Independent Baptist churches (also called Independent Fundamental BaptistorIFB) are Christian congregations, generally holding to conservative (primarily fundamentalist) Baptist beliefs. Although some Independent Baptist churches refuse affiliation with Baptist denominations, various Independent Baptist Church denominations have been founded.
Tewkesbury Independent Baptist Church in Tewkesbury, UK
The modern Independent Baptist tradition began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among local denominational Baptist congregations whose members were concerned about the advancement of modernism and theological liberalism into national Baptist denominations and conventions in the United States and the United Kingdom.[1][2]
In response to the concerns, some local Baptist churches separated from their former denominations and conventions and reestablished the congregations as Independent Baptist churches. In other cases, the more conservative members of existing churches withdrew from their local congregations and set about establishing new Independent Baptist churches.[3]
Members of Independent Baptist churches comprised 2.5% of the United States adult population, according to a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center.[12]
In 2018, an investigation by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram identified 412 abuse allegations in 187 independent fundamental Baptist (IFB) churches and institutions across in United States and Canada, with some cases reaching as far back as the 1970s.[13][14]
^William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Scarecrow Press, USA, 2009, p. 297
^William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Scarecrow Press, USA, 2009, p. 623
^Robert E. Johnson, A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2010, p. 357
^William H. Brackney, Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher Education, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 376
^Bill J. Leonard, Jill Y. Crainshaw, Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies in the United States, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2013, p. 387
^ W. Glenn Jonas Jr., The Baptist River: Essays on Many Tributaries of a Diverse Tradition, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 125: "Independents assert that the Bible is a unified document containing consistent propositional truths. They accept the supernatural elements of the Bible, affirm that it is infallible in every area of reality, and contend that it is to be interpreted literally in the vast majority of cases. Ultimately, they hold not merely to the inerrancy of Scripture, but to the infallibility of their interpretation of Scripture. The doctrine of premillennialism serves as a case in point. Early on in the movement, Independents embraced premillennialism as the only acceptable eschatological view. The BBU made the doctrine a test of fellowship. When Norris formed his Premillennial Missionary Baptist Fellowship (1933), he made premillennialism a requirement for membership. He held this doctrine to be the only acceptable biblical position, charging conventionism with being postmillennial in orientation."
^Bill J. Leonard, Baptists in America, Columbia University Press, USA, 2005, p. 115
^ Bill J. Leonard, Baptists in America, Columbia University Press, USA, 2005, p. 141
