The history of the church began on the Day of Pentecost when the church was born and continues on up until today. God has been at work through His church and He has used His servants to proclaim His Gospel message and preserve His Word. Last week we began with the first 400 years of the church and moved through the Great Schism in 1054 to the Reformation of the 1500’s.

Beginning in the early 1600’s the Baptists took their place in the development of the church. Even though they were often shunned, cast out, and persecuted they persevered with the Truth of God’s Word as their guiding light. In today’s lesson we will meet heroes of the faith such as John Smyth, Roger Williams, and Obadiah Holmes. We will see how Baptists were not only breaking new theological ground with adult baptism, but we will also see Baptists at work in the Colonies and in the early years of our nation.

Bold is a word which describes Baptists from the early 1600’s as they sought to proclaim the Bible as the Word of God and as the only source for our faith. They were bold when they promoted religious liberty. They were bold when they stood up against established religions. They were bold bold when they were mocked for “re-baptizing” adults. And next week we will see how the boldness of Baptists has spread around the world.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, July 16, 2023. It is part of a series of Bible study sessions entitled Living the Agape Life – a Bible study curriculum developed by Bob Young with input from the members of the Agape Life Class. Handouts with slide content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .

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