Christian Pure
Denominations Compared92 articles

Methodist vs Baptist: Baptism, Salvation and Who Chooses the Pastor

Christian Pure Team

·

Published

·

Updated

Summary

  • Methodists baptize babies as well as adults, by sprinkling, pouring or immersion, and in the Global Methodist Church parents decide when; Southern Baptists baptize only believers, by immersion, and require it for church membership.
  • Southern Baptists teach that true believers “will never fall away from the state of grace,” while United and Global Methodists teach that a believer “may depart from grace given” and be restored, and Free Will Baptists also hold that apostasy is possible.
  • A Baptist congregation governs itself and calls its own pastor, while United Methodist and Global Methodist bishops appoint pastors to churches.
  • In a 2012 Lifeway Research survey only 4 percent of Southern Baptist churches kept the Lord’s Supper for their own members and 35 percent required baptism as a believer, and the United Methodist table is open to all who love Christ and repent.
  • The Methodist Church gave women full clergy rights in 1956, while the SBC limits the office of pastor to men and in June 2026 gave first approval to a stricter ban in its constitution.
  • Baptists came first, among English Separatists in Amsterdam about 1609, and 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, and the Global Methodist Church, launched in 2022, had added more than 4,000 of them by December 2023.

Methodists and Baptists are Protestants who preach salvation by grace through faith, and they part on three things. Methodists baptize babies and accept sprinkling, teach that a believer can fall from grace, and have bishops appoint pastors. Baptists baptize only believers, by immersion, mostly teach that a true believer cannot be lost, and let each congregation choose its pastor. Those differences are real, and they reach the water, the table and the pulpit. They also rest on shared ground. On…

Continue reading with a subscription

Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.

Subscribe now

Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.

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)

Responses

Leave a Reply

RedditWhatsApp
Share to...
CopyLinkedInMastodonPinterestPrintRedditSMSThreadsWhatsAppBlueskyVK