First Baptist Church is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, a mainline Protestant denomination of 1,500,000 members in 5,800 congregations, predominantly in the Northern part of the United States. We are the only American Baptist congregation in the Iowa City area.

On the regional level, we are affiliated with the Mid-American Baptist Churches, consisting of about 150 American Baptist congregations throughout Iowa and Minnesota. Through our region, we enjoy many opportunities for retreats, conferences, mission trips, and other special activities.

There are many groups who go by the name “Baptist.” Here are a few things that make the American Baptist Churches USA distinctive:

The American Baptist Churches USA is the oldest Baptist denomination in America. We trace our origins in America to Roger Williams, a Baptist minister who in 1636 founded the colony of Providence, Rhode Island as a haven for religious liberty and freedom of conscience.

American Baptists are an ecumenical people, affiliated with both the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. At every level, from local congregations to international organizations, we cooperate with other religious bodies in order to increase the vitality and scope of our ministries.

American Baptists are vigorous defenders of religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and the separation of Church and State. We believe that it is in the best interests of both Church and State to maintain a “wall of separation” between the two. We respect the expressions of faith of other people, and value dialogue with them as a healthy means to understanding.

American Baptists share in the larger tradition of progressive Protestantism. We have strongly supported higher education, founding such notable schools as Brown University, Colgate University, and the University of Chicago. The most prominent American Baptist theologian has been Walter Rauschenbusch, the father of the “social gospel” at the turn of the twentieth century. American Baptists continue to be strongly committed to peace and social and economic justice at home and around the world.

American Baptist church polity is congregational. We view the local church as the fundamental unit of mission. Each congregation is responsible for calling its own pastor, determining its own style of worship, articulating its own faith, and living out its own call to mission. Therefore, there is a great deal of variety among American Baptist congregations.

American Baptists differ greatly from Southern Baptists. The two denominations split in 1845 over the issue of slavery; Southern Baptists defended the institution, whereas American Baptists sought to abolish it. Since that time, the two groups have evolved in very different ways. Unlike the Southern Baptist Convention, which is dominated by rigid fundamentalism, the American Baptist Churches USA is much more open and inclusive. American Baptists are more diverse—ethnically, culturally, and theologically—and celebrate that diversity as one of the great strengths of our denomination. American Baptists also affirm the leadership of women in all areas of church life and ministry.