Baptists represent an evangelical Christian movement that emerged in England in 1609, its founder was John Smyth, who established the first church, its members are characterized by having an immense personal faith and by dedicating themselves to living guided by the highest Christian commandments. The word Baptist emphasizes the new birth and baptism of adult believers by immersion. Baptists define themselves as evangelical Christian believers who have decided to join voluntarily in many churches, in order to recognize Jesus Christ as the savior of the soul and the father of Life.
Baptists are not organized hierarchically, nor do they accept any person as their boss. They maintain that the ties that unite them is solely doctrinal, of a spiritual nature, with evangelizing and missionary objectives. According to statistics, the Baptist community is established in many parts of the world, with the United States being the country that houses the largest number of them, in the same way they are present in many other countries such as India, Russia, England, Brazil and Canada.
The idea of calling themselves Baptists was not theirs properly, this qualifier was given to them as a nickname by those who did not agree with their religious ideas. At first they were called Anabaptists, a term that means "rebaptized", since they were linked to the Anabaptist Christian movement (a group of dissidents from the Catholic and Lutheran Church established in Switzerland, who admitted baptism only for adult believers and by immersion). However, with the passage of time and to this day, they are identified as Baptists.
Baptists are not classified as a dissident group of some church, but rather, as an evangelical Christian congregation of New Testament origin, whose principles are based on: that the churches should be constituted by regenerated faithful. In the spontaneous ability of people to believe in God and to study the sacred scriptures. In freedom of religion for all people.
The three main ministries to which Baptists dedicate themselves are:
- The proclamation of the gospel.
- Christian discipleship.
- Missionary work.
