American Baptist Churches In The Usa

American Baptist congregations are free to choose their own order of worship, and so the observance of the Christian year varies among churches. In the twentieth century, many congregations have followed an American civil calendar and have combined both religious and civil observances. Since the 1960s, however, there has been a strong movement toward recovery of a more distinctly Christian calendar. The American Baptist Churches in the USA (ABCUSA), like other Baptist denominations, is a voluntary association of autonomous local churches organized for mutual aid and the support of common missions and ministries. Thus, there are American Baptist churches, but no American Baptist church. In discussing events, trends, and developments among American Baptists, then, one is always constrained to remember that Baptists work together by persuasion, not legislation. Calendars Discarded Baptist theology and practice, particularly in worship, are rooted in Scottish and English Calvinism. Th…