to William Carey by Brown University of U.S.A.
bullet William Carey becomes a member of Bengali Asiatic Society.

1808

bullet Organization of the Baptist Church of Christ in Tennessee.
bullet William Carey publishes New Testament in Sanskrit.

1809

bullet William Carey completes translation of Bible in Bengali, June 24.
bullet Adoniram Judson, the same year he joined the Congregational church, became burdened to become a missionary. He found some friends from Williams College with the same burden and often met with them at a haystack on the college grounds to earnestly pray for the salvation of the heathen and petition God to open doors of ministry as missionaries to them. That spot has been marked as the birthplace of missions in America.

1810

bullet Robert B. Semple publishes "A History of The Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia".
bullet Adoniram Judson helped form the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Misions.

1811

bullet William Carey publishes New Testament in Marathi.
bullet American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions appointed Judson a missionary to the east.

1812

bullet Adoniram and Ann Judson (after having only been married for 2 weeks) along with Samuel and Harriet Newell sailed for India on the Caravan.
bullet 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.
bullet Jacob Bowers is converted. Two years later, Jacob became a Baptist minister. In his long, hardworking life, he rode over forty thousand miles carrying the gospel to others, organizing churches and ordaining new ministers. He had to overcome serious opposition from Baptists opposed to mission work.

1813

bullet Organization of General Union of Baptist Ministers and Churches in England, forerunner of Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland.
bullet Luther Rice was an appointed Congregational missionary, who like his contemporary. Arrives in Georgia to promote foreign missions.
bullet 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.
bullet 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

bullet 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 he financial support of foreign missions, and upporters of its work could be found in local churches nd associations throughout Southern and Northern tates. 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".
bullet Organization of the Irish Missionary Society.
bullet American Baptist Home Mission Society.
bullet American Baptist Publication Society.
bullet First recorded baptism of a Chinese convert, Cai Gao; American Baptist Foreign Mission Society formed.
bullet Netherlands Bible Society founded; four Native Americans from beyond the Rocky Mountains come east to St. Louis seeking information on the "palefaces' religion".
bullet First missionaries arrive in New Zealand led by Samuel Marsden.
bullet First recorded baptism of a Chinese convert, Cai Gao.
bullet Lott Carey, a Black Baptist missionary, sails with 28 colleagues from Norfolk, VA to Sierra Leone.
 

1815

bullet 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.
bullet William Carey publishes New Testament in Punjabi.

1816

bullet American Bible Society founded.

1817

bullet Organization of the Church of God by John Winebrenner in Philadelphia.
bullet Peck and Welch sent out as home missionaries to the Middle West by the Triennial Convention.
bullet James Thompson begins distributing Bibles throughout Latin America.
bullet General Baptist Missionary Society formed.
bullet The Mississippi Baptist Association convened with Bogue Chitto church, Pike county, October 18th to 21st. David Cooper preached the opening sermon from II Timothy, 2:15. Letters from thirty-one churches were received and read. The moderator and clerk were David Cooper and Benjamin Davis. Five churches asked for admission, as follows: Vermion, New Chapel, Canaan, Green's Creek and the First Church of Natchez. A. Harper and H. Tilman were from New Chapel; J. Stringer and W. Cooper from Green's Creek, while B. Davis and N. Robinson came from Natchez. No names are given from Vermion and Canaan. The Lord's day services were conducted by Elders Scarborough, Davis, Ranaldson and Courtney.

1818

bullet Founding of Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution in New York.
bullet William Carey publishes Old Testament in Sanskrit.
bullet Mississippi Baptist Association meeting was with New Providence church, Amite county, commencing October 17th. Elder Josiah Flowers delivered the first sermon, his text being Matt. 16: 17, 18. Thirty-one churches were represented, and eight others received, as follows: Pinckneyville, Sharon, Dilling's Creek, Beulah, Bala Chitto, Silver Creek, east of Pearl river, Friendship and New Orleans. The messengers were: T. Hunter and J. Ellsberry, from Pinckneyville; J. A. Ranaldson and E. Estes, from Sharon; J, P. Martin and J. Barnes, from Dilling's Creek; H. Bond and William Cook, from Bala Chitto; William Sparks and William Stamps, from Silver Creek, east of Pearl; T. Matthews, from Beulah; N.Williams, from Friendship, and B. Davis, from New Orleans.

1819

bullet Organization of the first Baptist church in France.
bullet June 27, Judson baptized the first Burmese believer, Moung Nau. Judson jotted in his journal: "Oh, may it prove to be the beginning of a series of baptisms in the Burman empire which shall continue in uninterrupted success to the end of the age."

