Take a Walk Through History

What do you really know about Free Will Baptists? Perhaps you have heard the word Baptist all your life without stopping to consider where the name came from. Maybe you didn’t realize there are dozens of Baptist groups: Missionary Baptists, Primitive Baptists, American Baptists, Independent Baptists, General Baptists, Regular Baptists, and more.

Why would one group of Baptists add “Free Will” to the front of their name? How are they different from more than 20 other Baptist groups? The Free Will Baptists in the South began in 1727, making this one of the oldest Baptist groups in the United States. For more than 250 years, Free Will Baptist churches have contributed to the moral and spiritual fiber of our nation. Would you like to know more?

Visit www.FWBHistory.com, a website created by the Free Will Baptist Historical Commission. The site offers important Free Will Baptist historical documents for download, from books of historical record to biographies, periodicals, minutes from the national conventions, and more. It also contains a regularly updated history blog and an ever-growing list of publicly accessible Free Will Baptist history collections.

Get to Know the Free Will Baptist Historical Collection. One of the most important tasks of the Historical Commission has been to collect and catalogue historical materials. These materials have been amassed into a large repository of historical documents located in the Welch College Library in Gallatin, Tennessee. Access the online database to search collection holdings.

Note: When searching for historical files, use the Limit Search Results feature and select Collections/Historical Collection. Other options are available to help you narrow the field of your research.