Who are independent Baptists? What is an independent Baptist church? When did they begin? What is the difference between an independent Baptist church and other Baptist churches? These are all valid questions and deserve an answer, and that is the purpose of this book.

      All churches of the New Testament were Baptist churches and each was an independent Baptist church. Also, true New Testament churches have continued from New Testament times down to the present, and remained independent Baptist churches until comparatively recent times when organizations began to be formed called Associations, Conventions and Fellowships. Along with these super-church organizations were formed Mission Boards and Committees with Mission Directors and Secretaries, and other such mission agencies, all of which are extra-Scriptural and not to be found in the Bible. [For a full in-depth study of this subject, read my book The Bible, The Baptists, and The Board System available from The Challenge Press, P. O. Box 5567, Little Rock, AR 72215.]

      In spite of the historical and Biblical evidence that New Testament churches were all independent Baptist churches and remained such for centuries, the advocates of the various organizations either claim or insinuate that independent Baptists are of recent origin. One organization, the World Baptist Fellowship, not only claims that they are composed of independent Baptist churches, but that their founder, Dr. J. Frank Norris, actually began all independent Baptist churches. Dr. Earl K. Oldham, editor of the Arlington Baptist College Media writes in the November 18, 1977 issue:

"I was privileged to sit at the feet of Dr. Norris as a student. I heard him preach some of the greatest messages that mortal man could preach anointed by the Holy Spirit. Fundamentalists must admit that had it not been for Dr. Norris, humanly speaking, there would not be such a thing as independent Baptists. He was the only one who seemed to have nerve enough to stand up against the powers that be. He stood, and as a result others came out and independent Baptists became a reality. All of us who are independent Baptists, regardless of what fellowship we are in, owe our very existence to Dr. Norris, humanly speaking. We are what we are, and we have what we have because he dared to stand, and having done all to stand, he stood therefore."

      If Dr. Oldham were to mean that Dr. Norris was the founder of the World Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist Bible Fellowship [since the BBF is a split out of the WBF] there would be no argument, for it is true that Dr. Norris is the founder of the World Baptist Fellowship, but the statement "had it not been for Dr. Norris, there would not be such a thing as independent Baptists," is completely false. There have been independent Baptists and independent Baptist churches long before Dr. Norris came on the scene, and to make such a statement is completely dishonest.

      In the reading of this book, our readers will see that independent Baptists are Baptists who have remained faithful, true and loyal to the New Testament pattern of church truth by remaining independent of all earthly entanglements, alliances, and organizations, and that Baptist churches that have either joined or affiliated with the various organizations, are the ones who have departed from the principles for New Testament churches laid down in the New Testament.
      Little Rock, Arkansas
     M. L. Moser, Jr.
     December 13, 1977

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[From M. L. Moser, editor, The Case for Independent Baptist Churches, 1977. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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