English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- Methodists baptize infants, children and adults by sprinkling, pouring or immersion (the Global Methodist Church lets parents decide when to baptize their children); Southern Baptists baptize only believers, by immersion, and treat baptism as required for church membership.
- The Baptist Faith and Message teaches that true believers “will never fall away from the state of grace”; United Methodist and Global Methodist doctrine says a believer “may depart from grace given” and be restored. Free Will Baptists also hold that apostasy is possible.
- Each Baptist congregation governs itself and calls its own pastor; United Methodist and Global Methodist bishops appoint pastors to churches.
- In a 2012 Lifeway Research survey, only 4 percent of Southern Baptist churches limited the Lord’s Supper to their own members, and 35 percent required baptism as a believer; the United Methodist table is open to all who love Christ and repent.
- The Methodist Church gave women full clergy rights in 1956; the SBC limits the office of pastor to men and in June 2026 gave first approval to a stricter constitutional ban.
- The first Baptist church dates from about 1609 among English Separatists in Amsterdam; Methodism grew from John Wesley’s revival in the Church of England in the early 1700s.
- Between 2019 and the end of 2023, 7,659 churches, about one in four in the US, left the UMC; the Global Methodist Church, launched in 2022, had added more than 4,000 of them by December 2023.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (Acts 2:39; John 10:28; Romans 6:4), BibleGateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+6%3A4%3BActs+2%3A38-39%3BJohn+10%3A27-29&version=ESV
- Southern Baptist Convention. The Baptist Faith and Message (adopted 2000, amended 2023), Articles I, IV, V, VI, VII, XV and XVIII. https://bfm.sbc.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BFM2000.pdf
- Southern Baptist Convention. “Fast Facts.” https://www.sbc.net/about/what-we-do/fast-facts/
- The Baptist Paper. “Annual Church Profile: Amid falling membership in SBC, baptisms increase for 5th consecutive year” (2026). https://thebaptistpaper.org/annual-church-profile-amid-falling-membership-in-sbc-baptisms-increase-for-5th-consecutive-year/
- Lifeway Research. “Lifeway Surveys Lord’s Supper Practices of SBC Churches” (17 September 2012). https://research.lifeway.com/2012/09/17/lifeway-surveys-lords-supper-practices-of-sbc-churches/
- Aaron Earls. “Southern Baptist Pastors Offer Varied but Regular Gospel Invitations.” Lifeway Research, 12 November 2025. https://research.lifeway.com/2025/11/12/southern-baptist-pastors-offer-varied-but-regular-gospel-invitations/
- CNN. “Southern Baptists vote to advance a formal ban on churches with women pastors” (10 June 2026). https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/10/us/southern-baptists-women-pastors-vote
- Christianity Today. “Southern Baptists Move Closer to Constitutional Ban on Women Pastors” (June 2026). https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/06/southern-baptist-constitution-ban-women-pastors/
- National Association of Free Will Baptists. “What Is a Free Will Baptist?” https://nafwb.org/site/what-is-a-free-will-baptist/
- Missouri State University. “The Baptist Tradition.” 500 Years of Reformations and Their Books. https://www.missouristate.edu/Reformations/Baptist.htm
- The United Methodist Church. “The Articles of Religion of The Methodist Church” (Articles XII, XVI, XVII, XVIII). https://www.umc.org/en/content/articles-of-religion
- The United Methodist Church. “Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church” (Articles VI, X, XI). https://www.umc.org/en/content/confession-of-faith
- The United Methodist Church. By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism. https://www.umc.org/en/content/by-water-and-the-spirit-a-united-methodist-understanding-of-baptism
- The United Methodist Church. “What do I need to know about baptism in The United Methodist Church?” https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-baptism-in-the-united-methodist-church
- The United Methodist Church. “What do I need to know about Holy Communion in The United Methodist Church?” https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-holy-communion-in-the-united-methodist-church
- The United Methodist Church. “Distinctive Wesleyan Emphases” (Book of Discipline). https://www.umc.org/en/content/distinctive-wesleyan-emphases
- The United Methodist Church. “Book of Discipline: ¶ 425 ff. Appointment-Making.” https://www.umc.org/en/content/book-of-discipline-425-appointment-making
- The United Methodist Church. “Why do United Methodist pastors change churches?” https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-why-do-united-methodist-pastors-change-churches
- The United Methodist Church. “United Methodists At-A-Glance.” https://www.umc.org/en/content/united-methodists-at-a-glance
- The United Methodist Church. “Glossary: Aldersgate.” https://www.umc.org/en/content/glossary-aldersgate
- The United Methodist Church. “Glossary: Wesleyan Quadrilateral, the.” https://www.umc.org/en/content/glossary-wesleyan-quadrilateral-the
- Discipleship Ministries. “The Basic Pattern of Worship,” The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992). https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/book-of-worship/the-basic-pattern-of-worship
- John Wesley. The Journal of John Wesley, entry for 24 May 1738. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal.vi.ii.xvi.html
- UM News. “Why the 1956 women-clergy vote matters.” https://www.umnews.org/en/news/why-the-1956-women-clergy-vote-matters
- UM News. “40-year ban on gay clergy struck down” (2024). https://www.umnews.org/en/news/40-year-ban-on-gay-clergy-struck-down
- UM News. “Church ends 52-year-old anti-gay stance” (2024). https://www.umnews.org/en/news/church-ends-52-year-old-anti-gay-stance
- Christianity Today. “United Methodists Strike Ban on LGBTQ Clergy” (May 2024). https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/05/united-methodist-church-umc-general-conference-lgbtq-repeal/
- Emily McFarlan Miller. “UMC withdraws from interfaith pro-abortion rights group.” Religion News Service, 21 May 2016. https://religionnews.com/2016/05/21/umc-withdraws-from-interfaith-pro-abortion-rights-group/
- Global Methodist Church. “Our Formation.” https://www.globalmethodist.org/launch-information
- Global Methodist Church. The 2024 Book of Doctrines and Discipline (¶¶ 206, 415, Social Witness). https://storage2.snappages.site/ZW35F3/assets/files/2024-Book-of-Doctrines-Discipline-FINAL–68.pdf
- Christianity Today. “United Methodists Down 7,659 Churches As Exit Window Ends” (December 2023). https://www.christianitytoday.com/2023/12/united-methodist-church-split-total-umc-disaffiliation-lgbt/
- Christianity Today. “Southern Baptists Reject Rick Warren’s Saddleback Appeal” (June 2023). https://www.christianitytoday.com/2023/06/saddleback-sbc-women-pastors-appeal-rick-warren-southern-ba/
- General Board of Church and Society. United Methodist Social Principles, as Adopted by General Conference Charlotte, 2024 (Reproductive Health and Abortion). https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/124
- Nanne van der Zijpp and James R. Coggins. “Smyth, John (ca. 1565-1612).” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, 1989. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Smyth,_John_(ca._1565-1612)
Leave a Reply