What Is The Difference Between Anglican And Baptist Churches?

          The Anglican Church is also known as the Church of England or the Episcopal Church. There are two main differences between the Anglican Church and Baptist Churches. First they differ on Church government, or "who makes the decisions?". Secondly they differ on the mode and subjects of baptism or "who should be baptised and how?"

          Both types of church are Christian, they worship Jesus Christ as Son of God and Saviour. They also base their beliefs on the Bible.

          A Baptist church is normally independent and has a congregational style of decision making. The group of people who attend the church in a particular place make up a single "church". They have a Pastor or Elders or Deacons to lead them and do the teaching, but decisions are made by a meeting of all members of the church, often by majority voting.

          The Anglican Church is one large entity, made up of many congregations throughout the world. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the highest ranking official and under him are Archbishops, Bishops and Priests. The Anglican Church makes decisions in a "Synod" of Bishops and the decisions are passed down to the individual groups of members who have little say in the way their church is run.

          When it comes to baptism, the Anglican Church baptises or christens babies, starting them off in life as Christians. Baptist churches prefer to wait for the person to make their own decision once they are older, then they baptise that person, to symbolise what has already happened.