Independent Baptists in Georgia
From the Georgia EncyclopediaSome Baptists in Georgia have chosen not to participate in any association and/or convention. Shortly after the Georgia Baptist Convention was initiated, some churches and associations identified themselves as missionary but opted to remain independent from the convention. Over the years at least 44 associations have occupied this classification; 8 of these associations remain, comprising about 124 churches and about 20,125 members. Many independent churches are located in rural areas and favor temperance, feet washing, ministers without theological training, and associational missions. Their primary focus is on worship, mutual encouragement, and localized benevolences.
More recently, some independent churches and pastors have begun identifying themselves with one or more national or regional fellowships—chiefly the Baptist Bible Fellowship International and the Southwide Baptist Fellowship. Usually urban, these churches emphasize missions, evangelism, education, and publications. Since the 1990s an annual fellowship and preaching conference has been held that attempts to include all independent churches and pastors. The Georgia Baptist Bible Fellowship sponsors a monthly fellowship meeting, held at churches throughout the state, and maintains a Web site. An estimated 1,000 churches in Georgia, with 150,000 members, are in this category.
A third group is composed of thoroughgoing independents who remain completely separate from other churches. Around 500 congregations with 50,000 members make up this category.
Landmark Baptists in Georgia
From the Georgia EncyclopediaAfter a brief presence in northwest Georgia before the Civil War, Landmark Baptists returned to the state about 1900. They have produced a unique combination of ideas and practices, some of which are common to other Baptists as well, including the priority of the local church in sponsoring missions, the succession of Baptist churches from the New Testament to the present, and baptism and the Lord's Supper as ordinances of the local church, as well as the refusal to accept open communion, immersion baptisms administered by other denominations, and pulpit affiliation. Since 1946 the majority of Landmark churches in the state have united in the Georgia State Association of Missionary Baptist Churches. Over the years at least 66 Georgia churches have been of this variety. In 2005 the number stood at about 39 churches and missions with an estimated 2,564 members.
============ [From: https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
Baptists: Various Subjects
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