WHO ARE THE BAPTISTS?

The first pioneers of today’s Baptist Church were the men of faith who had fled from England to Holland due to persecution, who, having realized the Biblical truth of baptism, were baptized in confession of their faith in Amsterdam in 1609. A part of them returned to England and founded the first Baptist congregation of our age in 1612 in London. Church history, however, confirms that during the two thousand-year history of Christianity there had always been evangelical groups that preached the main Biblical truths held by Baptists today. Therefore, Baptists are justified in believing that the practical source of their doctrine and religious life is the New Testament and the example of the congregations of early Christians.

They received their name from others, but accepted it as their own. The term ”Baptist” means those who baptize, and originates from New Testament Greek (baptidzo: to baptize), implying that Baptists baptize on the basis of the confession of faith, in accordance with Jesus Christ’s teaching and the practice of the New Testament.

Baptist congregations are one of the Protestant denominations of Christianity. In the times of reformation, the moderate, Biblical groups of the Anabaptist movement, representing the third branch of reformation, were the closest to the teachings and practices of today’s Baptist Church. Baptists are also often referred to as one of the free churches. Free churches were historically created in refusal of the institutions of the state church and the people’s church. They promote the separation of state and church. They teach the principle of voluntary, active membership in a congregation, based on personal decision. They emphasize their coherence with the Bible, which connects the free churches with the churches of reformation, pledging to fulfill one of the most important principles of reformation, the principle of Sola Scriptura, which means that the Scriptures are the only standard of their life. In Hungary, the Baptist congregation is also known to be one of the ”small churches”, although this term can be hardly used in the international context, considering that the number of baptized members in the world exceeds 43 million. (With family members, visitors, 100-120 million people are in their circles.) Lately, the Hungarian Baptist Church has also been referred to as a historic church, implying that it has a history of more than 150 years in our country. The Anabaptists, who show spiritual similarities with the Baptist and can (although only indirectly) be regarded as our predecessors, appeared in our country already in 1523. In 1546, groups of Anabaptist Hutterites settled down in the Uplands (now a part of Slovakia) and later in Western Hungary. They were persecuted from the early beginnings. In Transylvania, the monarch Gábor Bethlen – who believed in religious tolerance – helped the Hutterites (also known as the ”Habans”) settle down in 1621. The Habans contributed to the flourishing Transylvanian industry, and became famous for their ceramics which represented considerable artistic values. The Anabaptist congregations ceased to exist in Hungary during the reign of Mary Theresa. Some of them were forced to become Catholics, while others fled to Russia, from where many immigrated to America later on.

The number of Baptists in our country increased significantly at the turn of the century. Between 1883 and 1907, the percentage growth in the number of Baptists in Hungary almost equaled that in other 17 European countries put together. Under the Act 43 of 1895, the Baptist congregation became a denomination recognized by the state. After the First World War, almost two thirds of Hungarian Baptists were living in territories taken away from the homeland. Up to today, there are more Hungarian speaking Baptists in the surrounding countries than in the homeland. Between the two world wars, the number of the congregation members remaining within the Trianon borders doubled, thanks to successful mission work. After the Second World War, a further increase could be experienced for some more years, to be followed by the 40 years of socialist suppression, which resulted in a decrease in the number of the congregation members. Baptist congregations too, wish to exploit the new opportunities arising in the past years.

Summarizing the main features of Baptists, we first have to mention the recognition of the exclusive authority of the Holy Scripture. They don’t accept any church tradition to be equal to the Bible (the whole Scripture), or that it could have an authority exceeding that of the Bible. This does not mean that they don’t have confessions for instance, which they respect. These however can not stand above the Word, otherwise, as participants in the common Christian heritage, they accept the basic and general religious truths formulated in the Confession of the Apostolic Faith and the Nicene Creed.

Baptists attend individual congregations like those seen in New Testament of the Holy Scripture. Only converts who join voluntarily, confess their faith and have been baptized, can become a member of a congregation. They preach the principle of priesthood of all believers, they practice congregational discipline in order to preserve the purity of spiritual life. Congregations handle their spiritual and material matters autonomously. The budget of the congregations is based on voluntary offerings. Their services, in which preaching plays a major role, are intimate. Baptists fought for the fulfillment of freedom of conscience and religion throughout their history, and promote the idea of the ”free church in a free state”.

Finally, we mention a specialty that has always been considered important by Baptist congregations: the saving of souls. As the “father of European Baptism”, Johann Gerhald Oncken said: “Every Baptist is a missionary”. This means that the mission of every member of the congregation is to preach the gospel, to testify about Jesus Christ to people who have not heard of Him yet, who don’t know Him, or who have some false aspects about salvation. We preach the love of our Savior, of whom it has been written: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but HAVE ETERNAL LIFE” (John 3, 16).