Independent Baptist
Independent Baptist churches are Christian congregations that generally hold to fundamentalist or conservative views of evangelical Christianity and Baptist beliefs, such as believer's baptism, individual soul liberty, and the priesthood of all believers.
The term "independent" refers to the doctrinal position of church autonomy and a refusal to join any affiliated Baptist denominations or non-Baptist association, though they usually maintain some sort of fellowship with like-minded churches. As fundamentalists, these churches are strongly opposed to the ecumenical movement.
Around 3% of the United States adult population belongs to the IFB movement, half of whom live in the Southern United States.
History
The modern IFB movement began in the early 20th century among local Baptist congregations whose members were concerned about the advancement of modernism or theological liberalism into national Baptist denominations in the U.S. In response to the concerns, some local Baptist churches separated from their former denominations and re-established their congregations as independent churches. In other cases, the more conservative members of existing churches withdrew from their local congregations and established new IFB churches. However, earlier churches such as the Metropolitan Tabernacle led by Charles Spurgeon have been also associated with IFBs, as they separated from the British Baptist Union to become a self standing church due to holding more conservative beliefs than the Union.File:J. Frank Norris LCCN2014714216.jpg|thumb|In the 1930s, Norris organized a group of independent, premillennial Baptist churches into the Premillennial Missionary Baptist Fellowship The World Baptist Fellowship is an IFB organization founded by J. Frank Norris in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1933 based on the idea of a fellowship consisting of independent, premillennial Baptist churches. This was done to combat what he saw as the "modernist" influences within the Southern Baptist Convention. However, after John Birch, a graduate of his seminary, was shot by Chinese Communists, he began very strongly to preach against communist influences in the U.S., and later urged U.S. President Harry Truman to recognize the State of Israel. Later however, major divisions were created within his organization in 1950, leading to a rival group of IFBs led by Beauchamp Vick in Springfield, Missouri.Other IFB organizations that were founded include the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches in 1932, which separated from the Northern Baptist Convention; the Baptist Bible Fellowship International in 1950; the Southwide Baptist Fellowship in 1956; the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International in 1967; the Independent Baptist Fellowship International in 1984; and the Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America in 1990. Various independent Baptist Bible colleges were also founded. Such organizations were also born outside the U.S., notably the Association of Fundamental Baptist Churches in the Philippines.
In 1934, the major IFB newspaper The Sword of the Lord was funded by John R. Rice, who edited the publication until his death on December 29, 1980. At first, it was simply the four-page paper of Fundamentalist Baptist Church of Dallas, where Rice was the pastor. The paper was handed out on the street, and Rice's daughters and other Sunday school children delivered it door-to-door. The chief editor of newspaper after Rice's death became Curtis Hutson, which has been highly controversial among IFB, as he held to a Free Grace view of salvation, believing that repentance is simply a synonym for belief in Christ. Some IFBs believe that Hutson changed the original stances of the newspaper held by Rice, while the current chief editor Shelton Smith argued that Rice did not disagree with the soteriological views of Hutson.
In 1959, Jack Hyles became the pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, which became the largest IFB church of the 20th century. When he arrived, the church had a membership of about seven hundred, many from affluent backgrounds. About a third of the members left the church after hearing Hyles' preaching style, which was very different from that to which they had been accustomed. Hyles then led the church to its status as an IFB church, freeing it from its ties with the American Baptists. Hyles started his bus ministry and soon shepherded the church from a congregation of several hundred to more than 20,000. In the early 1990s, a national survey ranked First Baptist Church of Hammond as the largest church in the nation, by average weekly attendance figures.
Within the 21st century, some IFBs voices have noticed a shift within some younger IFBs, particularly in their approach to separatism and their approach to theology. Paul Chappell notes that Millennial IFBs tend to emphasize theological knowledge and avoid the more rigid forms of the doctrine of separation. Although at the same time, the very radical New Independent Fundamental Baptist movement, founded by Steven Anderson, emerged out of the IFB movement and gained prominence online. However, mainstream IFB leaders have criticized the New IFB for its doctrinal positions, many of which are rejected by the broader IFB community today.
