Discover Baptists with a Difference.
lIKE OTHER bAPTISTS
Seventh Day Baptists believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Seventh Day Baptists believe in the Bible is the inspired Word of God and the authority for our faith and our daily conduct.
Seventh Day Baptists believe in the baptism of believers by immersion.
Seventh Day Baptists believe in the freedom of thought under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Seventh Day Baptists believe in the believe in the congregational form of church government. Every member of the church has the right to participate in the decision-making process of the church.
So why are Seventh Day Baptists Different?
Seventh Day Baptists observe the Biblical seventh day, Sabbath, the day established and blessed by God at earth’s creation. The Sabbath was given to mankind long before any distinction between Jew and Gentile.
God commanded that the seventh day (Saturday) be kept holy. Jesus agreed by keeping it as a day of worship. We observe the seventh day of the week (Saturday) as God’s Holy Day as an act of loving obedience – not as a means of salvation. Salvation is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ.
The Sabbath provides believers with a specific time to honor and worship the Creator. It is the joy of the Sabbath that makes Seventh Day Baptists just a little different.
Who are Seventh Day Baptists?
Seventh Day Baptists emerged as a part of the English Reformation, organizing their first church in London in the 1650s. That church, the Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church, has continued for over 350 years.
The first Seventh Day Baptist church in America was established in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1671. Led by Stephen Mumford, and English SDB emigrant, seven members of Newport’s first Baptist Church withdrew to form a Sabbath-keeping group.
Soon the center of Seventh Day Baptist growth in New England shifted to “Westerly” part of Rhode Island. Other early churches were established in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It was from these three centers that the denomination grew.
A desire to expand the fellowship and to organize for missionary efforts led to the founding of the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference in 1802. Denominational work blossomed in the mid-1800s with the initiation of efforts and an especially strong interest in education. The establishment of community academies evolved into Alfred University (New York), Milton College (Wisconsin), and Salem College (West Virginia).
Stirred by a zealous A.H. Lewis and benefiting from a national evangelistic fervor, Seventh Day Baptist enjoyed rapid growth in the latter part of the 19th century, focus was on ecumenical and social concerns, and more recently on church growth and extension into urban settings.
Some of this information came from Seventh Day Baptist literature. For more details, go to http://www.seventhdaybaptist.org