Seventh Day Baptists observe the Biblical seventh day Sabbath, the day established and blessed by God at earth's creation. The Sabbath was given to mankind long before any distinctions between Jew and Gentile.

God commanded that the seventh day (Saturday) be kept holy. Jesus agreed by keeping it a day of worship. We observe the seventh day of the week (Saturday) as God's Holy Day as an act of loving obedience--not as a means of salvation. Salvation is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ.

The Sabbath provides believers with a specific time to honor and worship the Creator. It is the joy of the Sabbath that makes Seventh Day Baptists just a little bit different.

Seventh Day Baptists emerged as a part of the English Reformation, organizing their first church in London in the 1650s. That church, the Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church, has continued for over 300 years. The first Seventh Day Baptist church in America was established in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1671. Led by an English SDB emigrant, Stephen Mumford, seven members of Newport's First Baptist Church withdrew to form a new Sabbath-keeping group.

Soon, the center of Seventh Day Baptist growth in New England shifted to the "Westerly" part of Rhode Island. Other early churches were established in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it was from these three centers that the denomination grew. A desire to expand the fellowship and to organize for missionary efforts led to the founding of the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference in 1802. Denominational work blossomed in the mid-1800s with the initiation of the first foreign mission, the beginning of publication efforts, and an especially strong interest in education. The establishment of community academies evolved into Alfred University (New York), Milton College (Wisconsin), and Salem College (West Virginia).

Stirred by the zealous A.H. Lewis, and benefitting from a national evangelistic fervor, Seventh Day Baptists enjoyed rapid growth in the latter part of the 19th century. In the first half of the 20th century, focus was on ecumenical and social concerns, and more recently on church growth and extension into urban settings.

The Seventh Day Baptist World Federation was established in 1965 to provide for communication, fellowship, and international cooperation among Seventh Day Baptist conferences and groups around the world. Delegates from 16 member conferences celebrated the Federation's 20th anniversary in 1986, representing some 50,000 SDBs in 20 nations.