1820

bullet William Carey publishes Marathi Old Testament.
bullet Charles Finney and the Second Great Awakenings.

1821

bullet The Sabbath Recorder (Seventh Day Baptist) created, an unbroken publication since 1844.
bullet Serampore college opened (William Carey).

1822

bullet The Georgia Baptist Convention is organized on June 29.

1824

bullet Organization in Washington, D. C. of the Baptist General Tract Society, now known as the American Baptist Publication Society.

1825

bullet Founding of Newton Theological Institution near Boston, oldest Baptist Seminary in America.
bullet William Carey Completes Dictionary of Bengali and English.
bullet 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

bullet Origin of Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists, (date approximate).
bullet Government gave William Carey "Grant in Aid" for education.
bullet 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.
bullet William Cathcart (Baptist Historian, author) was born in the County of Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, November 8.

1827

bullet Thomas Walsh becomes the first recorded recipient of an educational scholarship from the Georgia Baptist Convention.
bullet Campbellites and Separate Baptists division in Auburn Baptist Church, Cannon County, TN. Although combined at the beginning, divided and held separate services. Elder Clark Hubbard and others went over to the Campbellites while the United Baptists (as the Regular Baptists were then called) remained with Salem Association and Separatists affiliated with Concord No. 2 of Separate Baptists.

1829

bullet 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.
bullet As early as December 26, 1829, John Smith, James Smith, Charles Polk, David Patrick, Rhoda Shields and Mary Ross met for consultation concerning the organization of a Baptist church. As a result of this preliminary meeting, these same parties and probably others, met on February 20, 1830, and perfected an organization, assisted by John Knight and John Lemon from Deer Creek Baptist church, and Elder Samuel Arthur of Wea church. James Smith was chosen permanent moderator and Charles Polk, clerk of the church. The name, Eel River Baptist church, was adopted, often designated as the First Baptist church. Meetings were held in private houses and the Old Seminary, a brick structure, the first public building erected in Logansport, on the northeast corner of Market and Fourth streets. Elder .James Smith administered to the spiritual wants of the society once or twice a month at these meetings, assisted by Elder William Berry, until 1838, when Elder William Corbin was employed. The latter continued with the congregation until his death, November 8. 1841, only thirty-two years of age. His wife died the month previous and both lie at rest in the old cemetery.
bullet The great need of the Baptists was an educated ministry. Many of their most vigorous and aggressive ministers had gone over to the Reformers. A number of the enterprising ministers and laymen of the Baptist persuasion petitioned the state legislature, in January, 1829, for a charter incorporating a board of trustees called ''The Kentucky Baptist Educational Society." This charter was granted. The society had in view the establishment of a college under the control of Kentucky Baptists.

1830

bullet Alexander Campbell drew many Baptist Churches into the Disciples of Christ.
bullet The Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention is chartered.

1831

bullet Organization of Adventists by William Miller.

1832

bullet 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...
bullet William Knibb's agitation against the slave traffic in the British Colonial Empire.
bullet The Baptist Irish Society and British and Irish Baptist Home Mission formed.
bullet Adoniram Judson translates the New Testament into Burmese.

1833

bullet New Hampshire Confession written to combat the Arminianism of Free-will Baptists.
bullet Baptist work in Thailand begins with John Taylor Jones.
bullet Free-Will Baptist Foreign Missionary Society begins work in India.
bullet The Christian Index moves to Georgia.

1834

bullet Organization of the first Australian Baptist church in Sydney.
bullet 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.
bullet Adoniram Judson completes a translation of the whole Bible into the Burmese language.
bullet In October 1834, twenty-two members of the Rogers Crossroads Baptist Church, which is now Wake Crossroads Baptist Church, left their church (in good standing) to constitute a regular Baptist church in Rolesville. On December 26, 1834, a presbytery consisting of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Wait, the Rev. Amos J. Battle, and the Rev. John Armstrong met with the twenty-two dismissed members of the Rogers Crossroads Church in Rolesville. The Rev. John Armstrong delivered the first sermon. The Rev. Dr. Samuel Wait, of Wake Forest College, gave the prayer of blessing and extended the welcoming right hand of fellowship to the members of the newly constituted church.

1835

bullet Organization of the Primitive Baptists in New York and Pennsylvania.
bullet Appointment of Oneken as an agent for the Triennial Convention in Germany.
bullet North Carolina Baptist State Convention appoints a committee “to consider the establishment of a female seminary of high order.”
bullet Finney's Lectures on Revivals.

