As the preservers of the doctrinal
and practical simplicity found in the New Testament, and having a
continuous existence from the first Christian century until this day
among the Baptists are to be found the original Christians. Our
founder is not man, but the Savior Jesus Christ Himself. In history
we have been known under different names which were given to us due
to a certain characteristic or a certain leader or place. Novatians,
Donatists, Paulicians, Albigenses, Waldenses are just a few of these
names. Generally we were known by the deprecatory name �Anabaptists"
(rebaptizers). This was because we did not recognize acts performed
by churches which we considered not authentic and baptized those who
were converted to our faith. However, we never acknowledged that
name, because we did not consider that we baptized the second time.
Rather we baptized for the first time in a correct, Biblical way. In
the course of time the prefix "ana" was dropped and we remained
known as "Baptists" (baptizers).
Our historic development is
different than that of the traditional Churches. We did not come out
of the Protestant Reformation, nor from the Roman Church, nor from
the Greek. We did not identify with any of these churches and we are
not like them. Sir Isaac Newton, the great man of science, stated
that he was convinced that the Baptists are the only Christians
"that have never symbolize with Rome." Looking back in history, We
take this statement as a great compliment. Being unjustly called
"heretics" (Mircea Eliade, the great historian of religion said "the
first Christian forms were closer to those who were classed later on
as heretical"), our forefathers were severely persecuted by both the
ecclesiastic and secular authorities. Many paid with their own lives
for what was thought be the ultimate guilt, that of believing and
practicing in their everyday lives the principles of the New
Testament and asking for freedom for all people to serve God
according to the dictates of their conscience. Even though millions
we martyred for their faith, in their turn they never persecuted any
other person. Nobody suffered persecution at the hand of the
Baptists and not even one drop of blood was spilled in the name of
The particularities after which
our churches can be identified today, as well as in any given time
of Christian history are the following:
1. According to the Biblical
definite the church is the assembly of baptized believers in a given
place - an organization centered on spiritual activities, whose
Founder, Head and Lawgiver is the Savior Jesus Christ. The church is
not a building and is not formed only of the clergy. We do not
believe in concepts 1ike national or universal Church, these being
in contradiction with the Scriptures.
2. Members of a church can be only
persons who believed the Gospel and whose lives have been visibly
changed. To believe the Gospel means to believe that man deserves
death for his sins, and can be saved only by God, by grace (that is,
without deserving salvation) because of the fact that Christ
suffered the punishment for his sins. We believe that man cannot
save himself by his works and cannot possibly cause God to be
favorable toward him. Man is totally dependent on Gods mercy.
3. The way to enter the church is
by baptism (performed only by immersion) based on the personal
testimony of each candidate. This is the beginning of the Christian
life. From that moment follows obedience and faithfulness toward all
the teachings of the New Testament
4. The church has only two
ordinances: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. These are symbolic.
Nothing miraculous happens during these ceremonies. They commemorate
the death and the resurrection of the Lord and show our
identification with Him. These are not saving sacraments, therefore,
participation in them does not assure anyone's salvation.
5. The laws and ordinances upon
which the church functions are found exclusively in the New
Testament (even though we believe that the whole Bible is the Word
of God). The church is a New Testament institution. Therefore, we do
not accept other standards, viz. Old Testament Jewish forms and
practices, Church tradition, teachings of a modern prophet, etc.
6. There is no hierarchy or clergy
in the church. The church has only two sorts of servants. Pastors,
who are also called bishops and elders in the Scriptures. They have
responsibility for the teaching and spiritual growth of believers;
and deacons, who take care of the natural duties of the church.
7. The church functions as a pure
democracy. Every member is actively involved in the life of the
church and the decisions are made by the vote of the majority. There
are no differences between members, all being equal. We do not have
boards, committees or other ruling bodies.
8. The churches � local assemblies
- are independent one from another in the exercise of their laws and
discipline, but cooperate one with another as equals in different
activities. No church has authority over another one. The
association of churches in different supra-church structures is
unbiblical and harmful to local churches.
9. We believe in the absolute
separation between church and state. We pay authorities what we owe
them, as citizens of the state in which we live. We do not demand
concessions from the government. We believe that the expenses of
each church are not public expenses, but must be supported by the
members of that church.
10. We believe and maintain that
every man has the right to religious freedom. Nobody has the right
to impose a religion by force, because every person is responsible
before God for what he believes and for the way he lives his life.
These ten particularities make us
differ from many churches that are still called "Baptist," but they
represent the doctrinal and practical skeleton by which a Baptist
church, can be recognized, whatever name it bore or historic period
in which it existed. Since all these principles are found in the
Scriptures, we consider them all to be essential characteristics
without which a church cannot be an authentic church of Christ.
A few other characteristics are
worth noticing. We believe that the only intermediary between God
and men is Jesus Christ. Through Him we have free access to God,
without needing the intercession of priests or saints. Our churches
do not have holydays. What most people consider to be Christian
holydays are actually Jewish rituals, but even more often old pagan
celebrations to which were given Christian names. From these pagan
celebrations the practices and sometimes even the dates were kept.
The celebration of Christmas, for example, is also called the
celebration of the Lords Nativity. But the Scriptures do not give an
exact date of His birth, but only the approximate period (end of
September, beginning of October). If we try to find in history the
origin of the date and practices of Christmas we shall find them as
coming from paganism. Moreover, the Bible does not tell us that we
must celebrate His birth. These are sufficient reasons for us not to
be involved in such holydays. For the Christian, every day lived in
obedience to God is a day of celebration, of rest for the soul.
We believe that the purpose of the
church is not that of granting salvation to men. The principle
"there is no salvation outside the church" is unbiblical. God is the
one who saves souls, not men. Men cannot save themselves and cannot
save anyone else, whoever they might be and whatever they might do.
The purpose of the church is that of representing Christ and His
message before the rest of the world and of helping the spiritual
growth of believers. An authentic church is the place where God
accepts the worship and the service of believers. Baptists always
promoted the increase of knowledge and education among men. The
concept of blind faith is foreign to us. We do not have lists of
forbidden books, secular or religious, and we encourage true
science. The Bible does not encourage narrowness and ignorance. The
saying "believe and search not" is not Biblical, as many believe.
The Bible states the contrary: "Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good." This is our principle.
We are not part of the ecumenical
movement (the movement of unification of churches) because,
unfortunately, they do not return to truth, or to the spirituality
of original Christianity, or to the teachings and practices of the
New Testament. On the contrary, these are continually ignored. The
doctrinal basis of ecumenism is the decrees of the first ecumenical
councils. We are different and separated from Baptist churches that
are involved directly or indirectly, through the representatives of
their ruling bodies, in the ecumenical movement or have given up
some of the fundamental Baptist principles. Our purpose is not the
conversion of the world or a certain nation to one ideology. We do
not use marketing strategies for development and do not seek
financial success or advantages. What we hope to accomplish, and
that we shall do, if the Lord wills, is to present the Gospel of
Christ to as many people as we can and to convince them to read the
Holy Scriptures because there is found the way to eternal life. The
rest depends on God.