• Source: Baptists Together

Baptists Together, formally the Baptist Union of Great Britain, is a Baptist Christian denomination in England and Wales. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and Churches Together in England. The headquarters is in Didcot.




History


The Baptist Union was founded by 45 Particular Baptist churches in 1813 in London. In 1832, it was reorganized to include the New Connection General Baptist Association (General Baptist churches) as a partner. In 1891, the two associations merged to form a single organization. General Baptists and Particular Baptists work was united in the Baptist Union in 1891. The Baptist Historical Society was founded in 1908.
In 1922, Edith Gates became the first woman ordained pastor in the Convention.
In 2013 Lynn Green was elected, with no votes against, as the first female General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain to commence in September 2013. She was received at the vote by a standing ovation and her inaugural message included "I believe that our union is ready for generational change... It is time to cast off the institutional mindset that has served us well in the past, and embrace a new way of being for the 21st century."
Also in 2013, the union publicly re-branded itself as "Baptists Together" and introduced a new logo to reflect the change (although it is still known in an official capacity by its former name, the Baptist Union of Great Britain).




Membership



According to a census published by the Union in 2024, it claimed 1,875 churches and 100,103 members.




= Missionary organization

=
The Fellowship of British Baptists and BMS World Mission brings together in ministry the churches that are members of the Baptist Union of Scotland, Wales, the Irish Baptist Networks, and the Baptist Union of Great Britain. It is itself a member of The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) because of its work to promote young people's personal and social development.




= Inter-denominational associations

=
The union maintains membership with Christian ecumenical organisations such as Churches Together in England, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, the Conference of European Churches, and the World Council of Churches.




Missionary Society


The BMS World Mission was organised as Baptist Missionary Society in 1792, under the leadership of Andrew Fuller (1754–1815), John Sutcliff (1752–1814), and William Carey (1761–1834).




Beliefs


The union has a Baptist confession of faith. It is a member of the Baptist World Alliance.




Schools



The Union is a partner of 4 theological seminaries, namely South Wales Baptist College, Northern Baptist College, Bristol Baptist College and Spurgeon's College, and a university college, Regent's Park College. In March 2024, the St Hild Centre for Baptist Ministry, previously an affiliated centre of Northern Baptist College, entered membership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain in its own right.




Organisation


The principal of the Union is the General Secretary. A number of paid staff provide leadership and practical support from the Union's headquarters in Baptist House, Didcot, in areas such as finance, ministerial accreditation, and legal support.




= List of general secretaries

=
1898 – 1924 John Howard Shakespeare
1925 – 1951 Melbourn Aubrey
1951 – 1967 Ernest A. Payne
1967 – 1982 David S. Russell
1982 – 1991 Bernard Green
1991 – 2006 David Coffey
2006 – 2013 Jonathan Edwards
2013 – Lynn Green

Since 2001, churches in membership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain have been organised into 13 Regional Associations:

Central Baptist Association
East Midlands Baptist Association
Eastern Baptist Association
Heart of England Baptist Association
London Baptist Association
North Western Baptist Association
Northern Baptist Association
South Eastern Baptist Association
South Wales Baptist Association
South West Baptist Association
Southern Counties Baptist Association
West of England Baptist Network (formerly West of England Baptist Association)
Yorkshire Baptist Association
Regional Association teams, led by a number of Regional Ministers and a senior Regional Ministry Team Leader (RMTL), oversee and facilitate ministry in local churches. This may include pastoral support for ministers, signposting regional events, organising regional conferences, and supporting churches without a minister.




Doctrinal controversies


At the Baptist Union Assembly in April 1971, Michael Taylor, then Principal at the Northern Baptist College, asserted, "I believe that God was active in Jesus, but it will not do to say quite categorically: Jesus is God." The statement bred controversy, and some charged him with denying the Deity of Christ. Nigel G. Wright, later Principal of Spurgeon's College, commenting on the affair, claimed the, "Spectre of theological downgrade had lingered within the denomination throughout the 20th century," alluding to the Downgrade Controversy of a century earlier.
Affirm network was founded in 2000 in favor to the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Union.
In 2020, the Ministerial Recognition Committee received a letter from 70 members of the Union asking that the rules be changed to allow ministers in same-sex marriages to no longer be guilty of gross misconduct. The request was referred to the national Council, who discussed it in March 2022 and initiated a process of consultation whereby ministers and churches in membership with the Union were asked their thoughts on the proposed change. During this time a group formed, initially known as 'Baptist Ministers for Orthodox Marriage' and later 'Evangelical Baptists', who campaigned against the change in rules. The results of the consultation were presented to Council, who decided against the change in March 2024 with a vote of 65% against:

Council has concluded that our Ministerial Recognition Rules concerning marriage and ministry will remain unchanged. Therefore, an accredited minister should not themselves be in a same-sex marriage. Nonetheless Council reiterates that sexual orientation is no bar to accreditation. Furthermore, Council upholds the liberty of the local church to appoint ministry according to their governing documents.




See also


Baptist Union of Scotland
Religion in the United Kingdom
Regent's Park College, Oxford
Baptist churches in the United Kingdom
Spurgeon and the "Downgrade Controversy"
Baptist beliefs
Worship service (evangelicalism)
Jesus Christ
Believers' Church




Notes






References






Bibliography


Wardin, Albert W jr, Baptists Around the World.
Payne, Ernest Alexander, The Baptist Union: A Short History.
Brown, Raymond, The English Baptists of the Eighteenth Century.
Briggs, JHY, The English Baptists of the Nineteenth Century.
Clements, Keith, Baptists in the Twentieth Century.




External links


Baptist Historical Society – official Web Site
Baptist Union of Great Britain – official Web Site
The Baptist Times – Web Site of the official newspaper of the BUGB
Incarnate Network – Web Site of the church planting network of BUGB Missions Dept
The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) – England-wide organisation of which the Baptist Union is a member

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