The First Baptist Church in America

1638 · Providence (Providence, Rhode Island, USA)

Roger Williams, banished from Massachusetts Bay, gathers a church at Providence and is baptized by immersion; the congregation is the first Baptist church in America, and Williams's colony practices the soul liberty his writings defend.

Tagged: Baptist Christian

The Event

Date
1638 (exact)
Era
Reformation; Standard ecumenical periodization
Location
Providence; today Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Traditions
Christianity
Streams
Baptist
Key figures
Roger Williams
Key texts
The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (1644)

Primary Sources

  • Roger Williams, The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution

Secondary Sources

  • González, The Story of Christianity, vols. 1–2 (Harper, 2010)

Provenance: HIST-0074; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.

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