1836

bullet 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.
bullet Plymouth Brethren begin work in Madras, India.
bullet George Müller begins his work with orphans in Bristol, England.
bullet The Providence Missionary Baptist District Association is formed, one of at least six national organizations among African Baptists whose sole objective was missionary work in Africa.

1837

bullet Organization of the American and Foreign Bible Society in Philadelphia by Baptists.

1838

bullet Thomas Meredith, founder of the Biblical Recorder, calls for an institution to provide "a first-rate course of female education."

1839

bullet Organization of the first Danish Baptist church.

1840

bullet Formation of the Bible Translation Society in England.
bullet The Convention accepts ownership of The Christian Index.
bullet Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Baptist clergyman, published "History of Baptist Indian Missions; embracing remarks on the former and present condition of the aboriginal tribes, their settlement within the Indian Territory, and their future prospects.

1841

bullet Organization of the first Lithuanian Baptist church under Oncken's guidance.
 

1842

bullet Campbellites and Separate Baptists who divided in 1827 at the Auburn Baptist Church, reunited into one body representing the Concord Association.
bullet Micajah Cicero Barnett was pastor of the Gilead Baptist Church (Grindal Shoals, Union Co., South Carolina 1770 – 1870) in 1863 and continued in this capacity through 1866. He was ordained to the gospel ministry by the Cedar Spring Baptist Church in Spartanburg County, S. C., on December 24, 1842.

1843

bullet American and Foreign Free Baptist Missionary Society organized by abolitionists in Boston.
bullet 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.
bullet Baptist John Taylor Jones translates New Testament into Siamese.
bullet B. H. Carroll, pastor of the First Baptist church, Waco, Texas, and associate editor of the Texas Baptist, was born December, in Carroll Co., Miss.

1845

bullet Baptists split North and South, never re-united.
bullet 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.
bullet The Triennial Convention renamed American Baptist Missionary Union.
bullet 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.
bullet International Mission Board, originally referred to as the Foreign Mission Board, is founded.
bullet William Bullein Johnson, of South Carolina, becomes the first President of the Southern Baptist convention.
bullet 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.
bullet May 20, 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.
bullet June 30, China was chosen as the first mission field.
bullet September 1, the board appointed the first missionary, Samuel C. Clopton.

1846

bullet The Baptist General Missionary Convention reorganizes as the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU).
bullet James Robinson Graves organized the Nashville Indian and Missionary Association.
bullet James B. Taylor (1846-1871) was appointed the first Corresponding Secretary of Foreign Mission Board.
bullet 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.
bullet The board appointed the first medical missionary, Dr. J. Sexton James, to serve in China.
bullet The monthly publication, Southern Baptist Missionary Journal, began.
bullet William Catchart was baptized by Rev. R. H. Carson, of Tubbermore, in January.

1848

bullet Establishment of the first Baptist church in Sweden.
bullet 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

bullet Beginning of Baptist work in Hungary.
bullet Robert Hill was sent to Liberia by the Southern Baptist Convention.
bullet The board began publication of The Commission. Monthly circulation of the periodical reached 7,000 by April 1850.
bullet The board’s first single woman, Miss Harriet A. Baker of Powhatan County, Virginia, was appointed to China.

1850

bullet Organization of the American Bible Union.
bullet Mary Sharp College for Women Winchester, TN is organized.
bullet Adoniram Judson dies and is buried at sea in the Bay of Bengal on April 12.

1851

bullet Organization of the first New Zealand Baptist church.
bullet James Robinson Graves is a leader in the Landmark movement as it seeks to make its ideology predominant in Southern Baptist life.

1852

bullet Gustaf baptized three converts in the Mississippi River at Rock Island, thus forming the Swedish Baptist Church which later became known as the Baptist General Conference. They consider this the date at which their denomination came into being.

1853

bullet John Mason Peck urged the creation of the American Baptist Historical Society, an adjunct of the American Baptist Publication Society.

1854

bullet 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.

