last baptist terms

Inerrancy 

 The quality of Scripture as being without error and truthful in all that it affirms, grounded in the fact that God inspired the Bible. Southern Baptists were divided over this issue during the 1970’s-1990’s, resulting in a departure of moderate Baptists and revision of the Baptist Faith and Message.

Alliance of Baptist

Group founded by disaffected moderate Southern Baptists in 1986 to advocate for Baptist principles such as freedom of individuals to interpret Scripture, freedom of the local church to determine its mission and support for cooperation with other Christian bodies. The group founded the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA and published Being Baptist Means Freedom. 

• Southern Baptist Convention

Largest Baptist body in the United States with over 41,000 churches. Founded in 1845 due to issues arising from the abolitionist movement, the denomination promotes missions, education, and relief efforts through its varied agencies. 

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

 A national organization of moderate Baptists, formed in 1991 as an alternative to the Southern Baptist Convention. Cecil Sherman was its founding coordinator, followed by Daniel Vestal. 

• Bold Mission Thrust

An initiative sponsored by Southern Baptists in 1977 to share the gospel with every person on Earth by the year 2000. 

• Social Gospel

• an early twentieth-century movement of labor reforms led by liberal Protestant ministers, including Walter Rauschenbusch and Washington Gladden. This movement identified Christianity in terms of the earthly kingdom of God, which should be the righteous rule of God in all human affairs. Addresses concerns raised by urbanization and industrialization with special concern for abusive labor practices involving women and children, the right of collective bargaining, and an end to military action as a mans of settling disputes. 

• General Association of Regular Baptists

Formed in 1933 after departing from the Northern Baptist Convention over issues of theological liberalism. Participating churches adopted a modified version of the New Hampshire Confession of Faith and embraced premillennialism. 

• The Fundamentals –

A twelve-volume series of booklets designed to counter theological liberalism.  Sponsored by Lyman and Milton Stewart, The Fundamentals was distributed free of charge to pastors throughout the United States and represented a conservative, scholarly approach to biblical criticism.

• Downgrade Controversy

Title given to the charge that ministers in the Baptist Union were holding doctrinal views that placed them outside of evangelical Christianity. Charles Haddon Spurgeon left the Baptist Union over concerns that failure to address such charges would lead to further denials of Scriptural truths. 

• Broadman Bible Commentary

A twelve-volume series covering every book of the Bible. Sponsored by the Baptist Sunday School Board, the volume on Genesis ignited a major controversy among Southern Baptists. 

• Gateway Seminary

Founded in 1944 and adopted by Southern Baptists in 1950, it is one of six Southern Baptist seminaries offering graduate degrees and the premiere Southern Baptist seminary in the west. In 2016, the school moved from Mill Valley to Ontario, California.