How old is the Baptist church?

Answer 1

Answer 1:

About 2,000 years old. It was started by Jesus Christ before he died on the cross.

Answer 2:

Jesus Christ did not start the Baptist church. It is with Jesus that the religion now known as Christianity began. Jesus made it clear that he was bridegroom and the church was the bride, but he certainly never made allegiance to any one branch or denomination of the church.

Many Baptists trace their lineage to the work of John the Baptist, specifically in how he batised even Christ, but this is not necessarily the case. In fact, there was no specific church at that time except for the Jewish faith. Christ granted Peter the commission that "on this rock I will build my church", but notice his use of the word "church". In fact, the first churches were entirely non-denominational, preaching, teaching and baptising, as Christ said to do, and as all Christian churches continue to do today.

From this movement arose the Roman Catholic church which, unfortunately, required so much by way of "law" from its people that the true meaning of the Gospel was lost. This did not change until Martin Luther's obvious and very public objections. Baptists came out of the same protestant movement sparked by Martin Luther, which came out of Luther's objections to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

See also the related questions.