Who are the Baptists?

Over the two-thousand years of church history—from the time of the apostles until today—there have always been groups of people proclaiming and practicing biblical truth. This is what the Baptists still do today.

The Baptist movement started at the time of the reformation as a revival movement. The leaders of this movement baptized new believers in Christ after salvation, in accordance with biblical principles.  As a result, they were called “Anabaptists,” at that time.  The name which was given to them means “re-baptizers.”

The difference between Baptists and some other Protestant groups is that Baptists hold to the authority of the Bible and assert that believers should be baptized by immersion, following Jesus’ example.  These evangelical groups were founded independently by people all over the world based on an examination of God’s Word.  In some places, these groups were established by plain commoners, elsewhere by scholars with much preparation.

The first missionaries came to Hungary from Switzerland 475 years ago, and many of them became martyrs for their faith.  The majority of the Baptists are in the United States, numbering about 100 million there.

The main characteristic of Baptists is that they believe that Bible is God’s Word, and therefore the Bible is the sole authority for faith and practice.  For Baptists, there is no other writing, book, or organization that can supersede the Bible’s authority.