North American Baptist Conference Mainline Protestant
The North American Baptist Conference is an association of Baptists of German ethnic heritage in the United States and Canada. They are a family of churches with a diverse group of believers that represent countless languages and different cultures. The local churches chose to be a part of the North American Baptist Conference and they then became a member of a larger congregation that strives to be a witness to their unity in Christ and the making of His disciples.
The North American Baptist Conference is divided into local regions. The regions allow churches to network and maximize their resources. Their General council is a governing body which is composed of representatives from the different regions. They meet every year to set up their annual budget and provide direction for the ministry of their Conference. Each North American Baptist Conference church is a self-governing body and are under the lordship of Jesus Christ, with all members sharing responsibility. Their form of government is understood to be congregational.
The North American Baptist Conference has two schools. The North American Baptist Seminary is in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and the Taylor University College and Seminary is in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Their offices are located in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
History
The Reverend Konrad Fleischmann is credited for founding the first North American Baptist church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1843. He was a German immigrant who had the dream of reaching other immigrants with the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Reverend Konrad Fleischmann was considered a Swiss separatist that believed in the Believer’s Baptism and regenerate church membership.
There was a group of German speaking Baptist churches who met in Wilmot, Ontario Canada and they together formed the North American Baptist Conference in 1851, which eventually established churches all across North America, as well as all over the world. The first German Baptist church in Canada was established by August Rauschenbusch.
Belief
The North American Baptist Conference believes the Bible is the Word of God and it is given by divine inspiration and the record of the revelation from God of Himself to humanity. The North American Baptist Conference believes religious liberty is rooted in Scripture. They believe Scripture is the inalienable right of all individuals to freedom of conscience with ultimate accountability to God.
The North American Baptist Conference believes in the one living and true God, who is perfect in wisdom, sovereignty, holiness, justice mercy and live. They believe God created man in His own image to have fellowship with Himself and to maintain stewardardship over His creation.
The North American Baptist Conference believe God exists eternally in three equal persons who act together in creation, providence and redemption. They believe God the Father reigns with providential care over all life and history in the created universe. They believe God hears and answers prayers. They believe God initiated salvation by sending His son, and the Son is in the Father. They believe all who by faith accept the Son as Lord and Savior has God as their Father.
The North American Baptist Conference believe the Son, Jesus Christ, became man, and was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. They believe Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. They believe Christ was revealed God through His sinless life, miracles and teachings. They believe Christ provided salvation through His atoning death in place of mankind and by His bodily resurrection. They believe Christ ascended into heaven where He now rules over all creation. They believe Jesus Christ intercedes for all believers and dwells in them as their ever present Lord.
The North American Baptist Conference believes salvation is redemption by Christ of the whole person from sin and death. They believe salvation and redemption is offered as a free gift by God to all and it must be received personally through the repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. They believe individuals are united to Christ by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.
The North American Baptist Conference believe the Church is the body of which Christ is the head and all who believe in Him are members. They believe Christians individually and collectively are the salt and the light in society. The North American Baptist Conference believes God in His own time and in His own way will bring all things to their appropriate end and establish the new heaven and the new earth.
The North American Baptist Conference believes the Holy Spirit inspired men to write the Scriptures. They believe through the Word, He convicts individuals of their sinfulness and of the righteousness of Christ. They believe the Holy Spirit draws mankind to the Savior, and bears witness to their new birth. They believe at regeneration and conversion, the believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit. They believe the Holy Spirit indwells seals and gives spiritual gifts to all believers for ministry in the church and in society. They believe the Holy Spirit empowers, guides, teaches, fills, sanctifies and produces the fruit of the Christ likeness in all who yield to Jesus Christ.
The North American Baptist Conference believe God created an order of spiritual beings called angels to serve Him and to do His will. They believe holy angels are obedient spirits ministering to the heirs of salvation and glorifying God. They believe there are angels, called demons, and that satan is their chief, through deliberate choice revolted and fell from their exalted position. They believe now these angels tempt individuals to rebel against God. The North American Baptist Conference believes the destinies of these angels are in hell and this has been sealed by the victor over sin and death by Jesus Christ.
The North American Baptist Conference believes Christians are commanded to be baptized upon profession of faith and to unite with a local church for mutual encouragement and growth in discipleship through worship, nurture, service and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. They believe baptism is an ordinance and is done through immersion of believers in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They believe baptism symbolizes the believer’s identification with the death, burial and resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ.
The North American Baptist Conference believe the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance and is the partaking of the bread and of the cup by the believers. They believe the Lord’s Supper is a continuing memorial of the broken body and the blood shed by Jesus Christ. They believe it is an act of thankful dedication to Him and serves to unite His people until He returns.
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “North American Baptist Conference Mainline Protestant:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Jan 2006.<https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2767,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2006, January) “North American Baptist Conference Mainline Protestant:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2767,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2006) “North American Baptist Conference Mainline Protestant:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (January), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2767, (accessed).