1855

bullet The German Baptist Church of Wilmington was founded by Rev. Jeremiah Grimmell, who in 1855 devoted his leisure to fostering the religious interests of the German Baptists, whom he invited to meet at his house, where he conducted worship. At the first service there were thirteen persons present, and these comprised the original members of the German Baptist Church, which was organized in 1856. His house being too small to accommodate those attracted by his preaching, Rev. Grimmell was offered a room in the residence of John Swager, corner Fourth and Pine Streets, where services were continued for quite a period. Rev. Leonard Fleishman preached to the converts of Mr. Grimmell on several occasions and encouraged him in his religious labors. In March, 1856, nine of them were baptized in the Second Baptist Church. Through the efforts of Miss Annie Semple, who manifested a zealous interest in the work, the church corner of Fifth and Walnut Streets was purchased for three thousand dollars. Here the congregation was organized April 17, 1856, by Rev. Mr. Grimmell and his wife, Edward Austermúhl, John Mühlhausen and Sophia, his wife, John Swager and Elizabeth, his wife, Peter Braunstein and Susan, his wife, Frederick Neutze, Mrs. Elizabeth Kaiser, Mrs. Theresa Herzel and Catherine Braunstein. A Sunday-school was also organized the same year.

1856

bullet Spurgeon leased the Surrey Music Hall in the Royal Surrey Gardens for services. This was London's "largest, most commodious and most beautiful building, erected for public amusements, carnivals of wild beasts and wilder men." Many criticized Spurgeon for leasing a building designed for worldly amusements, but the hall held ten to twelve thousand people and that number packed the building for the first service on this day, October 19th. It seemed at least as many people were outside the building as were inside. The service had only gone a few minutes when there was the frightening cry of "Fire! the galleries are giving away, the place is falling!" In the ensuing panic to flee the building, many people were trampled. Seven died and others were seriously injured. Spurgeon was tremendously depressed over the event, and his grief was so deep some feared his reason had left him. He spent hours "in tears by day, and dreams of terror by night." Within two weeks, however, Spurgeon had recovered sufficiently to preach again. The crowds were even bigger than before.

1857

bullet An effort is made to establish a Southern Baptist Sunday School Union. James Robinson Graves is a leader in this effort.

1858

bullet Through strong opposition the Southern Baptist Sunday School Union is finally organized.

1859

bullet Southern Baptist Theological Seminary opens in Greenville, SC. Among the first professors is John Albert Broadus.

1860

bullet Approximately 12,000 Baptist Churches in America.
bullet Organization of the first Baptist church in Norway.

1861

bullet First baptism on Latvian soil.
bullet 1861-1865 – Throughout the Civil War the Foreign Mission Board continued limited operations in China and Africa and most missionaries were self-supporting.
bullet Tai Ping rebels in Yentai, Shantung Province, China, murdered Missionary J. Landrum Holmes.
bullet In the spring of 1861, the Metropolitan Tabernacle was completed; this was to be Spurgeon's pulpit for the next thirty-one years.
bullet Throughout those years an average of five thousand people attended each morning and evening Sunday service. Spurgeon's was the megachurch of nineteenth century London.

1864

bullet Baptists enter Argentina.
bullet B. H. Carroll becomes a believer.

1865

bullet Fusion of the Bible Translation Society and the Irish Missionary Society into the British and Irish Baptist Home Mission Society.
bullet 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.
bullet 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)
bullet B. H. Carroll is ordained.
bullet The first African-American Baptist associations in Georgia were established.
bullet Francis Wayland dies, September 30th.

1868

bullet Mission Society by the American Baptist Missionary Union.
bullet In the proceedings of the First Baptist Antioch Association which met in December, 1868, we find the appointment of a Missionary Board, which was empowered to appoint missionaries and fix their salaries. Thus showing that they realized their responsibility in helping to carry out the great commission.
bullet Begins the journey of Baptist Women in Ministry.
bullet Women, it would seem did not actually attend the annual meeting of the SBC until 1868, when the convention was in Baltimore. Even then they were not there as messengers. Most were there to accompany their husbands but they held a separate meeting in the home of Mrs. Ann Graves, who read to the gathering some letters from her son Rosewell Graves, a missionary to China. Rosewell's letter talked of the need for women missionaries in China, for custom there required women to reach Chinese women for Christ (Southern Baptist Sisters: in Search of Status, 1845-2000, p.53, by David T. Morgan.
bullet Canadian Baptist missionary Americus Timpany begins work among the Telugus in India.

1869

bullet Formation of the Baptist Union of Scotland.
bullet Organization of the first Baptist church in Finland.
bullet On July 12, 1869, one year after the organization of the first associational gathering The Baptist Missionary Convention, now known as The General Baptist Missionary Convention of Mississippi, held its first session at Port Gibson. Revs. R. Pollard and H. P. Jacobs were elected temporary and permanent presidents, respectively. An account of this gathering appears in Thompson's History and shows prominent Baptist preachers from Missouri and Louisiana were visitors.

