American Baptist History

The following information was presented in an article by our Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin, Dr. Arlo Reichter. I believe he got it from the Dakota Baptist. This history tells us a bit more about who we are as American Baptists, and how God has led us for the past 300 years.
· American Baptists were the most important influence in attaching the Bill of Rights to the
Constitution.
· More than any other denomination, we pioneered Black Education in the South after the Civil War.
· By 1911, we had helped establish 1,100 bilingual churches, most of which eventually established
their own ethnic denomination.
· We were the first denomination to begin doing Campus Ministry.
· It was one of our churches that began the first Vacation Bible School.
· We were the first denomination to elect a woman president, Helen Barrett Montgomery.
· Prior to 1920, over 50% of the Protestant churches west of the Mississippi were constructed with
some borrowed funds from our Home Mission Society.
· At the time of the Second World War, we stood with Japanese Americans as they were put in
detention camps, when that was not a popular thing to do.
· ABC pastor Walter Rauschenbusch was called “The Father of the Social Gospel” because he
was a prime mover in Child Labor legislation.
· Our denomination has been present at the beginning of each phase of the Ecumenical
movement and continues to be supportive.
· Ours is the most effective Mission Program on earth! More people are won to Christ per
dollar spent, per missionary sent, than any other group doing mission work anywhere. That is
because we pioneered indigenous leadership everywhere.
· We are the only major denomination where there is no majority of any ethnic or racial group.
We have quite a history as American Baptists. We have something to be proud of, and something to build upon, as we share the Good News of Jesus.
(By the way, be sure to check out the latest news of our American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin. The latest updates are posted each month on the hallway bulletin board under the “Church Family” section.)