Baptist

Member of any of several Protestant and evangelical Christian sects that practise baptism by immersion only upon profession of faith. Baptists seek their authority in the Bible. They originated among English Dissenters who took refuge in the Netherlands in the early 17th century, and spread by emigration and, later, missionary activity. Of the world total of approximately 31 million, some 26.5 million are in the USA and 265,000 in the UK.

The Baptist Missionary Society, formed in 1792 in Britain, pioneered the 19th‐century missionary movement that spread the Baptist creed through Europe and to British colonies. The first Baptist church in America was organized in Rhode Island in 1639. Baptism grew rapidly during the Great Awakening religious revival of the 18th century. After the American Revolution, Baptism spread into the South and among blacks, both slave and free. In 1905 the Baptist World Alliance was formed.