Notes on Various and Sundry Baptist Groups

Man’s work is from sun to sun, but the Baptist researcher’s work is never done. I posted the lists of Baptist Groups in the USA and Holiness and Pentecostal Baptists in the USA on Tuesday. I have already found new information, information that I missed. Here are more comments, information, and links.

“Bad” Baptists. Some groups that show up intermittently in Baptist lists are actually “bad” Baptists – not in the sense of Baptist doctrine (well, maybe that too), but in the sense of not being what they claim to be. More particularly, some kind of swindle. Those of us who are actively trying to discover all the Baptist groups in the United States are susceptible to being fooled by groups that are organized for nefarious purposes rather than being legitimate Baptists. Hopefully, with all the information now available on the internet, we are less likely to be fooled or at least have more weapons at our disposal to ferret out the scammers. (Or, if not, maybe someone who was not fooled will report it to those of us who have been.) Here are two, below, of which to be aware.

The Colorado Reform Baptist Church, Inc. and the associated Reform Baptist Theological Seminary made it into the prestigious Encyclopedia of American Religions by J. Gordon Melton, as well as other lists. Our best information now indicates the church and seminary were “non-existent” tax evasion frauds. One web page reveals, “The ‘school’ was never accredited and never had any academic standing. He had it set up as a money-making venture and operated for about a decade, in the 1980s. It had no campus, no faculty, no library, just an address.” Another indicates “that Mr. Conklin [the organizer] ‘is an active participant in a widespread abuse of the revenue laws through the promotion of mail-order ‘churches’ based on findings of fact showing his connection to the Universal Life Church in Denver and various other ‘churches’.”

• Church of World Peace, Inc. v. Commissioner
• Mary Ann Tavery v. United States of America
• Michael L. Morgan v. United States of America
• Reform Baptist Theological Seminary

The Independent Baptist Churches of America is another possible sham church. I cannot assuredly say but the very basic website, beyond its doctrinal statement, mainly asks for membership fees – for a supposed school and, apparently, the church. Baptist churches normally do not charge membership fees. This body seems to have latched on to the name of a defunct Baptist denomination, the Independent Baptist Church of America.

If I remember correctly, I have never included the two above in my lists of Baptist bodies. Over the years, I have been a bit leery of the new General Association of Six-Principle Baptist Churches, Inc. (2.5b in the Baptist outline) – for the above reason, that they adopted the name of a Baptist body to which they were not related (either doctrinally or historically). Nevertheless, I have listed and continue to list this group, since they otherwise seem legitimate.

Extinct Baptists. According to Albert Wardin in The Twelve Tribes of Baptists in the USA: a Historical and Statistical Analysis, the Continental Baptist Churches association (4.2 in the Baptist outline) “ceased as an association in 2003.” Likely, many of the churches are still functioning, but the denominational body is defunct. This is a distinct group from Continental Baptist Missions, which was organized in 1942 as Hiawatha Land Independent Baptist Missions and is still in operation.

No Longer “Baptists”. One group, listed in the Holiness and Pentecostal Baptists in the USA outline, no longer uses “Baptist” in their name. The Evangelical Free Baptist Church (No. 1.4 in the Holiness outline) is now called the Evangelical Free Bible Convention. According to their website, “Evangelical Free Bible Convention was incorporated by the state of Illinois in Du Page County in 1978. The group was formed by churches that withdrew from the Southern Baptist Convention, following a doctrinal dispute in 1952. It presently has 22 churches and about 2600 members in the USA.” Their belief in “the ongoing operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit” may suggest the doctrinal dispute with Southern Baptists. The convention headquarters is currently in Aurora, Illinois.

Left out Baptists. It might be worth mentioning a few bodies that I left out of my list, since some folks may wonder why they are not there.

Organizations like Baptist International Missions, Inc. (BIMI), Baptist Mid-Missions, Lott Carey Baptist Mission Society, and others seem to be independent mission boards, not exactly structured as an association, conference, convention, or fellowship in the way of most of the groups on my list. National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A. also seems to be a missionary organization, with most of the churches affiliated with other National Baptist Conventions. However, some bodies included in my list may not be much different from these organization. With some Baptist organizations, it can be hard to tell just where they fit in the grand scheme of things.

Additionally, I removed Liberty Baptist Fellowship, which was No. 23 in a previous outline. It appeared probably to be only a fellowship of Liberty University alumni. I decided both that it probably did not belong in the list in the first place, and that it might be defunct in the second place. Oddly enough, when regrouping to edit finish this post, I found that they have a website (which I somehow had missed before), and they are still in operation! The operate together as Liberty Church Network, whose website states, “The Liberty Church Network (LCN), formerly known as the Liberty Baptist Fellowship and the Liberty Church Planting Network, was formed in 1981 under the direction of our founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell. The purpose of our organization was to train new pastors and plant new churches in the United States. In the first three decades our organization planted 5,000+ US-based churches. This makes LCN one of the largest and oldest church planting networks in the country.” Should they go back on the list?

Man’s work is from sun to sun, but the Baptist researcher’s work is never done!

Holiness and Pentecostal Baptists in the USA

The Holiness movement emphasizes a doctrine of sanctification as a post-conversion experience, often called a second blessing. Born out of pietism and revivalism, some Holiness may accept divine healing and the Pentecostal experience of speaking in tongues, but without the same kind of emphasis as the Pentecostal bodies. Baptists who have embraced the second work of grace have founded their own denominations, such as the Holiness Baptist Association and Ohio Valley Association of the Christian Baptist Churches of God.

