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welcome
to the website of the Coalition for Baptist Principles.
We are members of diverse Baptist churches, but we hold one thing in common: we care about the principles that have distinguished Baptists. Key to those principles is the word FREEDOM. Historically, there has been no hierarchy that dictates to Baptists what they must believe or how their ministries will be carried out. The basic unit of the Baptist movement is the local church, which is free within the community of faith to seek out and act on what the community determines is the way to follow Christ.

The Coalition for Baptist Principles does not fall neatly along a theological spectrum. Our members are conservatives and liberals and all those in between. We believe that to be appropriate, given our love of freedom. We are not unanimous on many of the theological, political, or ethical controversies that tend to divide Christian denominations today. We are too diverse for that. However, we agree on a common commitment to the Christian faith in the Baptist tradition as expressed in “The Judson Declaration.” The final form of this document was written at a meeting of the Coalition for Baptist Principles Steering Committee at Judson Memorial Church in New York City in October, 2004. You can read it on this website. This declaration clearly states where we stand, and we invite others to support this statement of freedom.

We also invite you to join the Coalition for Baptist Principles. We need your voice, your financial support, and your presence at our biennial gatherings.

If you want to preserve historic Baptist principles, then the Coalition for Baptist Principles may be an important resource for you. We join generations of people who have treasured and guarded the love of freedom within the context of the community of people who call themselves Baptists.

Thomas R. McKibbens,
Chair, Steering Committee

The Coalition for Baptist Principles
Statement of Purpose

Our denomination, the American Baptist Churches USA , is in crisis due to the efforts of some elements to deny the freedom of individuals and churches to interpret the Bible under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In response, the Coalition for Baptist Principles is called to warn of the dangers threatened by that crisis and to urge all American Baptists to reclaim the principles of Christian freedom with responsibility which have always defined our life together as a denomination, including:

  •   centrality of Scripture as it is interpreted in the gathered community under the Lordship of Jesus Christ;
  •   soul liberty, by which each person is free to have an individual and direct relationship with God through Jesus Christ;
  •   protection of the minority, however defined, in humble reverence for God's freedom to choose spokespersons who may challenge conventional understandings;
  •   freedom and integrity of the local church which, guided by the Word of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit, is free to shape its own life and mission under the authority of Jesus Christ; and
  •   voluntary association, through which local churches band together to fulfill areas of mutual ministry and mission but not to determine the convictions or practices of those churches.