Baptist Beliefs: Priesthood of All Believers

The Baptists came from a group that fled England because of religious conflict. Much of it (but not all) was between the Church of Rome and the Church of England. Both churches had an emphasis on the priesthood.

The Baptists went in a different direction. Baptist pastors were not priests, at least not in the Roman Catholic or Anglican sense.

Priests have special authority and the people were reliant upon them in their connection to God.

However, the New Testament doesn’t talk about a special class of Christians called priests, who the rest of the people are dependent upon. Rather the New Testament points to all believers as being priests.

Baptists believe that all Christians have direct access to God without any human intermediary. It does not matter if one is ordained or a pastor or anything else.

Any Christian can preach or baptize or lead communion. That is not to say that pastors are unimportant. Rather pastors help to develop the ministry skills of the people rather than doing all the ministry themselves.