Seventh Day Baptists are Christian Baptists who observe the Sabbath on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. The first recorded Seventh Day Baptist church was the Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church, formed in London, England in 1653 under the leadership of Dr. Peter Chamberlen. The first Seventh Day Baptist church in America was in Newport, Rhode Island in December 1671. Stephen Mumford, a Seventh Day Baptist from England, arrived in Rhode Island in 1665. Finding no "seventh day" church, he united with the "first-day" Baptist church in Newport, pastored by John Clarke. These brethren walked together until 1671, when Mumford and his followers withdrew and founded the First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Newport. Other churches rose in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and soon spread north into Connecticut & New York, and south into Virginia and the Carolinas. Sabbatarianism also emerged among the Germans at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, (founded in 1735). Ephrata was incorporated as the German Religious Society of Seventh Day Baptists in 1814. The Seventh Day Baptist General Conference was organized in 1801.
In 1995, the Seventh Day Baptists had 78 churches with 4885 members in the United States, 2 churches with 55 members in England, and 1 church of 40 members in Canada. Conferences exist in other countries as well. The Seventh Day Baptist World Federation was founded in 1964/1965, and it now claims to represent over 50,000 Baptists in 17 member organizations in 22 countries.
Other than the belief that the Christian Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, Seventh Day Baptists are very similar to other Baptists. Offices of the General Conference are maintained in Janesville, Wisconsin. The Missionary Society offices are in Westerly, Rhode Island, and the Board of Christian Education has offices in Alfred Station, New York. The Seventh Day Baptist General Conference is a member of the Baptist World Alliance.
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