The Baptist churches grew out of the Puritan revolt against the Church of England. From the beginning there were two major groups: Particular Baptists believed that Christ died to atone for the sins of an elect few, and General Baptists believed that Christ died for everyone.

Religious persecution led a group of people who did not agree with the Church of England to move to Holland in 1608. There in 1609, John Smyth and 36 others formed the first official Baptist church congregation.

There is no accurate record concerning the first Baptist church in the British colonies, but from the known facts, it is believed that in 1639, Roger Williams, expelled from Massachusetts for his religious views, founded the first American Baptist church at Providence, Rhode Island. The second Baptist church in New England was in Newport, R.I. In 1644, John Clarke, a minister and a physician, formed that Baptist church. The General Baptists never really took hold in the colonies, but the Particular Baptist did well, especially in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The Philadelphia Baptist Association was formed in 1707, and the Charleston Baptist Association formed in 1751. Baptists grew in numbers, especially during the Great Awakening of the last half of the 18th century.

In the early days of America, the Baptists as a group were active in the struggle for religious liberty. They were instrumental in getting the 1st Amendment to the Constitution passed in 1791, guaranteeing everyone the freedom of religion.

African American Baptists began to organize into independent churches as early as 1773. Their growth led to the formation of two of the largest Baptist denominations, the Foreign Mission Baptist convention in 1880, and the National Baptist Convention in 1895. The black Baptist churches have played a significant role in the civil rights movement. Church buildings were often the meeting places of the Freedom Movement, with Baptist ministers as group leaders. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr., who organized and led nonviolent protest marches and sit-ins for civil rights, was a Baptist minister.

In 1845, the pro-slavery Baptists organized the Southern Baptist Convention. Later various Baptist agencies in the North consolidated to form the Northern Baptist Convention in 1907. From the Northern Baptists came the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches in 1932 and the Conservative Baptist Churches in 1940. From the Southern Baptist Convention came out the Landmarkers in 1905, who formed the American Baptist Association and the Baptist Bible Fellowship in the 1950s.