UNITED BAPTIST ASSOCIATION (GA) NOT CALVINIST

 In A brief History of the Georgia State Association (Free Will Baptists) it says the following;

 "The origins of Free Will Baptists in Georgia lie within an early nineteenth-century movement known as United Baptists. This group arose as a result of the preaching of Cyrus White, and others, that put them at odds with the majority in the Georgia Baptist Convention. In 1829, White published the booklet, A Scriptural View of the Atonement, in which he argued for universal atonement. He and those associated with him also defended human responsibility and opposed unconditional election. When the Baptist establishment demonstrated intolerance of their “free will” views, they founded their own association of churches in 1831 and took the name United Baptists.*(When they say the "majority in the Georgia Baptist Convention" this would include those Non Calvinists who held to eternal security)

In choosing this name they deliberately identified themselves with the merger of Regular and Separate Baptists in Virginia, in 1787, where the name “United Baptist” had been adopted. That merger had represented a wider tolerance for those at various points along the scale between Calvinism and Arminianism, and these folks in Georgia evidently felt the spirit of United Baptists upheld their liberty to teach Christ died for all, the gospel is available to all, and no persons have been eliminated from the possibility of salvation by virtue of an unconditional decree of God. And so, the United Baptist Association, with churches at first in the central western part of the state (in Jasper, Henry, and nearby counties) grew and thrived until well into the 1850s. 

The first effort toward a statewide organization of Free Will Baptists in Georgia resulted in the formation of the Georgia State Convention of Liberal Baptists, apparently formed in 1890 or 1891. At the time, “Liberal Baptists” meant any Baptist, regardless of name, who held to free will views. Member bodies included the Chattahoochee, Middle Georgia, Martin, Liberty, Ogeechee, and Georgia Union United FWB associations." To read for yourself, see here.    

 Many who later became Free Will Baptists were not only part of the United Baptist movement, but were also notably present within the Separate Baptists, and part of the Georgia Baptist Convention, until 1891. Again we see the term "Liberal Baptists"  which referred to those who held to general atonement, whether Provisionist or Free Will. This particular article is slightly wrong when it seems to imply that the term referred only to "free will views". The United Free Will Baptists had their roots in the Separate Baptists, later merging with Free Will Baptists from the movement begun by Paul Palmer in North Carolina. These are the Baptists that Regular Baptists complained of when they spoke about the Separates, as recorded by Baptist historian Robert Semple when he wrote the following;

 "...the Regulars [Calvinists] complained that the Separates...kept within their communion many who were professed Arminians, etc. To these things it was answered by the Separates...that if there were some among them who leaned too much towards the Arminian system they were generally men of exemplary piety and great usefulness in the Redeemer’s kingdom, and they conceived it better to bear with some diversity of opinion in doctrines than to break with men whose Christian deportment rendered them amiable in the estimation of all true lovers of genuine godliness.Indeed, that some of them had now become fathers in the Gospel, who previous to the bias which their minds had received had borne the brunt and heat of persecution, whose labors and sufferings God had blessed, and still blessed to the great advancement of His cause. To exclude such as these from their communion would be like tearing the limbs from the body." (History of the Baptists in Virginia, Robert Baylor Semple, First Published, 1810, pp 68-69 emphasis mine). The claim by modern Calvinists that the Separate Baptists were all hard core Calvinists is absolutely false.

The United Baptist movement in the early 1800's was an attempt to unite Calvinist, Provisionist and Free Will Baptists, who while keeping their distinct theologies intact, agreed to regard one another with equal validity as Baptists, recognizing the validity of each others baptisms, ordinations and church acts, and cooperating in evangelism. When the missions split occurred, and hyper Calvinism was exposed among the newly founded Primitive Baptists, the remaining United Baptists dropped their tolerance of Calvinism, resulting in only Provisionism and Arminianism being tolerated among those who remain United Baptists today.

In their minutes from 1851, it is interesting that they invited a minister from the Methodist Church, along with all "Evangelical Orders" to visit the association, while excluding another United Baptist association because they practiced open communion. This is just one example of the theological complexities among Baptists at the time.

They, being originally Separate Baptists, declared the Bible alone was their confession of faith (see pics of the 1851 minutes below) It is helpful to keep in mind that those who go by "Free Will Baptists" are not quite the same as those who go by "General Baptists". Although both believe salvation may be lost, the Free Will Baptists are more "secure" in their view than General Baptists. Free Will Baptists reject the view that salvation is lost because of a backslidden state, believing that apostasy only comes by an act of the will, what is now called "deconstruction" or renunciation of the faith, while General Baptists are totally Arminian, believing salvation may be lost by remaining in sin too long.