Different types of Baptist?

Thanks for asking this as I am also interested in learning the differences. I have some Baptist friends and would love to know.

Me too, there is also a Missionary Baptist church and probably some more.

There's also one called Primitive Baptist I attended once while living in Oakland Cal. It's mainly a Black church and the sermon is given in a sing-song manner. I don't know their beliefs or doctrines since I was looking for a Sabbaterian, non-SDA church, and a church that speaks Bible in sermons. I now live in Norther Cal and find none of what I need. I'm convinced that small like-minded Christians meeting in small home churches is what I need. Anyone have ideas for my area in Shasta County?


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American Baptists are a sub denomination and is much more liberal than the SBC(Southern Baptist Convention). The two are night and day. American Baptists are closer to mainline churches in how they interpret the Bible. It is a much more loose interpretation, and some churches are affirming of LGBT people and officiate same sex weddings. Southern Baptists are very much fundamentalist. They tend to be King James only folks and can be much more susceptible to legalism in my opinion. They lean towards Calvinism and predestination. In my personal experience, they tend to be quite focused on judgment/hell in the Bible rather than focus on God's love and take the hard line approach in reaching people. The thing that I do like about the SBC is they do tend to focus on a personal relationship with Christ and the actual act of baptism more than American Baptists. American Baptists are typically more motivated to show God's love through giving to the needy and helping the poor etc.

American Baptists can be everywhere as can Southern Baptist churches, but most SBC churches are in the south.

There are plenty of Baptist churches. You even have free will baptist churches too.

Independent Baptists are not tied to a specific denominational hierarchy like the SBC, but they may still have sister churches in other states through pastoral relationships. Independent Baptists tend to be closer to the SBC churches in embracing funadamentalism, but they are independent. It can vary area to area.

Romanos said:

What are the differences between American Baptist, and Southern, and Independent? Is it in regards to location, or theological standpoints?

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One thing I found quite interesting is that when I attended a Baptist church in England it was pretty common for people to stop for a drink or two after the evening service. It was far from rare to have the minister and his wife for dinner and open a bottle of wine.

A friend of mine in Texas is a Baptist and in his church alcohol is frowned upon - apparently if he were to drink any alcohol at all he would be expected to repent before the church for doing so.


I don't see alcohol consumption or otherwise as a salvation issue but it is remarkable to see such huge differences in outlook within churches under this same "Baptist" tag.

lemme take a stab at this... * dont pounce on me later

each offshoot a cascade of people who didnt read scripture properly and created a new division of a church based on their misreading.

they all as in all baptists i have met or researched go against christs very words on many topics yet also seem really close to his words on many other subjects, it can be very hard for a new person learning about life to see how they dont follow the person they claim to as they do talk about His philosohy quite well on many things and appear very traditional

the way you will see it fall apart is when you associate with them for long some time and observe how they speak of Christ when not preaching in a church or on a street or in a conversation where they are trying to push their version,

alot of them don't talk about the personality of God and only talk during the above examples and when they do its often very philosophical, philosophy is nice but only if it keeps the spirit of Christ and God in it so that it's their meaning you are listening to and not some church person who wants to excuse their favorite brand of sin with a few edits to the tone, mood or even actual words in verses or parables.

MS140ukn said:

lemme take a stab at this... * dont pounce on me later

each offshoot a cascade of people who didnt read scripture properly and created a new division of a church based on their misreading.

they all as in all baptists i have met or researched go against christs very words on many topics yet also seem really close to his words on many other subjects, it can be very hard for a new person learning about life to see how they dont follow the person they claim to as they do talk about His philosohy quite well on many things and appear very traditional

the way you will see it fall apart is when you associate with them for long some time and observe how they speak of Christ when not preaching in a church or on a street or in a conversation where they are trying to push their version,

alot of them don't talk about the personality of God and only talk during the above examples and when they do its often very philosophical, philosophy is nice but only if it keeps the spirit of Christ and God in it so that it's their meaning you are listening to and not some church person who wants to excuse their favorite brand of sin with a few edits to the tone, mood or even actual words in verses or parables.

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I think we are all a bit confused, not just "the baptists"

Smiles and Blessings, yliw

The only common denominator to the hundreds of Baptist groups is a rejection of infant baptism. Other than that, they are all over the map.

Perhaps the biggest division is that some are "free will" [Arminian] and some are Reform [Calvinist], but they differ in nearly all things. It is also the most divided group racially known to me in the USA, with some groups strongly African American and some nearly pure White.

Way back in my homeschool days, we worked closely with a Baptist School associated with a mega Baptist church. But that church could easily have been Presbyterian.... it was strongly Reformed, quoting Calvin all the time, had a hard time with Billy Graham and often mocked his "altar calls", and the worship service was quite traditional, formal and semi-liturgical... even the structure of the church was largely Presbyterian. The only thing I could see that made it "Baptist" was it refused to do baptisms for those under some magical and never disclosed age - oddly, it did not ask those so baptized to be re-baptized but it didn't do them. Since a lot of the school events happened during Sunday worship, I went to two or three services a year there.... the music was outstanding [and very traditional], the preaching very Protestant and well done. If Communion was ever celebrated, I never saw it [a point that struck me], but probably the single thing that struck me was no kids, they were all sent off to "Children's Church" so it was only adults in worship - which I just found odd.


I think nearly every belief and practice in Protestantism and beyond can be found in Baptist churches - just depends on WHICH Baptist church, but NONE of them has infant baptism: that's the common factor, it seems to me.




- Josiah

Josiah said:

It is also the most divided group racially known to me, with some groups strongly African American and some nearly pure White.

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The Baptist church I went to in England was made up of white (English, European, American, Australian and New Zealander), black (mostly of African descent but not exclusively), Asian (mostly Indian and Pakistani), Oriental (Chinese, North Korean, South Korean and Japanese). Those are the ones I knew of, there were probably others in the mix that I didn't happen to cross paths with.

ETA: Just realised I forgot to include a couple of Malaysians and Singaporeans in the Oriental category.

I was Baptist before I converted to Mormon, I don't have a lot to say about the denomination that's good....

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