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Free Will
Baptists
Arminian
or
Free Will Baptist denominations, made up of people rejecting the
doctrine of predestination and emphasizing mission work and education,
were founded in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
From 1791 to 1797 three Arminian Baptist churches existed in the Augusta
area; after 1797 there is a three-decade break in credible historical
evidence. Since about 1831 congregations stressing free grace and free
will have multiplied, chiefly in south Georgia. After the Civil War, a few
African American churches and associations were formed. Most Baptists of
this variety support both the Georgia State Association of Free Will
Baptists and the National Association of Free Will Baptists. The former
sponsors church development, ministerial training, summer camps, a
children's home, and a monthly publication, the Promotional Bulletin.
The latter sponsors worldwide missions, a college, extensive publications,
and a ministerial retirement program. In 2005 Free Will Baptists in
Georgia totaled about 11,066 in 173 churches.
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