A religious movement with roots in the British Colonies in North
America created by evangelists who left the Church of England and founded new congregational religious communities in what is now the Southern United States. Because the ministers were not ordained priests of the Church of England in colonial times, these groups came to believe in the "priesthood of all believers." Also, the reason why they are "
bible only" is because when they left the Church of England and its priests and bishops, the only authority they had left came from the
Bible. By the way, it is possible to be a baptist without being affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The first baptists were not part of that, but churches join it mostly to facilitate missions and support common interests. A baptist church is only the
people in it, (even if it's only two
people,) their preacher (who can be anyone they pick regardless of education or credentials,) and the
Bible.
My 6th great grandfather helped found the oldest church in the State of Tennessee. He was an evangelist from the Anglican Church (Church of England) in Colonial Virginia and told the
poor settlers in Tennessee that
Jesus loved them and that one day they would see
Jesus and their family in heaven so they should keep on working and having babies. Now they're all still living there and in the general area, and many of their churches and the
people descended from them identity as Southern Baptist and they might be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