1870

bullet Southern Baptists undertake work in Italy.
bullet Southern Baptist Convention opposes efforts to reunite boards of the North and South.

1871

bullet Organization of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Mission Society (forerunners to the Board of International Ministries (BIM) of the ABC/USA)(East.
bullet Mercer University moves from Penfield, GA where it was founded in 1833.
bullet James B. Taylor died (Foreign Missions Board).
bullet 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.
bullet Lottie Moon becomes a Georgia Baptist while teaching in Cartersville.


1872

bullet 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

bullet Lottie Charlotte Moon is appointed missionary to China on July 7 by the Foreign Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention.

1875

bullet In view of the Centennial year of our national independence, the Baptist Ministerial Union, of Pennsylvania, appointed Dr. Cathcart to prepare a paper, to be read at their meeting in Meadville in 1876, on "The Baptists in the Revolution." This paper, by enlargement, became a duodecimo volume, entitle "The Baptists and the American Revolution."

1876

bullet September 13th, Dr. James M. Haswell died after forty-one years of missionary service in Burma with his dear wife Jane Mason, who he had married on August 23, 1835, and sailed for their chosen field one month later. He was more fruit from the Hamilton Theological Institute in Bennington, Vermont. Dr.Haswell mastered the Burmese language and then turned to the Pegulan dialect to reach the 80,000 of that tribe. He only took two furloughs, one in 1849 and another in 1867, and those were used to spur interest in missions. He was most diligent that his son James should follow him which he did, but tragically died of cholera a year after him in 1877. But the Haswell vision lived on through their daughter Susan who founded the Maulmein Leper Colony in which she invested sixty years of her life. The government gave the land and the lepers themselves built the thatched roof buildings with, in some cases, stumps for hands and feet. It stood for years as a memorial to her and the faith of the lepers. Untold thousands were saved.
bullet On Tuesday, October 24, 45 delegates, from 23 churches, met at Goshen Bridge and organized the Augusta Baptist Association. Twenty-four churches from the counties of Allegheny, Augusta, Bath, Rockbridge, and Rockingham formed the Association, 10 of the churches coming from the Valley Association and 14 from the Albemarle Association.

1877

bullet 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.
bullet The Georgia State Mission board is constituted.
bullet Second meeting of Augusta Association, held at Laurel Hill.

1879

bullet 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.
bullet Baptist Foreign Mission merged and formed the National Baptist Convention USA.
bullet Brazil was being considered as a Mission field.
bullet 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.
bullet Fourth meeting of Association, held at Mt. Crawford.

 

1880

bullet Bacone College founded to meet the education needs of Native Americans.

1882

bullet Organization of the Baptist Union of New Zealand.

1883

bullet Bible controversy settled in the Bible Convention at Saratoga, N. Y.
bullet G. B. Rogers was educated at Mississippi College. His ordination to the ministry occurred December 23, 1883, in the Baptist church at Clinton, Miss., the ordaining council being composed of Elders W. S. Webb, J. B. Gambrell, A. V. Rowe, J. W. Collins, T. J. Walne and George Whitfield. His first pastorate was at Woodville, Miss., where he served two years, afterwards accepting an appointment by the State Mission Board as missionary on the Mississippi Valley Railroad.

1884

bullet Immersion of first Baptists in Estonia.
bullet The Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union of Georgia is established.

1885

bullet The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) was formed as the merger of two Texas Baptist organizations.

1886

bullet Fannie Exile Scudder Heck is President of the Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina from its beginning in January.

1888

bullet Organization of the American Baptist Education Society at Washington, D. C.
bullet American Baptist Education Society founded to promote higher education, Becomes the American Baptist Board of Education (ABBE) (a forerunner of the Board of Educational Ministries (BEM) of the ABC/USA.
bullet 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

bullet Southern Baptist work in Japan actually begun.
bullet After a delay due to the Civil War and Reconstruction as well as the general lack of interest in women's education, Leonidas Polk introduces a resolution to the Convention for a Baptist female college. His resolution is adopted unanimously.

1890

bullet Dr. J.M Frost considers starting a publishing house just for Southern Baptists.

1891

bullet Formation of the Baptist Union for Great Britain and Ireland; a merger of the Particular Baptists and the New Connexion of General Baptists.
bullet 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.
bullet Organization of the Baptist Young People's Union of America.
bullet The state legislature grants a charter for the Baptist Female University.

