Some people feel the pull of history, and some do not.
I have plenty of personal experience with this. My dad, for instance, loves museums. He will read every plaque on every display and will close out a museum to do so. He wants to know and experience history thoroughly.
He is the exception.
Most people will hastily glance at the plaque, briefly take in the display, and move on to the next thing. If you go with him to a museum and you don’t love history, I hope you enjoy the gift shop. You might be there for a short while.
History is a record of where people have been, what they’ve done, and what they’ve thought. It is not determinative. History cannot tell us what we must do, only what happened to other people when they did things. That by itself, though, is instructive.
As Southern Baptists who are heirs of the legacy of the Protestant Reformation, we believe in the sole authority of Scripture. The Bible and the Bible alone teaches us the doctrine that shapes our understanding of God and the world and the wisdom that helps us navigate the choices we make.
But history is a useful teacher.
Through the study of history, we encounter the beliefs and convictions of Christians who interacted with the Word of God and attempted to live out His will before us. We read about what they built, what they accomplished, and what it took to get there.
We read about their mistakes, the tragedies that ensued, and the legacies they left behind. All of this teaches us wisdom, provides us with inspiration, and serves as a warning to us about the consequences of our own actions. If you make a habit of reading the plaques, you will learn useful information.
I’m an avid student of church history. It has been more than just a degree program or a hobby for me. The lessons I’ve learned about doctrine, leadership, and the responsibility of following Jesus through the study of history have become indispensable to my ministry.
Do Baptists Have a Rich History?
Given how valuable church history has been to me, one might naturally ask, “Why, then, are you a Baptist?” The Catholic and Orthodox churches have a much longer history that stretches back to the Roman Empire. They boast great theologians like Augustine of Hippo and John of Damascus, great preachers like John Chrysostom and Bernard of Clairvaux. Their worship services are conducted with a liturgy that has roots in ancient Christianity.
The Lutheran and Reformed churches have confessions that date back to the first generation of the Reformation and were led by theologians whose works fill up shelves. They fill up my shelves, but I am a Baptist because I have learned the lessons they taught. My conscience is captive to the Word of God, and the Bible teaches that believers alone should be baptized and that the local congregation is autonomous. Thus, though I learn from the stories of the past, I am by conviction a Baptist.
As Baptists, we have a rich history of our own, and we ignore it to our detriment. Read the plaques as you go by. You will learn something useful.
Historically, a People of The Book
Baptists have a history of standing for the integrity and authority of the Word of God. We have not been driven by tradition, legislation, comfort, or convenience, but by biblical conviction. That conviction has often come at a cost, but it has not muted the Baptist witness. Thomas Helwys (1550–1616) pastored the first Baptist congregation in England. They returned to England from exile in the Netherlands rather than enjoy liberty elsewhere so they could serve as witnesses to a nation mired in compromise.
Helwys even spent time in jail for angering King James I with these words: “The king is a mortal man and not God, therefore hath no power over the immortal souls of his subjects to make laws and ordinances for them to set spiritual lords over them.”
Baptists in London continued to witness under great pressure and scrutiny. Seven congregations joined together to publish a statement of faith in 1644. They had endured scorn from established churches both from the pulpit and in print and feared violence from angry mobs.
In faith they expected their statement, known as the First London Confession, to bear fruit to the glory of God and the benefit of the nation: “[W]e believe the Lord will daily cause truth more to appear in the hearts of His saints; and make them ashamed of their folly in the land of their nativity, that so they may with one shoulder more study to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus and stand for His appointments and laws.”
In America that bold witness continued. In the early days of Massachusetts, the congregationalist establishment tolerated no dissent, but Baptists would not refrain from articulating biblical principles. John Clarke (1609–1676) and Obadiah Holmes (1606–1682) were arrested for preaching and baptizing believers. Holmes was brutally beaten as a result, and Clarke wrote to the court in Boston offering to debate the ministers of the city: “If the faith and order which I profess do stand by the Word of God, then the faith and order which you profess must needs fall to the ground.”
Isaac Backus (1724–1806), around 1760, refused to give the required five pounds for the building of a new congregationalist meetinghouse. He recounted, “I told the officer that they were going on in an unscriptural way to support the gospel.” Some members of his congregation suffered the confiscation of their property and imprisonment for refusing to pay the required tax. Backus spent his entire career fighting the established church system in his home state.
Baptists in the South showed equal conviction. In 1770, Daniel Marshall (1706–1784) crossed the river into Georgia and began preaching wherever he could. He was arrested, hauled before the court, and commanded to leave and never preach in the state again. He stayed and planted the first Baptist church in the state and saw many conversions, including of the arresting officer, Samuel Cartledge, who would in turn plant a church in South Carolina.
In more recent days, Southern Baptists have stood for the integrity and authority of the Word of God to the exclusion of some of their number who walked away from it. It was a painful episode, as many of us remember, but Baptist witness requires a conviction grounded in the authority of the Word of God. Like the Baptists in London in 1644, let us pray that our neighbors will shine with a gospel light because of it.
Promoters of Religious Liberty
Baptists have a history of promoting religious liberty. Thomas Helwys again stands at the head of the line, asking in 1612, “Is it not most equal that men should choose their religion themselves, seeing they only must stand themselves before the judgment seat of God to answer for themselves?”
The cloud of witnesses here is great. Roger Williams (1603–1683), John Clark, Isaac Backus, and John Leland (1754–1841) are among the most prominent. Leland met with James Madison, securing support for religious liberty from the man who would serve as the chief architect of the Bill of Rights.
George W. Truett (1867–1944) spoke powerfully from the steps of the U.S. Capitol in 1920, declaring it the mission of Baptists to promote religious freedom: “Every state church on the earth is a spiritual tyranny. And just as long as there is left upon this earth any state church, in any land, the task of Baptists will that long remain unfinished.”
Baptists Have Cooperated for Missions
Baptists have a history of cooperating together to build missionally focused institutions. Baptists have built a lasting legacy through cooperation, associating together to accomplish kingdom work.
The First London Confession was a product of cooperation. Associations like Philadelphia and Charleston evangelized and planted churches in unreached areas of the American colonies.
The Baptist Missionary Society sent William Carey (1764–1834) to India. The Triennial Convention, at its first meeting, mobilized churches from 10 states to fund international missions. Southern Baptists, in the first half of the 19th century, evangelized, planted churches, founded religious newspapers, and built consensus to support a network of mission boards and religious institutions across the South.
They promoted foreign missions, evangelized Native Americans, promoted the education of women and the cause of temperance, and founded colleges to further the spread of the gospel. Theirs is a story of conviction, dedication, and sacrifice that has laid the groundwork for the denomination we have inherited.
Our History Is Rich
You can pass the stories by, but we will be better informed on how to proceed on mission if we learn from them. You might be attracted by the allure of historic buildings and ancient liturgy, but if your conscience is captive to the Word of God, you will find that Baptists have a rich history. I plan to keep learning their stories, and I hope you will, too.
— Michael Wren (Ph.D., Southern Seminary) is pastor of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Hephzibah, Ga. He and his wife, Angela, have two grown children.