SWBA HOME	The first Baptist congregations emerged during the early part of the 17th century. Following Henry VIII’s split with the Roman Catholic Church, the “Church of England” remained largely Roman Catholic in doctrine and practice until the time of Henry’s son Edward. The doctrines and rituals of Church of England (or Anglican Church) were influenced by the continental Reformers who had also separated from Rome but for very different reasons. In England and Wales it was the Calvinist reformers who influenced the Anglican church far more than the earlier Lutheran reformers. Following Edward’s early death there was a major backlash under Mary (or Bloody Mary) when Roman Catholicism was reinstated. She died childless and so her half-sister Elizabeth eventually became queen and the Anglican church was Protestant, but looked very Catholic. There were always some who tried to make the Anglican church more “Reformed” and those who tried to “purify” it from within were called, “Puritans”.	South Wales Baptist College
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Following the stability of the long Elizabethan rule another crisis hit when Elizabeth died childless. The throne was to pass to the son of Mary Queen of Scots (not to be confused with Bloody Mary). This Scottish king was James VI of Scotland who (on taking over the Kingdom of England and Wales) became James I of the newly formed “United Kingdom”. He was king of Scotland, a reformed protestant country, but his mother was a known Roman Catholic – so what was King James? And which religion would prevail? Following the Hampton Court Conference (which authorized a new English translation of the Bible which came out in 1611 and is still known as the King James Bible) many of the Puritans were left not knowing how things would go. Some of these puritans decided to separate from the Church of England and these “separatists” formed congregations that did not feel any allegiance to the Anglican Church or its bishops – even though many of these separatist congregations were led by ordained Anglican priests.

Separatists followed four main strands of governance – or ways of being a church. There were Quakers, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and finally Baptists. In those early days, it was not unusual for a separatist "Meeting House" to have all four groups meeting together for worship and Bible Study. The earliest Baptist congregation emerged in 1609. This was a group from Lincolnshire that had gone to Amsterdam in the Netherlands in search of religious freedom. It was there that this separatist and congregational group under the leadership of an ex-Anglican priest became convinced that baptism is only valid if the person being baptized is already a believer or follower of Christ. As they had all been baptized as babies before they were even conscious of the fact, they concluded that they should be baptized as believers. The way they baptized was by “sprinkling” – same as when they were babies. (Baptism by immersion into and under water was introduced fairly soon afterwards as they studied the Bible and what the word “baptism” meant).

This first small group of Baptists returned to England around 1612 and since then has spread throughout the world. One of their leaders Thomas Helwys appealed to King James for religious toleration – the freedom of all to worship God without interference from the State. In response, Helwys was imprisoned for the remainder of his life.

The early principles of these 17^th century Baptists remain at the core of those distinctive emphases that mark out a church as “Baptist” even today, irrespective of its size or geographical location. (See emphases). These Baptist principles and the establishment of congregations throughout England and Wales spread widely particularly during the time of the Commonwealth (in the middle of the 17^th century) and into the industrial areas during the Victorian era (the 19^th century).

Many of these key emphases are also embraced by other networks or movements with a large number of “baptist" churches not being part of a recognised Baptist denomination nor calling themselves Baptist.

Most of the world’s Baptists continue to apply these principles to the way that they relate together and have formed Associations, Unions, Conventions, Federations and most of them volunteer to belong to the Baptist World Alliance.

Peter Idris Taylor