Free Will Baptist

A Baptist belonging to a tradition that teaches people can freely accept or reject salvation. The tradition includes several distinct denominations, especially in the United States.

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Arminianism: A Christian theological tradition emphasizing human freedom to respond to divine grace and the conditional character of salvation. Free Will Baptist teaching on salvation reflects Arminian emphasis on a genuine human response to grace.
Benjamin Randall: An American Baptist preacher who founded the Freewill Baptist movement in New England in the late eighteenth century. Randall’s New England movement became one major source of Free Will Baptist churches.
Southern Baptist Convention: A large Protestant denomination formed in the United States in 1845, with churches organized through congregational polity. Its history and common theological emphases differ from those of Free Will Baptist bodies.
Congregational polity: A system of church governance in which the local congregation holds primary decision-making authority. Local congregations commonly exercise substantial authority within Free Will Baptist bodies.
Baptism: A Christian rite involving water, understood in different traditions as a sign of faith, cleansing, or entry into the church. The tradition is Baptist: believer’s baptism by immersion marks its church identity.
Paul Palmer: An early eighteenth-century Baptist preacher associated with the beginnings of the Separate Baptist movement in North Carolina. Palmer helped establish the southern stream from which many Free Will Baptist churches developed.
National Association of Free Will Baptists: A U.S. denomination formed in 1935 that brings together many Free Will Baptist churches and ministries. It is a prominent contemporary body, but does not represent every church using the name.
Ordinance: A religious practice commanded by Christ and observed by a Christian community, especially baptism or the Lord’s Supper. Free Will Baptists treat baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinances of the church.
Believer's baptism: The practice of baptizing people who personally profess faith, rather than infants. Free Will Baptist churches generally baptize professing believers rather than infants.
Separate Baptists: An evangelical Baptist movement that arose from the Great Awakening and spread through the American South. Separate Baptist revivalism shaped the southern history of Free Will Baptist communities.