World Baptist Fellowship

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The World Baptist Fellowship (WBF) is a separatist fundamentalist Baptist organization. The organization was founded by J. Frank Norris (1877–1952) of Texas, a southern fundamentalist leader in the first half of the 20th century.

Background

The Fundamentals was a series of twelve 128-page booklets defending the 'fundamentals' of the faith, such as the inerrancy of the Bible, the virgin birth of Christ and the literal return of Christ. In 1920 Curtis Lee Laws, a Baptist editor of The Watchman-Examiner, coined the term 'fundamentalist' and defined a fundamentalist as one "ready to do battle royal for the Fundamentals of the faith." J. Frank Norris became a combatant in the fundamentalist/modernist controversy. He edited a paper entitled The Fundamentalist. Both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist General Convention of Texas expelled Norris because of his controversial behavior. Norris, C. P. Staley and others formed the Premillennial Missionary Baptist Fellowship in 1933 at Fort Worth, Texas. In 1938, the name was changed to World Fundamental Baptist Missionary Fellowship and then to World Baptist Fellowship (WBF) after the schism that created the Baptist Bible Fellowship International in 1950. The WBF was again divided in 1984, when a group led by Raymond W. Barber established the Independent Baptist Fellowship International and the Norris Bible Baptist Institute.

Organization and purpose

The WBF considers itself a missions agency. Its missionary work is headed by the Mission Committee, whose members are nominated by the existing committee and approved by the General Assembly in annual meeting. In 2003, the WBF had 85 approved missionaries. National Fellowship meetings are held twice per year.

The organization is headquartered in Arlington, Texas, on the campus of Arlington Baptist College (an accredited Bible College, which is the organization's educational arm).

The World Baptist Fellowship had 945 churches in 1995, with its primary strength in Texas, Florida and Ohio. More than half of these churches also participate in other independent fundamental Baptist fellowships.

Sources

Constitution and By-laws, World Baptist Fellowship
Baptists Around the World, by Albert W. Wardin, Jr.
Dictionary of Baptists in America, Bill J. Leonard, editor

External links

Official website

Baptist denominations in the United States

Alliance of Baptists American Baptist Association American Baptist Churches USA Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America Baptist Bible Fellowship International Baptist General Association of Virginia Baptist General Convention of Texas Baptist Missionary Association of America Central Baptist Association Christian Baptist Church of God Church of Christ, Instrumental Conservative Baptist Association of America Conservative Baptist Association of the Southeast Continental Baptist Churches Converge Cooperative Baptist Fellowship District of Columbia Baptist Convention Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals Free Will Baptist Church Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International General Association of Baptists General Association of General Baptists General Association of Regular Baptist Churches General Six-Principle Baptists Independent Baptist Independent Baptist Church of America Independent Baptist Fellowship International Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America Institutional Missionary Baptist Conference of America Liberty Baptist Fellowship Missionary Baptists National Association of Free Will Baptists National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. National Baptist Evangelical Life and Soul Saving Assembly of the U.S.A. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America National Primitive Baptist Convention of the U.S.A. New England Evangelical Baptist Fellowship North American Baptist Conference Northern Baptist Convention Old Regular Baptists Old Time Missionary Baptist Original Free Will Baptist Convention Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church Primitive Baptists Primitive Baptist Conference of New Brunswick, Maine and Nova Scotia Primitive Baptist Universalist Progressive National Baptist Convention Reformed Baptists Separate Baptists Separate Baptists in Christ Seventh Day Baptists Silver Bluff Baptist Church Southern Baptist Convention Southwide Baptist Fellowship Sovereign Grace Baptists Transformation Ministries Triennial Convention Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists Union Baptists United American Free Will Baptist Church United American Free Will Baptist Conference Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches World Baptist Fellowship

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