THE TIME CAPSULE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS

   Very little has been written about the black Primitive Baptists. Why is this? I think there are many reasons, but the main one is because their theology remained closer to the original beliefs than their white counterparts, so they were either ignored by white PB's in their historical writings, or simply remained unknown to them, because the revisionist histories they wrote, were written long after the separation of the two races in the churches. As with all churches, the African American Primitive Baptists were members of the white churches until after the Civil War. The "new" Hardshell teachings of "no means" by the predestinarian faction had already started but had not yet become entrenched, and many African American PB's who had heard this new doctrine referred to the white PB churches as "the do nothings" and once they established separate churches, rejected the "do nothing" doctrine outright.

   To understand this attitude among black Primitive Baptists, one need only look at them as a people. They were former slaves, and as such were leery of any preaching that was "elitist". The white Missionary Baptists had helped their black counterparts to build their own churches, many times giving them the land and materials to do so. The white Primitive Baptists however did not offer their black counterparts the same help. White Primitive Baptists rarely, if ever, ordained black elders, while the Missionaries had done so long before the Civil War. This left an indelible mark on the minds of black Primitive Baptists, and when they left to form their own churches, there were no black elders who could from a presbytery to ordain ministers. One such case is Elder Aaron Munland in Bulloch County Ga, who felt called to preach while still a slave, but the white PB church refused to ordain him, altho they did allow him to form an "arm" for his own people. So what did they do? The answer is stunning.

   As I delved into the histories of some black PB churches, I found two lines of ordinations. One was actually through black Missionary Baptists who offered to form a presbytery to ordain them, with the condition that they "preach the Gospel to them that had and them that had not", which in slave lingo of the 1860's, referred to the master and the slave, privileged and non privileged. This was a euphemism for "preach to everyone". The other line became ordained when the males in a congregation simply laid hands on the ordained and prayed for God's blessing. Over time the two lines intermingled along with the scarce few who had actually been ordained in a white church, which to date, I have only found three. It is probably because of this, that they more readily accept the validity of their Missionary counterparts, exchanging pulpits and holding joint services such as revivals, etc. This is also why many of them were not opposed to Sunday Schools, music, or conventions. Today almost all black PB churches belong to the National Primitive Baptist Convention which in itself is anathema to hardshells. The attitude among them is very similar to the non predestinarian white PB's, although doctrinally the black PB's are calvinistic, the black non calvinist Primitive Baptists having joined Missionary Baptists early on. There is some evidence that black Primitive Baptists who were non predestinarian dropped their opposition to mission societies when they saw white Missionary Baptists sending missionaries to Africa, building schools and orphanages, which they were unable to do, not for lack of concern, but because they simply had no way to finance those endeavors. They also saw the white Missionary Baptists aiding in the establishment of black Missionary churches, while they didn't receive the same from their Primitive Baptist white counterparts. It isn't hard to see why they "jumped the fence". They wondered why the Primitives did not offer both aid and the Gospel to their distant relatives across the ocean.

   Their articles of faith remain true to the original  beliefs of the Particular Baptists. Here are their articles of faith as they have always been recorded among them, taken from the National Primitive Baptist website. The wording of Article VI seems to be unique among them, as it appears that they believe regeneration and the new birth are two separate things. I am told that "regeneration" is a fetal state of being under conviction while"born again" refers to outright conversion, and there has been no debate as to whether or not these two occur simultaneously, although it is clear they believe all the elect will be converted. Perhaps this article was original to the white churches they came from, with the white churches changing their articles to match their new doctrines. Also, Article IX, while using the word "preserve" does not denote the same meaning it does to Hardshell PB's. It is possible that they meant "persevere" since "preserve" does not fit correctly in the sentence, but their articles were written from memory since the newly freed slaves could not read or write. Notice it says " none of them finally fall away so as to be lost" which according to the elder I spoke with proves they believe all the elect will hear and respond to the Gospel, otherwise how can they "fall away"? To not "fall away" denotes their was conscious outward  belief. The hardshell version would say "none of them will finally be lost". Also, Article VII uses "born again" (conversion) and also has the words "imputed to them by faith" which is absent in the hardshell version. The hardshell version reads " justified in the sight of God only by the imputed righteousness of Christ" with no mention of the requirement of faith. The following items contain scriptural proofs for each item but I have not included them here for brevity's sake.

Articles of Faith: What We Believe

  Article 1 – WE BELIEVE in only one true and living God and the trinity of persons in the God-head—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—and yet there are not three, but one.

Article II – WE BELIEVE the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, and the only rule of faith and practice.

Article III – WE BELIEVE in the doctrine of eternal and particular election of a definite number of the human race chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Article IV – WE BELIEVE in covenant redemption between God the Father and God the Son.

Article V – WE BELIEVE in the fall of man and the communication of Adam’s sinful nature to his posterity by ordinary generation and their impotency to recover themselves from the fallen state they are in by nature by their own free will and ability.

