Everyone Belongs
Everyone Belongs. That is our philosophy as Baptists in our long historical past, just as we will now and in the future believe. There has been controversy and crisis, but in the end everyone belongs.
Lets look at some key viewpoints of the Baptist Historical origin: Modern and current views indicate we go back to the 17th century. Others see it as the Anabaptist tradition. Some say the Baptist faith is since Christ. Others see it as an unbroken faith since the time of Christ.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Much deciding has been underway. And that has been called crisis (to decide) by some historians. And in some opinions a crises among Baptists have become decision moments that shaped the future. Some controversies shaping Baptists are the "missions crisis", the "slavery crisis", the "landmark crisis", and the "modernist crisis".
Mission Crisis - In the early 1900's the rise of the missions crisis or movement led to bitter controversy with American Baptists. During this time American Baptists were divided between missionary and anti-missionary. A substantial secession of Baptists went into the movement led by Alexander Campbell, to return to a more fundamental church.
Slavery Crisis - During and leading up to the American Civil War, the Baptists were involved in controversy because of slavery. Our First Awakening were both the Methodist and Baptist preachers that opposed slavery. Eventually, the African American's embraced Baptists and the Baptist Church became widely sought out as their choice in relgious freedom.
Landmark Crisis - Southern Baptist Landmarkism sought to reset the ecclesiastical separation which had characterized the old Baptist churches, in an era when inter-denominational union meetings were the order of the day. James Robinson Graves was the primary leader of this movement and one of the most influential Baptists of the 19th century. While some Landmarkers eventually separated from the Southern Baptist Convention, the movement's influence on the Convention continued well into the 20th century. Its influence continues to affect Convention policies. In 2005 the Southern Baptist International Mission Board forbade its missionaries to receive alien immersions for baptism.
Modernist Crisis - The rise of theological modernism in the latter 19th and 20th century also greatly affected Baptists. The Landmark movement, already mentioned, has been described as a reaction against incipient modernism among Southern Baptists In England, Charles Haddon Spurgeon fought against modernistic views of the Scripture in the Downgrade Controversy.
The Northern Baptist Convention in the United States had internal conflict over modernism in the early 20th century, ultimately embracing it. Two new conservative associations were founded as a result: the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches in 1933 and the Conservative Baptist Association of America in 1947.
Following similar conflicts over modernism, the Southern Baptist Convention adhered to conservative theology as its official position. Two new Baptist groups were formed by moderate Southern Baptists who disagreed with the direction in which the Southern Baptist Convention was heading: the Alliance of Baptists in 1987 and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in 1991. Members of both groups originally identified as Southern Baptist, but over time the groups "became permanent new familes of Baptists."