Beliefs
Denominational beliefs are strictly Baptist. As Christian fundamentalists, they believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible, and great emphasis is also placed on a literal-historical interpretation of Scripture. Other common beliefs include separation of church and state, young Earth creationism, cessationism, and dispensationalism. In general, IFBs are opposed to theological liberalism, ecumenism, Roman Catholicism, the Charismatic movement, the ordination of women pastors, homosexuality, and evolution.Fundamentalism
As Christian fundamentalists, IFBs are opposed both to liberal Christianity and . IFBs believe that neo-evangelicalism errs by failing to practice separation sufficiently, rejecting its perceived ecumenical attitudes in some modern evangelical circles.King James Onlyism
Many IFB churches adhere to only using the King James Version of the Bible, a position known as "King James Onlyism." David Cloud, an IFB author, drawing on the arguments of textual scholar and theologian Edward Hills, asserts that the KJV should not be viewed simply as a translation of the Greek and Hebrew texts. Instead, he regards it as an independent edition of the Textus Receptus itself, rendered in English rather than Greek, and providentially preserved as the purest form of the Textus Receptus. The King James Only position was also advocated by notable IFB pastors such as Hyles and Lester Roloff, who maintained that the King James Bible is the perfectly preserved the Word of God in English. Similarly, Jack Chick, who was best known for his comic tracts, also advocated a King James Only position. A more extreme form of King James Onlyism was developed by Peter Ruckman, who argued that the KJV constitutes "new revelation" or "advanced revelation" and is superior to the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. However, some IFBs like Rice, Hutson, Lee Roberson, R. L. Hymers Jr., and others took a more moderate position in arguing that although the King James Bible is preferable to most modern translations because of its manuscript tradition, it is not divinely inspired.IFBs who support newer translations of the Bible acknowledge that there are varying opinions on textual matters. However, they believe that the fundamental concern is what the translators of the KJV advocated for: that the average person should have access to the Bible in a language they can understand.
Among IFB institutions which rejects King James Onlyism is Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. The institution treats only the original manuscripts of the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, a position that places it in opposition to the King James Only movement, which asserts that the original manuscripts no longer exist due to their being thousands of years old. King James Onlyists have criticized DBTS for playing an influential role in convincing some IFB groups to adopt modern Bible translations.
Soteriology
IFBs overwhelmingly believe in salvation by grace through faith alone and eternal security, but they may differ slightly from each other on other positions. Some align with Free Grace theology, such as Hyles, Hutson, Ernest Pickering, Smith, and Ruckman. Others, including Hymers, Jr., and Cloud, believe true repentance is abandoning sins and that salvation changes how a person lives, however, they reject requiring a lost sinner to make Jesus Christ "Lord" of their entire life. There are also some IFBs who espouse Lordship salvation and a few may even embrace moderate Calvinistic views. IFBs often emphasize the distinction between law and gospel, a concept famously illustrated in Roloff's sermon "Dr. Law and Dr. Grace." In this sermon, Roloff described the law as revealing humanity's sins and exposing their inability to attain righteousness through their own works. This understanding, he explained, serves to guide individuals toward grace, where they can find forgiveness and redemption.Most IFBs strongly believe that the literal shedding of blood on the cross was a central part of Christ's atoning work, rejecting the view that the Biblical references to blood are intended as metaphors for death and instead emphasize the literal and physical aspect. Many also teach that after his resurrection, Jesus presented his blood on the heavenly mercy seat, often considering the literal blood of Christ as the object of faith for salvation in the New Testament. A few such as Hymers, Jr., have stated that when preaching the gospel, one needs to include both the death of Jesus and the blood of Jesus. This position is in direct contrast to the position mostly associated with Robert Thieme, who rejected the bleeding of Christ as a part of the propitiation, and John F. MacArthur has also stated similar views. IFBs such as Hymers, Jr., have emphasized that due to the unity of the Person of Christ in His two natures, the blood of Jesus can also be called the blood of God.
Some IFBs adhere to the Sinner's Prayer, which is a prayer of confession to God by an unbeliever who has the desire to be saved, and they see reciting such a prayer as the moment defining one's salvation. However, others such as Cloud have criticized the sinner's prayer as leading to inauthentic conversions and calling it "quick prayerism." The claim that prayer is necessary to be saved was also critiqued by Hyles in a sermon entitled "Fundamentalist Heresy."
IFBs tend to reject atonement theories such as the governmental theory and the moral influence theory, but instead believe that Jesus' substitutionary bloody death paid the penalty of sin.