Churches do not have a central governing authority, unlike most other denominations that do. Therefore, beliefs are not totally consistent from one Baptist church to another, especially those that may be considered minor. However, on major theological issues, Baptist distinctives are beliefs that are common among almost all Baptist churches. Baptists share so-called "orthodox" Christian beliefs with most other moderate or conservative Christian denominations. These would include beliefs about one God, virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, vicarious atoning death, burial, and bodily resurrection of Christ, the Trinity (the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, together with God the Father), the need for salvation (though the understanding of means for achieving it may differ at times), grace, the church, the Kingdom of God, last things (Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge everyone in righteousness), evangelism and missions. Some historically significant Baptist doctrinal documents include the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, the 1833 New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith, the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message, and written church "covenants" which some individual Baptist churches adopt as a statement of their faith and beliefs. Baptists generally believe in the literal Second Coming of Christ at which time God will sit in judgment and divide humanity between the saved and the lost (the Great White Throne judgment Rev 20:11) and Christ will sit in judgment of the believers (the Judgment Seat of Christ 2Cor 5:10), rewarding them for things done while alive. Beliefs among Baptists regarding the "end times" include Amillennialism, dispensationalism, and historic premillennialism, with views such as postmillennialism and preterism receiving some support.
- Biblical authority (Mat 24:35; 1Pet 1:23; 2Tim 3:16-17)
- Autonomy of the local church (Mat 18:15-17; 1Cor 6:1-3)
- Priesthood of all believers (1Pet 2:5-9; 1Tim 5)
- Two ordinances (believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper) (Acts 2:41-47; 1Cor 11:23-32)
- Individual soul liberty (Rom 14:5-12)
- Separation of Church and State (Mat 22:15-22)
- Two offices of the church (pastor and deacon) (1Tim 3:1-13; Tit 1-2)
Autonomy of the local church (Congregationalism)
Congregationalist church governance gives autonomy to individual local churches in areas of policy, polity and doctrine. Baptist churches are not under the direct administrative control of any other body such as a national council, or a leader such as a bishop or pope. For each congregation, there is no higher authority on earth than the vote of the congregation's members. Administration, leadership and doctrine are usually decided democratically by the lay members of each individual church congregation. As a result, there is tremendous diversity of beliefs and worship practices among Baptist churches.
Exceptions to this local form of democratic congregational governance include a few churches that submit to the leadership of a body of elders, as well as some Reformed Baptists who are organized in a Presbyterian system and the Congolese Episcopal Baptists that have an Episcopal system.
Most Baptist megachurches lean towards a strong clergy-led style, whereby the membership has little or no oversight into the affairs of the church leadership. Though this does not follow the practice of congregationalist church governance, it is consistent with the principles of individual church autonomy.
In a manner typical of other congregationalists, many cooperative conventions (large national or international administrative organizations) of Baptists have been formed so that individual churches can pool resources, primarily for missions, theological education, and publications. Such conventions have no direct authority over the operations of individual local churches. Local churches decide at what level they will participate in these conventions. Conversely, a local association of Baptist churches can vote a member church out of the association by majority vote of other members. Recently this form of associational excommunication (from association membership, not from salvation), contrary to historical baptist practice, has happened to some local churches in the Southern Baptist Convention for such things as ordaining women, hiring a woman pastor, and accepting practicing homosexuals as members.
Baptist denominations cannot directly enforce any kind of theological or practical orthodoxy among their constituent congregations. The denomination can choose not to accept the money or participation of congregations whose beliefs or practices are outside whatever norms the group has established. Likewise, they can refuse to recognize the ministerial credentials of clergy (which negatively affects the ability of chaplains to be accepted into the military), and set boundaries for orthodoxy for institutions, such as universities, seminaries, schools, and hospitals) owned or operated by the denomination.