The Baptist Story

From English Sect to Global Movement

Anthony L. Chute, Nathan A. Finn, Michael A. G. Haykin

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781433683169
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

The Baptist Story is a narrative history spanning over four centuries of a diverse group of people living among distinct cultureson separate continents while finding their identity in Christ and expressing their faith as Baptists. Baptist historians Anthony Chute, Nathan Finn, and Michael Haykin highlight the Baptist transition from a despised sect to a movement of global influence. Each chapter includes stories of people who made this history so fascinating. Although the emphasis is on the English-speaking world, The Baptist Story integrates stories of non-English-speaking Baptists, ethnic minorities, women, and minority theological traditions, all within the context of historic, orthodox Christianity. This volume provides more than just the essential events and necessary names to convey the grand history. It also addresses questions that students of Baptist history frequently ask, includes prayers and hymns of those who experienced hope and heartbreak, and directs the reader's attention to the mission of the church as a whole. Written with an irenic tone and illustrated with photographs in every chapter, The Baptist Story is ideally suited for graduate and undergraduate courses, as well as group study in the local church. (Pictures are not available in the eBook version).

Section Three

BAPTISTS IN THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES

Chapter 9

THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

The early twentieth century offered both promise and peril to Baptists. Denominational optimism was at an all-time high. Baptists the world over came together for the first time to form a global network to give witness to Baptist distinctives and emphases. Baptists were long past their days as a persecuted sect in the English-speaking world and were becoming one of the largest global movements among Protestant Christians. Ministry practices were modernized in many churches, adapted to meet the needs of a more urban, educated, and technological era. New clergy roles were developed, and women provided greater public leadership in churches and denominations than in previous centuries. The First World War dampened much of the optimism, especially among European Baptists, who suffered many devastating setbacks because of the conflict. Yet despite the horrors of war and its aftermath, new Baptist bodies were formed, and many older Baptist groups experienced significant numeric growth and organizational modernization.

The Baptist World Alliance

At the turn of the twentieth century, Baptists had been engaged in foreign missions for well over a century. Their missionary labors had borne significant numerical fruit. Though Baptists remained concentrated in North America and the British Isles, during the nineteenth century the movement had taken root in Continental Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. By 1904, there were almost 6.2 million Baptists in the world, approximately 5.5 million of whom were located in the United States and Canada. Just a half century earlier, there had been about 1.2 million Baptists in the world, with around 80 percent living in North America.

As Baptists recognized the increasingly global nature of their movement, a growing chorus began to call for a worldwide meeting of Baptists. The desire to promote fellowship among Baptists in different parts of the world was not new. British Baptist leaders such as Thomas Grantham in the seventeenth century and John Rippon in the eighteenth century had expressed hope that world Baptists would periodically meet together for the good of the wider movement. By the late nineteenth century, European and Russian Baptists were seeking closer fellowship with British Baptists, while the latter and their American counterparts were expanding missionary efforts into new lands such as Chile, Argentina, Cuba, South Africa, Malawi, and Zambia. New conventions and associations were being formed with every passing decade. The time was ripe for a world Baptist organization.

Some Southern Baptists began advocating for a “Pan-Baptist Conference” in the late nineteenth century. Kentuckians J. N. Prestridge and A. T. Robertson took up the cause when they called for a “World Baptist Congress” similar to the annual Baptist congresses that had been held in America since the 1880s. Robertson hoped “the Baptists of the world would send some of [their] mission and education leaders for a conference on Baptist world problems.” In response, the Baptist Union of Great Britain invited world Baptists to attend a gathering in London in July 1905. At the meeting, 3,250 delegates representing Baptists in twenty-three countries formed the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). Alexander Maclaren, the famed Scottish preacher and pastor of Union Chapel in Manchester, presided over the meeting, which opened with delegates reciting the Apostles’ Creed. London pastor John Clifford was elected to serve as the first president of the BWA, while Baptist Union secretary J. H. Shakespeare was tapped to serve as the first general secretary. In 1928, English Baptist J H. Rushbrooke became the first full-time secretary of the BWA.

World Baptists Recite the Apostles’ Creed

I should like the first act of this Congress to be the audible and unanimous acknowledgment of our Faith. So I have suggested that, given your consent, it would be an impressive and a right thing, and would clear away a good many misunderstandings and stop the mouth of a good deal of slander—if we here and now, in the face of the world, not as a piece of coercion of discipline, but as a simple acknowledgment of where we stand and what we believe, would rise to our feet and, following the lead of your President, would repeat the Apostles’ Creed. Will You?

Excerpted from Alexander Maclaren, “In the Name of Christ . . . by the Power of the Spirit” (1905).

The BWA was not a global association or convention but rather functioned as a voluntary organization to promote fellowship among different Baptist groups and to advocate Baptist principles, especially religious liberty. The BWA periodically convened Baptist World Congresses before deciding in the mid-twentieth century to meet every five years. In its early years the organization was led by some of the most well-known Baptists in the world, including Americans E. Y. Mullins (1923–28) and George W. Truett (1934–39), Canadian John MacNeil (1928–34), and Britain’s James H. Rushbrooke (1939–47). The latter served as BWA president after stepping down as general secretary. Though not all Baptist groups participated in the BWA, it would be fair to say the organization represented the convictions and priorities of a majority of the world’s Baptists until theological controversies began increasingly dividing Baptists during the final third of the twentieth century.

