General Baptists are

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

who hold the ''general'' or

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

view, the belief that

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

died for the entire world and not just for the chosen

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

. General Baptists are theologically

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

, which distinguishes them from

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

(also known as "Particular Baptists" for their belief in particular redemption). Free Will Baptists are General Baptists; opponents of the English General Baptists in North Carolina dubbed them "Freewillers" and they later assumed the name. General Baptist denominations have explicated their faith in two major confessions of faith, "The Standard Confession" (1660), and "The Orthodox Creed" (1678).

History

The first Baptists, led by John Smyth and

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

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

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

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

outside

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Helwys is credited with the formation of a general Baptist congregation in Coventry in 1614 or earlier when he gathered with Smyth and leading Coventry Puritans at the residence of Sir William Bowes and his wife, Isobel, in 1606. Thomas Grantham, along with others, presented a confession of beliefs to King Charles II in 1660. A respected Biblical scholar, Dr. Charles Marie Du Veil, was baptized into the St. Paul's Alley congregation, published his new views, and helped the General Baptist influence after 1685. In 1733 a case against several Northamptonshire congregations was presented to the General Assembly of General Baptists for "singing the psalms of David or other men's composures" which determined no fixed rule on congregational singing, but deferred to the local church to set forth their own reasons as the general assembly had in 1689. The term is also used as a designation for specific groups of Baptists. In 1825, opponents of General Baptists in North Carolina dubbed them "Freewillers" and they later assumed the name Free Will Baptists. General Baptists who accepted the existence of a second work of grace during the

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

established denominations such as the Ohio Valley Association of the Christian Baptist Churches of God and Holiness Baptist Association.

General Baptist denominations

* Evangelical Free Baptist Church * General Association of General Baptists * General Six-Principle Baptists * Holiness Baptist Association * Some

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

churches *

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

National Association of Free Will Baptists The National Association of Free Will Baptists (NAFWB) is a national body of Free Will Baptist churches in the United States and Canada, organized on November 5, 1935 in Nashville, Tennessee. The Association traces its history in the United State ...

* New Connexion of General Baptists * Ohio Valley Association of the Christian Baptist Churches of God * Old Baptist Union * Original Free Will Baptist Convention * United American Free Will Baptist Church * United American Free Will Baptist Conference

References

External links

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