Benjamin Randall (1749–1808) was the founder of the Free Will Baptist movement in New England the late 18th century.
Free Will Baptists or Free Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will.[1] The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal establishment is widely linked to the English theologian, Thomas Helwys who led the Baptist movement to believe in general atonement. He was an advocate of religious liberty at a time when to hold to such views could be dangerous and punishable by death. He died in prison as a consequence of the religious persecution of Protestant dissenters under King James I.
In 1702 Paul Palmer would go on to establish the movement in North Carolina and in 1727 formed the Free Will Baptist Church of Chowan. Many Calvinists became Free Will Baptists in the 19th century. With the establishment of Free Will Baptists in the South, Benjamin Randall developed the movement in the Northeastern United States, specifically Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
From their beginning, Free Will Baptists, in common with many groups of English Dissenters and Separatists from the Church of England, followed Brownist notions of self-governance of local churches. The notion of free will was a systematic rejection of the Puritan movement, due to its overall religious beliefs and lack of social mobility.
^Jonas, W. Glenn (2008). The Baptist River: Essays on Many Tributaries of a Diverse Tradition. Mercer University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780881461206. General Baptists in North Carolina (the Palmer/Parker heritage) were often called "free willers" by their Regular (Reformed) Baptist neighbors. The name was becoming popular by the beginning of the nineteenth century, and in 1828 the group there adopted the name "Free Will Baptists." The reference, of course, was to the doctrine of General Atonement taught by the General Baptists.
FreeWillBaptists or FreeBaptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and freewill. The...
The National Association of FreeWillBaptists (NAFWB) is a national body of FreeWillBaptist churches in the United States and Canada, organized on November...
Southeastern FreeWillBaptist College is a college of the FreeWillBaptist denomination located in Wendell, North Carolina. It was started in Virginia...
Pentecostal FreeWillBaptist Church (PFWBC) is a church group in the southern United States, best thought of as Pentecostal rather than Baptist. The PFWBC...
Original FreeWillBaptist Convention is a North Carolina–based body of FreeWillBaptists that split from the National Association of FreeWillBaptists in...
worked as teachers in the South. In 1911, most of the churches of the FreeWillBaptist General Conference merged with it. Due to the development of theological...
Reformed Baptists, Particular Baptists and Calvinistic Baptists, are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation belief). Depending on the...
Americans identify as Baptist, making Baptists the second-largest religious group in the United States, after Roman Catholics. Baptists adhere to a congregationalist...
(1961) Sutton, Jerry. The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention (2000). Wills, Gregory A. Democratic Religion:...
American FreeWillBaptist Church is the oldest national body of predominantly black FreeWillBaptists in the United States. The FreeWillBaptist Church...
Primitive Baptists – also known as Regular Baptists, Old School Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists, or, derisively, Hard Shell Baptists – are conservative...
fundamentalist) Baptist beliefs. Although some Independent Baptist churches refuse affiliation with Baptist denominations, various Independent Baptist Church denominations...
referred to as Regular Baptist (Calvinistic in their doctrine) and FreeWillBaptists (Arminian in their doctrine). In May 1845, the Baptist congregations in...
United American FreeWillBaptist Conference United Baptist World Baptist Fellowship Baptist General Association of Virginia Baptist General Convention...
particular redemption).[citation needed] FreeWillBaptists are General Baptists; opponents of the English General Baptists in North Carolina dubbed them "Freewillers"...
Missionary Baptists are a group of Baptists that grew out of the missionary / anti-missionary controversy that divided Baptists in the United States in...
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) is a Baptist Christian denomination in the United States, established after the fundamentalism controversy within...
American Free Will Baptist Conference United Baptist United Baptist Convention of the Atlantic Provinces United FreeWillBaptist World Baptist Fellowship Bapticostals...
First FreeWillBaptist Church may refer to a building in the United States: First FreeWillBaptist Church and Vestry, Ashland, New Hampshire First Freewill...
Theological Seminary or the FreeWillBaptist Bible School) was a Baptist theological institute. Founded in 1840, it was a FreeWillBaptist graduate school affiliated...
The Auburn FreeWillBaptist Church is a historic former Baptist church building in Auburn Township, Geauga County, Ohio, United States. Constructed in...
The FreeWillBaptist Church and Cemetery is a historic church property on Church Turn Road in North Islesboro, Maine. Built in 1843 and enlarged in the...
FreeWillBaptist Church of Pennytown is a historic African-American church in Pennytown, a community of unincorporated Saline County, Missouri 8 miles...
Baptist Churches (GARBC), established in 1932 is an Independent Baptist Christian denomination in United States, retaining the name "Regular Baptist"...
The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship (FGBCF) or Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International (FGBCFI) is a predominantly African-American,...
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