United American Free Will Baptist Church

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The United American Free Will Baptist Church is the oldest national body of predominantly black Free Will Baptists in the United States.

History

The Free Will Baptist Church in America grew up on two separate fronts: North and South. In the South the denomination began in 1727 when Paul Palmer started a church in Chowan, North Carolina. The work in the north began with a congregation organized by Benjamin Randall in 1780 at New Durham, New Hampshire. Though they arose independently and there was no organizational connection between them, both taught the doctrines of free grace, free salvation and free will.

Free blacks and black slaves were members of predominantly white Free Will Baptist congregations of the South. African-Americans organized their first separate congregation, Shady Grove Free Will Baptist Church, at Snow Hill, Greene County, North Carolina, in 1867. The first annual conference was organized in 1870, and the first association in 1887. The first General Conference for United Free Will Baptists convened at St. John's church in Kinston, North Carolina, on May 8, 1901. The greatest strength of this body is in North Carolina, where it maintains headquarters and a tabernacle and operates Kinston Collegein North Carolina. There are about 50,000 members in 250 churches. The General Conference has published a book of discipline since 1903 and publishes a periodical called The Free Will Baptist Advocate. The United American Free Will Baptist Church is a member of the National Fraternal Council of Negro Churches.

In 1968, a division brought about a second group of black Free Will Baptists, the United American Free Will Baptist Conference. Bishop J. E. Reddick currently serves as General Bishop.

Sources

Encyclopedia of African-American Religions, Larry G. Murphy, et al., editors
Encyclopedia of American Religions, J. Gordon Melton, editor
Baptists Around the World, by Albert W. Wardin, Jr.
Dictionary of Baptists in America, Bill J. Leonard, editor
"The History and Theology of the National Fraternal Council of Negro Churches" (Master's Thesis, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY), by Spurgeon E. Crayton

External links

United American Free Will Baptist Church

Baptist denominations in the United States

Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Association American Baptist Churches USA Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America Baptist Bible Fellowship International Baptist General Association of Virginia Baptist General Conference Baptist General Convention of Texas Baptist Missionary Association of America Central Baptist Association Christian Baptist Church of God Church of Christ, Instrumental Conservative Baptist Association of America Conservative Baptist Association of the Southeast Continental Baptist Churches Cooperative Baptist Fellowship District of Columbia Baptist Convention Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals Free Will Baptist Church Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International General Association of Baptists General Association of General Baptists General Association of Regular Baptist Churches General Six-Principle Baptists Independent Baptist Independent Baptist Church of America Independent Baptist Fellowship International Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America Institutional Missionary Baptist Conference of America Liberty Baptist Fellowship Missionary Baptists National Association of Free Will Baptists National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A. New England Evangelical Baptist Fellowship North American Baptist Conference Northern Baptist Convention Old Regular Baptists Old Time Missionary Baptist Original Free Will Baptist Convention Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church Primitive Baptists Primitive Baptist Conference of New Brunswick, Maine and Nova Scotia Primitive Baptist Universalist Progressive National Baptist Convention Reformed Baptists Separate Baptists Separate Baptists in Christ Seventh Day Baptists Silver Bluff Baptist Church Southern Baptist Convention Southwide Baptist Fellowship Sovereign Grace Baptists Transformation Ministries Triennial Convention Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists Union Baptists United American Free Will Baptist Church United American Free Will Baptist Conference Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches World Baptist Fellowship

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