Article VI – We believe that all chosen in Christ shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and be effectually called, regenerated, and born again.

Article VII – We believe that sinners thus born again are justified in the sight of God alone by the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to them by faith

Article VIII – We Believe that faith is the gift of God, and good works the fruit of faith, which justify us in the sight of men and angels as evidence of our gracious state.

Article IX – We believe that all the saints of God (that are) justified by the righteousness of Christ shall preserve in grace, and none of them finally fall away so as to be lost.

Article X – We believe in a general judgment, both of the just and the unjust, and that joys of the righteous shall be eternal and the punishment of the wicked shall be everlasting.

Article XI – We believe that the visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized believers in Christ adhering to a special covenant, which recognizes Christ as their only lawgiver and ruler, and His word their exclusive guide in all religious matters. It is complete in itself and independent under Christ of every other church organization. It is alone a religious assembly, selected and called out of the world by the doctrine of the Gospel to worship the true God according to His Word.

Article XII – We Believe that the scriptural officers of the church are Pastors and Deacons.

Article XIII – We Believe that Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water by a proper administrator (an ordained elder) in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Article XIV – We believe that only an ordained Elder has a right to administer the ordinances of the Gospel, such as have been properly baptized, called, and come under the imposition of the presbytery by the authority of the Church of Christ.

Article XV – We believe that only regularly baptized and orderly Church Members have a right to communion at the Lord’s Table.

Article XVI – We believe in Washing of the Saints’ Feet in an assembly of believers immediately after the Lord’s Supper.

   Also of note is is their "Mission Statement" taken from the website of Indian Creek PB Church in Huntsville Al. which says the following:

 Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we exist to:

1. Spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to everyone.

2. Praise and worship God.

3. Encourage those in the household of faith, showing love, kindness and compassion that foster a bonding fellowship among the saints.

4. Minister to the spiritual needs of the community through evangelism and systematic witnessing to the unchurched and the unsaved.

5. Equip, train, and nurture the saints of God (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 2:41-42), teaching them to become mature Christians in the word, greater disciples in the world and good stewards over what is God’s time, talent, and treasure.

6. Reach out to the down trodden and those in despair, and in the likeness of Christ, meet physical needs.

7. Be servants unto all.

    It is VERY CLEAR that they believe in preaching and witnessing to the "unchurched and unsaved" as they say in number 4 of the Mission Statement. This would put to rest any doubt as to how they interpret Article IX
   

   Another thing to look at is their Church Covenant, which includes "tithing" and "ministerial support". I believe this was adopted at the founding of their Convention in 1907. It is interesting to note, that they declared so many things which are anathema to hardshells in 1907 when they came together to form their convention. Could this be to distance themselves from the hardshells which formalized their heresies in the Fulton Confession of 1900? Could that have been the catalyst which brought these black brethren together to form their convention?

The Primitive Baptist Church Covenant

For as much as Almighty God by His Grace has been pleased to call us out of darkness into His light, and having been baptized upon a profession of faith in Christ Jesus, and having given ourselves to the Lord and one another, in a Gospel Church way, we do covenant together by the help of God:

(1) to be governed and guided by a proper discipline agreeable to the Word of God; (2) to keep up the Discipline of the Church of which we are members in brotherly affection toward each other; (3) to watch over one another and if need be, in the most tender and affectionate manner, to reprove one another; (4) to attend our church meetings; (5) to not absent ourselves from the communion of the Lord’s Supper without a lawful reason; (6) to pay the tithe and give offerings for the defraying of the church’s expenses, and for the support of the ministry*; and (7) to not irregularly depart from the fellowship of the Church, nor to remove to the bounds of distant churches without a regular letter of dismissal and placing it in the Church in which we hold membership.These things we do covenant and agree to observe and keep sacred in the name of, and by the will of, God. Amen.

   In closing let me offer these opinions. I think one reason African American PB's didnt become hardshells is because as a minority, this would mean they would've been very isolated. The white PB's didn't have much to do with them because of racial prejudice, and had begun to adopt hardshellism. They would've isolated themselves from much of the black community. Religion has always been a framework of the black community, and to not have fellowship to a certain degree with family relatives of other denominations would've meant they'd be cut off from most of their friends and family. This is true I think of all black churches. Also, slavery is an issue. After the civil war when blacks were dismissed from all churches to form their own congregations, all interaction between the white and black churches ceased. Thus the black PB's were "frozen" in time and didnt drift to the extremes of the white PB's. This could be proof also, that the white PB's (hardshells) did indeed drift away from their original beliefs.But that's just part of the story, and I will dig further. 

   Another point to note is that black Missionary Baptists are 3 times more likely to include the word "Missionary" in the names of their churches than their white missionary counterparts.  When black PB churches "jumped the fence", they wanted to be very clear about where they stood. To these black brethren, taking "good news" back home to Africa was something to be embraced, not debated.