The African American Baptist tradition of river baptism is kept alive in the Northeast Louisiana Delta as a preservation of heritage and religion.

Jun 13, 2023 · Join us on this enlightening journey as Tank Ball discovers the origins, significance and lasting legacy of River Baptisms for the Black community.

Enslaved Africans found a deep connection between river baptisms and the spirituality of the African traditional religion. Water was the realm of the spirits, representing a source of life at creation and at birth, an instrument of purification linked to initiation rites, and a locus of regeneration (Tounouga, 2003, p. 283).

African American churches conduct baptism in various ways. Some baptize persons after they publicly confess their faith in Jesus Christ. Others baptize infants or children on the basis of family members‘ faith in Jesus Christ and the family‘s connection with that particular congregation.

Jul 14, 2006 · Baptists have been the largest African American religious group in Georgia since the late eighteenth century. Baptist churches have made vital contributions to the identity of Black people in the state by shaping behavior and belief, serving as centers of community life, and creating independent spaces free from the control of white society.

Given that this is the first Sunday of the year, a good occasion is provided for church leaders to teach why your church believes in baptism and to teach about the form of baptism in which it engages. Devote at least one page of your church bulletin/order of worship to baptism.

Aug 15, 2024 · Demonstrates that a distinctive Afro-Baptist faith emerged as slaves in Alabama combined the African religious emphasis on spirit possession, soul-travel, and rebirth with the evangelical faith of Baptists.