1893

bullet Participation of Baptists in the National Free Church Council in England.
bullet Landmark leader, J.R. Graves, died in Memphis.
bullet The Baptist Sunday School Board begins the practice of contributing funds toward the support of other denominational agencies.
bullet Dr. T. P. Bell is elected second chief executive.
bullet To raise money for the Baptist Female University, Oliver Larkin Stringfield begins traveling across the state and Fannie E. S. Heck organizes the Woman's Executive Committee of the Baptist Female University.

1894

bullet 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

bullet 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.
bullet William Heth Whitsett is President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

1896

bullet WMU adopted the Sunbeams, the children’s missions organization begun in 1886 by the Foreign Mission Board.
bullet Dr. J.M. Frost is re-elected as chief executive.

1897

bullet 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

bullet The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) formed a Centennial Committee for preparation of the new century.
bullet Baptist Sunday School Board publishes its first book, a venture which later results in Broadman Press.
bullet Salem Baptist Church (Dobson, NC) was organized on December 26, 1898, by a Presbytery composed of C.H. Stone, chairman, A.J. Williams, spokesman, and C.L. Jarvis, clerk. Some of the first members were S.L. Edmonds, Allen Kidd, J.E. Edmonds and Lucy Kidd. C.H. Stone was elected the first pastor. Services were held in the old Edmonds one-room schoolhouse during the winter and under a brush arbor in the summer.

1899

bullet Edgar Young Mullins becomes President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He, without consent, succeeds William Heth Whisitt.
bullet Baptist Female University opens in September with nineteen faculty/staff members and more than 200 students. James C. Blasingame is president. A college year is three terms of three months each. Room and board costs $36 per term, and tuition is $17.50, with additional fees for music and art.

1900

bullet 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

bullet Baptist Sunday School Board's first published hymnal helps standardize worship in Southern Baptist churches.
bullet Trustees change name from Baptist Female University to Baptist University for Women. Baptist University for Women Students publish the first yearbook, Oak Leaves.

1905

bullet Organization of the Baptist World Alliance in London.

1906

bullet Union of Freewill and Particular Baptists in the United Baptist Convention of Canada, possibly as early as 1905.

1907

bullet Formation of the Northern Baptist Convention; attempt to integrate work of various special-purpose societies (now the American Baptist Churches, USA).
bullet A general meeting of all the three societies-Foreign, Home and Publication-met to set up the Northern Baptist Convention.
bullet 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).
bullet Southern and Northern Baptist Conventions formally divided the country following WW II, the SBC abandoned regional limitations and spread across the country.

1908

bullet The first Congress of European Baptists, meeting at Berlin.
bullet The Annie Walker Armstrong building in Burnsville, NC was dedicated in appreciation for her service.
bullet Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is founded.
bullet Baptist Historical Society founded.

1909

bullet Union of the two Women's Home Mission Societies into the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society (WABHMS).

1910

bullet The American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU) becomes the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS).
bullet First known paid Sunday School Superintendent (pastoral staff),1st Baptist, Dallas.
bullet Southwestern Theological Seminary moves to Fort Worth, TX.

1911

bullet Merger of the Free Will Baptists with the Northern Baptist Convention.
bullet The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board (M&M) founded.
bullet Second Congress of Baptist World Alliance at Philadelphia.

1912

bullet December 24, Death came to the frail servant of Christ, Lottie Moon, on Christmas Eve aboard ship in the harbor of Kobe, Japan.

1913

bullet Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is founded.

1914

bullet The Commission on Efficiency established to improve the plans and methods of SBC.
bullet Candler School of Theology is founded. School joins with Emory in 1915.

1915

bullet World Wide Guild founded.
bullet 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

bullet M.H. Wolfe of the SBC moved to amend and revise articles of the Constitution in order to create one strong executive board.
bullet I.J. Van Ness is elected third chief executive of the Baptist Sunday School Board.

1917

bullet Executive Commitee formed to oversee all SBC ministries.
bullet New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is founded.
bullet James Bruton Gambrell is elected president of the SBC.
bullet 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

bullet 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

bullet 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."
bullet 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.
bullet $75 million campaign launched by the Southern Baptist Convention, it was an effort to raise $75 million between the years 1919-1924.
bullet As with the NBC the SBC didn't have much success because of the world war economy. Raised $58,591,713.69.
bullet The SBC considers requiring FMB missionary candidates to subscribe to "A Statement of Belief" but rejects the proposal.