Ministry in the New Century

An increasing emphasis on professionalization among Baptist ministers emerged during the early twentieth century. In the English-speaking world, a growing number of Baptist pastors embraced the title “reverend,” a term previously associated with Catholicism and other more hierarchical traditions. Many churches, especially in cities and towns, desired that their pastors have at least a college education. A growing number of urban churches preferred at least some seminary education. Several new Baptist colleges were started around the turn of the century in North America and Britain, many of them in rural areas. In Britain, Baptists debated whether there should be a college education requirement for pastors. In the end they adopted a process of distinguishing between probationary ministers and accredited ministers, based on factors such as education, ministry experience, and scores on an examination prepared by the Baptist Union—though, of course, churches remained free to call whomever they pleased to serve as their pastors. Among Baptists in the American South, the earlier practice of an “annual call” for ministers gradually fell into disfavor as churches entered into semipermanent relationships with their pastors.

“Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go”by B. B. McKinney © 1936

“Take up thy cross and follow Me,” I heard my Master say;

“I gave My life to ransom thee, ­Surrender your all today.”

Chorus:

Wherever He leads I’ll go, Wherever He leads I’ll go,

I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He leads I’ll go.

He drew me closer to His side, I sought His will to know,

And in that will I now abide, Wherever He leads I’ll go.

It may be thro’ the shadows dim, Or o’er the stormy sea,

I take my cross and follow Him, Wherever He leadeth me.

My heart, my life, my all I bring To Christ who loves me so;

He is my Master, Lord, and King, Wherever He leads I’ll go.

Professionalization also influenced the ministries of many local churches. Larger congregations began to employ associate pastors to assist with pastoral care and preaching responsibilities. Some churches also began to employ additional ministry staff, especially paid choir directors and Christian education directors. Though preaching remained the central facet of Baptist worship, church music was becoming increasingly elaborate as many urban churches formed choirs and installed organs. Congregational singing was also evolving. The revivals of the previous century influenced evangelical hymnody, and Baptist denominations in America and England published hymnals that included both the older hymns of Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley and newer songs written by Philip Bliss, Ira Sankey, Fanny Crosby, and Southern Baptist B. B. McKinney. In addition to choir directors, larger churches frequently compensated instrumentalists, especially pianists and organists. Many colleges and seminaries established programs in church music to accommodate this growing ministry emphasis.

Christian education directors typically coordinated Sunday school and outreach, which were often paired together, especially in North America. Many Baptists adopted a Sunday school strategy that focused on teaching the whole Bible to students over the course of a prescribed period, normally seven years. Arthur Flake of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board published an important book titled Building a Standard Sunday School (1922). Flake emphasized age-graded classes to facilitate using Sunday school for evangelism. He wrote, “The supreme business of Christianity is to win the Lost to Christ. This is what churches are for . . . . surely then the Sunday school must relate itself to the winning of the lost to Christ as an ultimate objective.” “Flake’s Formula,” as this approach came to be known, significantly influenced Southern Baptists and, through them, numerous other groups. As with music ministry, colleges and seminaries increasingly offered training in Christian education. By the mid-twentieth century, many churches were ordaining choir and education directors, often using the more clerical titles “minister of music” and “minister of education.”

Many Baptist churches, especially in urban centers, upgraded their buildings around the turn of the new century. Urban churches increasingly abandoned the simple wood or brick structures of previous generations in favor of neo-Gothic sanctuaries with high steeples. Some urban Baptist churches with particularly gifted preachers adopted the “temple church” model, constructing enormous sanctuaries with padded pews and wrap-around balconies. Charles Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle was the prototype for this approach; many similar churches were named the Metropolitan Tabernacle in honor of Spurgeon’s congregation. Among the locations of temple or ­tabernacle-style churches were America, Australia, New Zealand, and Northern Ireland.

A Baptist “Prosperity Gospel”

I say that you ought to get rich, and it is our duty to get rich. How many of my pious brethren say to me, “Do you, a Christian minister, spend your time going up and down the country advising young people to get rich, to get money?” “Yes, of course I do.” They say, “Isn’t that awful! Why don’t you preach the gospel instead of preaching about man’s making money?” “Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel.” That is the reason.

Excerpted from Russell Conwell, “Acres of Diamonds.”

Prominent temple churches in the United States included the Tremont Temple in Boston, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Atlanta, and especially Russell Conwell’s Baptist Temple in Philadelphia. Conwell was among the most prominent Baptist pastors in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is also noteworthy for founding Temple University in Philadelphia and delivering his lecture “Acres of Diamonds” at least 6,000 times to audiences all over the world. The lecture argued that it is God’s will for faithful Christians to enjoy material wealth, making Conwell a forerunner of the so-called prosperity gospel of the late-twentieth century. In 1969, the former Conwell School of Theology, previously affiliated with Temple, merged with Gordon Divinity School near Boston. The latter was named for Conwell’s contemporary Adoniram Judson Gordon, a fellow Baptist, close friend of D. L. Moody’s, and a noteworthy proponent of international missions and premillennial eschatology. The new evangelical school was called Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Some city churches in North America adopted the “institutional church” model, wherein the church became a community center dedicated to reaching the urban masses. Institutional churches offered education classes for adults and after-school programs for young people, constructed gymnasiums for community use, and operated clothing closets and soup kitchens for the poor. Judson Memorial ...