A Protestant denomination considered the third largest in the whole world, the baptist church traced its roots from the year 1500’s which is about the same time as the major Reformation occurred in Europe. They were first called Anabaptists as the first ancestors of the Baptist Church of today. These Christians were led to the belief that they must already be at age to be baptized. They don’t believe in infant baptism since they must first be able to understand to choose baptism in their own free will. It is because of this reason that the Baptist Church became very unpopular among all the other Protestant religions of the day. Because of this, the Baptists were being persecuted and some were even killed for their beliefs.

Roger Williams put up the first Baptist Church in the United States in Rhode Island in the year 1637. At this time, there was a religious awakening that occurred in about 200 years or so. The Baptist Church then began to obtain a huge following and expand increasingly. People felt free to join as they feel more self-determining with their choice of religion. They were free to exercise their religious freedoms and they are not forced to join the church that they were born into.

The Baptist church had two divisions in the earlier times when they first started, the General and the Particular. The General Baptists believed that anybody can be free from the punishment of Jesus Christ if they were baptized and knows how to follow His example. The other group belonging to the Particular Baptists assumed that only a chosen few will be benefited from the Atonement. This group is the stricter among the two groups.

Nowadays, this church including the baptist church Lexington; is divided into 5 parts where each part branches out from the basic belief that an individual has the power to believe, feel, and choose what is right for him. When an individual church member is presented with a doctrine, he can choose whether to follow it or not. Therefore, each Baptist Church congregation has the option of what they will preach during the church services. They don’t follow a Baptist hierarchy similar to the ones found in the Catholic Church and other religions belonging to the Protestants.

Today, the Baptists are separated due to their faith practices which are the following:

1. The Southern Baptist Conference. This is located in the southern U.S. which started when the South wanted to rationalize human slavery as a way of life.

2. American Baptist Convention. This is an assembly of Baptists who are smaller in number and are more liberal.

3. The National Baptist Convention. This is considered the single largest denomination made up of African Americans in the U.S.

4. The Independent Baptists, including the independent fundamental baptist, are those who have not chosen any group to belong to.

5. The International Baptists belong to the small group of congregations scattered throughout the world.