1920

bullet Curtis Lee Laws, editor of the Baptist Watchman-Examiner, coins the term fundamentalist.
bullet Conservatives in the Northern Baptist Convention organize the Fundamentalist Fellowship to combat spreading liberalism.
bullet Baptist Mid-Missions formed; Church of the Nazarene enters Syria.
bullet The Baptist book store operation begins.
bullet The department of survey, statistics and information begins.

1921

bullet Helen Barrett Montgomery is elected the first women president of the Northern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.

1923

bullet Baptist Bible Union formed.

1924

bullet Committee on Basis of Representation formed to deal with increased attendance at Southern Baptist conventions.
bullet Baptist Mid-Missions begins work in Venezuela.

1925

bullet Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1920's which marks a time of great debate between the Fundamentalist W.B. Riley and the Modernist George Foster, 1858-1918, Walter Rauschenbusch, 1861-1918.
bullet 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. It was a victory for the fundamentalist.
bullet Georgia Baptists adopt the Cooperative Program.
bullet The 1925 Confession of Faith was adopted despite much opposition.

1926

bullet Duke University Divinity School is founded.

1927

bullet George Washington Truett is President of the SBC.

1928

bullet The SBC issued a statement on Relation of Southern Baptist Convention to Other Baptist Bodies.
bullet The Baptist Sunday School Board assumes responsibility from the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee for the operation of Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly.

1931

bullet Baptist Mid-Missions enters Liberia.

1932

bullet General Association of Regular Baptists formed, leaving Northern Baptists.

1935

bullet Ministers Council founded.
bullet T.L. Holcomb is elected fourth chief executive of the Baptist Sunday School Board.

1939

bullet Lee Rutland Scarborough is President of the Southern Baptist Convention.

1940

bullet The Broadman Hymnal is produced.

1941

bullet The church music department of the Baptist Sunday School Board is organized.

1943

bullet Eleven American Baptist Foreign Mission Society Missionaries die as martyrs for the Gospel of Jesus Christ at Hopevale in the Philippines during WWII.
bullet 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.
bullet Organization of the Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society; leads to secession from the Northern Baptist Convention in 1947

1944

bullet Founding of American Baptist Assembly and Green Lake, Wisconsin.
bullet Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary is founded.

1946

bullet 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..."
bullet Southern Baptist Foundation is founded.

1947

bullet Conservative Baptists formed, leaving Northern Baptists.
bullet Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society begins work among the Senufo tribe in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

1948

bullet Northern Baptist Convention became constituent member of the World Council of Churches; first assembly held at Amsterdam.

1949

bullet Southern Baptist Mission opens work in Venezuela.

1950

bullet Northern Baptist Convention (NBC) changed name to American Baptist Convention (ABC).
bullet First World Fellowship Offering, now the World Mission Offering, WMO.
bullet Northern Baptist Convention becomes one of the founding communions of the National Council of Churches of Christ.
bullet Approximatley 77,000 Baptist Churches.

1951

bullet First America for Christ Offering collected.
bullet Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is founded.

1953

bullet James L. Sullivan is elected fifth chief executive of the Baptist Sunday School Board.

1955

bullet American Baptist Foreign Mission Society and Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission.
bullet Society merge administrative functions leading to a merger in 1968.
bullet American Baptist Home Mission Society and Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society merge administrative functions.

1956

bullet Auca Indians kill Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian in Ecuador.

1957

bullet Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is founded.

1961

bullet Reorganization Plan adopted by American Baptist Convention (making the convention a more coherent and efficient denominational body).

1962

bullet National offices of American Baptist Convention moved to Valley Forge, PA.
bullet The SBC at its annual meeting approved a motion to revisit the 1925 Baptist Faith and Message and "present...some similar statement which shall serve as information to the churches." The committee comprised the "presidents of the various state Conventions" (as qualified by Bylaw 18), with the motion also indicating "It is understood that any group or individuals may approach this committee to be of service."

1963

bullet The SBC adopted a new Baptist Faith and Message, replacing the 1925 version.

1964

bullet American Baptist Publication Society and the American Baptist Education Society merge to form the American Baptist Board of Education and Publication.

1965

bullet September 18, the Russian Baptists broke from their forced union with other evangelicals, forming their own organization, the CCECB—the Council of Churches of Evangelical Believers, Baptists.

1966

bullet Forming of North American Baptist Fellowship.
bullet Commission on Christian Unity established by General Council of American Baptist Convention.

1968

bullet In response to "demands" of a Black Caucus, the General Council of the ABC provided for fuller participation in denominational leadership.
bullet Merger of the ABFMS and the WABFMS completed.

