BIRMINGHAM — The National Primitive Baptist Convention observed its centennial year during a weeklong meeting in Birmingham that ended Aug. 24. “We’re thanking the Lord for where He’s brought us,” said Elder Bernard Yates, vice president of the convention and pastor of Zion Hope Primitive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.
The predominantly black denomination was organized in Huntsville in 1907 and has about 1,500 churches and 600,000 members nationwide. A century ago, most Primitive Baptists called themselves “hard-shell” — unwilling to change or compromise their beliefs. Staunch, hard-shell Primitive Baptists are usually strict Calvinists, following Protestant Reformer John Calvin’s predestination teaching that God already knows the “elect,” those who are saved. “They don’t do evangelism because of the doctrine of election,” Yates said. “We had to move from that place to a broader view of predestination. It’s our responsibility to preach and teach God’s Word.”
When Primitive Baptists banded together to form a national group in 1907, many clung to practices such as singing hymns without instruments. Nowadays most churches in the convention have a mix of the old and the new. Worship usually starts with a cappella hymns from the traditional hymnbook. But most churches now also have instrumental praise bands to augment the music at other points in the worship, Yates said.
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