Transformation and Controversy of the Formation of Baptist Missionary Organizations: A Model of Baptists' Upholding of Voluntary Principle

Transformation and Controversy of the Formation of Baptist Missionary rganizations: A Model of Baptists' Upholding of Voluntary Principle

Chun-wah KWONG

Baptists emerged from the English Protestant Reformation in the early seventeenth century. They were associated with the Puritan Separatists who came to believe that the Church of England was a false church and that true Christians should separate themselves from it. Because of their emphasis on religious liberty and voluntary principle, Baptists resisted any interference from the government or from established national churches. Even when they willingly united for missionary ministry, they obstinately upheld the autonomy of local churches and voluntary membership. In the early nineteenth century, when the southern Baptists in America proposed an overarching convention model for the Baptist national organization for missionary ministry, a controversy broke out.
Baptist historians like H. Leon McBeth and Robert G. Torbet put the emphasis on the autonomy of local churches in their study of this controversy. The author of this paper, on the other hand, argues that the autonomy of local churches is a part of Baptist polity based on theological convictions. Voluntary principle is one of the essential elements of these convictions. Therefore, any discussion of the controversy must take this principle into consideration. This paper reviews the history of Baptists' formation of national organizations for missionary ministry in England and America, with an emphasis on how voluntary principle, as one of the significant considerations, brought about a struggle in the process of their formation. The strengths and weaknesses of different organizational models for missionary ministry will also be discussed.