1970

bullet American Baptist Convention and Progressive National Baptist Convention entered into an "associated relationship".
bullet The SBC Foreign Mission Board introduces a requirement that missionary candidates respond to a question concerning the Baptist Faith and Message. The question asked is "Are your doctrinal beliefs in substantial agreement with those printed in Baptist Faith & Message (1963) and adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1963?"

1971

bullet American Baptist Personnel Services founded to help churches find ministerial leadership.

1972

bullet Implementation of recommendations of Study Commision on Denominational Structure (SCODS); General Council replaced by a more representative 200 member General Board, office of the General Secretary strengthened, and name changed to "American Baptist Churches, USA".
bullet Under restructuring the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS) becomes the Board of International Ministries (BIM), the American Baptist Home Mission Society becomes the Board of National Ministries (BNM), and the American Baptist Board of Education and Publication (ABBEP) becomes the Board of Educational Ministries (BEM).
bullet The American Baptist Churches and the Church of the Brethren move toward an associated relationship to begin in 1973.

1975

bullet The SBC FMB changes the question for missionary candidates concerning the BF&M to "Are you familiar with the contents of the Baptist Faith & Message? Are you in substantial agreement with this statement? Please cite and explain the areas of differences in beliefs and/or interpretations."
bullet Grady C. Cothen is elected sixth chief executive of the Baptist Sunday School Board.

1977

bullet First Retired Ministers and Missionaries Offering collected (RMMO).
bullet (Sept. 6) Date of letter by Paul Pressler to Bill Powell proposing an organized campaign to change the SBC's leadership at the 1979 convention. In the letter he wrote "I do not believe in fighting a battle unless there is a good chance of winning. If we fight and lose, we lose credibility. Therefore, I think it is imperative that we plan, organize, and effectively promote what we are trying to do before we attempt any strong action."

1978

bullet 33 million members in the Baptist World Alliance (1/3 were Southern Baptists).
bullet The SBC adopted its first definition of the Cooperative Program, defining it as undesignated gifts only.
bullet The Baptist Hymnal is translated into Spanish.

1979

bullet Recommendations of a two-year study on Women in Ministry, commissioned by the Minister's Council in 1977, approved by the Council.
bullet Fundamentalist burrowing of the SBC begins.
bullet Conservative Southern Baptists began to take control of the SBC.

1987

bullet Denominational Review Commission reported that reorganization 1972-1977 had been successful in achieving its purposes and made minor adjustments.

1988

bullet General Board, after four-year study, reaffirmed membership in National and World Councils of Churches and adopted "official Observer" relationship with National Association of Evangelicals.

1991

bullet Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is organized.
bullet Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond opens for classes.
bullet Baptist Center for Ethics begins.

1992

bullet Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity begins classes.

1994

bullet A new denominational emphasis, ABC 2000: Renewed for Mission, is launched at the San Jose Biennial.
bullet Mercer University's Board of Trustees votes in June to establish a School of Theology.

1996

bullet Mercer University classes began in the Fall.

1999

bullet Wake Forest Divinity School opens.

2000

bullet SBC revises the Baptist Faith and Message.
bullet Baptist World Alliance has 100 million members.

2001

bullet Baptist missionary Roni Bowers and her infant daughter are killed when a Peruvian Air Force jet fires on their small float-plane.

Sources:

bullet A History of the Baptist Churches in the United States, A.H. Newman, 1898, American Baptist Publication Society
bullet A Study of the Older Protestant Missions and Churches in Peru and Chile, J.B.A Kessler Jr.
bullet Christian Biography Resources
bullet D. E. Hoste, A Prince with God by Phyllis Thompson, London, China Inland Mission
bullet Faithful Witness. The Life and Mission of William Carey by Timothy George, New Hope, 1991
bullet Shadow of the Almighty. The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot by Elizabeth Elliot, Harper & Brothers 1958
bullet Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
bullet The Challenge of Missions. Oswald J Smith
bullet World Wide Missionary Biographies
bullet Jude 1:3 Ministries
bullet WMU
bullet International Mission Board (SBC)
bullet Acacia, John Bunyan Online Library
bullet Wm. Robert Johnston.
bullet A Dictionary of Religion and Ethics
bullet Tennessee Encyclopedia
bullet Sam Behling
bullet History of Middle Tennessee Baptists, J.H. Grime
bullet Christian History
bullet Kentucky Baptist History 1770-1922, Reverend William Dudley Nowlin, D.D., LL.D.
 
 
 
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