Pentecostalism emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Ghost, accompanied by speaking in tongues. Pentecostals commonly agree on seeking and having an experience with the Holy Spirit similar to the one experienced on the day of Pentecost. Usually, though perhaps not always, they believe that speaking in tongues signifies the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Baptists who have embraced tongues as the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost have founded their own denominations, such as the Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church. It appears that in some cases groups moved from first accepting the Holiness doctrine to also embracing the Pentecostal doctrine.

 

All of the bodies included below either use (or used) Baptist in their names, and/or withdrew from or were excluded from Baptist bodies. Bethel Ministerial Association at one time identified as “Baptist” in its organizational name, but otherwise are not Baptist historically.[i] Most of these groups do not consider themselves Baptists in the way most people think of Baptists. They usually look to other Holiness and Pentecostal bodies for their fellowship, rather than to Baptists (if they maintain fellowship outside their own ranks). It is difficult to obtain current information on some of the smaller bodies, but all the groups below are presumed to still exist as Holiness and Pentecostal “Baptists.” First listed is the group name with a link to more information, followed by the location of their headquarters (if known) or the general location of the churches (if known), ending with the date of their organization as an autonomous body (if known).

 

Holiness “Baptists

1.1 Calvary Holiness Association, Broxton, Georgia (org. 1977)

1.2 Christian Baptist Church of God, Wheelersburg, Ohio (org. 1931)

1.3 Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A., Jackson, Mississippi (org. 1920)

1.4 Evangelical Free Baptist Church, Addison, Illinois (org. 1978) [ii]

1.5 Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship International, Atlanta, Georgia (org. 1994)

1.6 General Conference of the Evangelical Baptist Church, Inc., Also Here, Tucson, Arizona (org. 1935) [iii]

1.7 Holiness Baptist Association of Georgia and Florida, Also Here, and Here (org. 1894)

1.8 Holy Church of Christ, Alabama and Mississippi [iv]

 

Pentecostal “Baptists”

1.1 Baptist Purity Association, Salem, Florida (org. 1934) [v]

1.2 Bethel Ministerial Association, Floyds Knobs, Indiana (org. 1934) [vi]

1.3 Church of God General Assembly (org. 1914)

1.4 Church of God Mountain Assembly, Inc., Jellico, Tennessee (org. 1907) [vii]

1.5 Church of God of the Original Mountain Assembly (org. 1946)

1.6 Church of God of the Union Assembly, Dalton, Georgia (org. 1920)

1.7 Free Will Baptist Pentecostal Faith Conference, Also Here, Turbeville, South Carolina (org. 1961)

1.8 Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, Dunn, North Carolina (org. 1959)

1.9 Trent River Free Will Holiness Association, Inc. Clinton, North Carolina (org. 1946) [viii]

1.10 Unaffiliated Free Will Baptist Holiness Churches [ix]

 

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[i] Some of the bodies did not directly withdraw from the Baptists, but rather split from a parent body that initially came out of the Baptists. These include Calvary Holiness Association (from the Holiness Baptist Association), as well as Church of God General Assembly, Church of God of the Original Mountain Assembly, and Church of God of the Union Assembly (from Church of God Mountain Assembly, Inc.). Baptist preacher Charles Price Jones separated from the Baptists and started a new denomination around 1900. It was chartered under the name “Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A.” in 1920.
[ii] Organized in DuPage County, Illinois in 1978 by churches that withdrew from the Southern Baptist Convention.
[iii] Organized in 1935 as the Church of the Full Gospel, Inc, by members of several Free Will Baptist churches, under the leadership of William Howard Carter.
[iv] This body has Methodist and Baptist roots, tending toward Wesleyan holiness, but possibly not technically a Holiness denomination. The Holy Church of Christ churches are located in Northwest Alabama and Northeast Mississippi. The original churches have origins in the Baptists, churches of Christ, and Methodist churches. They tend toward “old time” worship, practicing immersion baptism, extemporaneous preaching, open communion, and feet washing. The articles of faith do not address spiritual gifts. They are largely unknown to academic and historical church research. More research needs to be done for their more certain and accurate classification.
[v] The Baptist Purity Association, under the leadership of Luther Turner, was formed from the Holiness Baptist Association over the issue of using water rather than wine or juice in communion. More Pentecostal than their parent body, the Baptist Purity Association emphasizes divine healing and tongues as the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. See also Sawdust Trail, Ida Turner Guitterez, 1987.
[vi] Organized circa 1934 as the Apostolic Bible Conference, under the leadership of Albert Franklin Varnell. Varnell attended the Azusa Street revivals. The name of the group was changed to Evangelistic Ministerial Council, then in 1958 to Bethel Baptist Assembly, in hopes the organization might appeal to Baptists. This group shares with Baptists the doctrine of believer’s baptism by immersion – and temporarily shared the name Baptist – but apparently has never been affiliated with any other Baptist denomination.
[vii] Organized in 1907 by ministers and churches excluded from the South Union Association of United Baptists because of doctrinal differences.
[viii] This group appears to have Free Will Baptist roots, but they may not have come directly from them. More research needs to be done on this body.
[ix] Pentecostal Holiness churches or groups not affiliated with others in the listing.