THE SHROPSHIRE GROUP
OF BAPTIST CHURCHES

SHROPSHIRE BAPTIST HISTORY
INTRODUCTION

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In the early days of Baptist life in Wales and, to a lesser extent in England, Baptists expressed their relationship to each other by means of a church covenant. The concept of a church covenant arose first among the English Separatists. A Separatist congregation was formed at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on the basis of a church covenant in 1606. Writing at a later date William Bradford wrote about the Gainsborough church:

The fundamental nature of a church covenant is illustrated by that adopted by the church at Hawkshead Hill in the Lake District in June 1678:

This covenant made clear that the members of the church committed themselves both to the Lord and to each other. Only at a later date did they find it necessary to specify the beliefs they held.

The eighteenth century Evangelical Revival led to the formation of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in England and the Calvinistic Methodist Church in Wales. In Wales the Revival is known as The Great Awakening (Y Deffroad Mawr) not so much because of the number of its converts but rather because by the beginning of the nineteenth century the Nonconformist denominations 'were all tinged with the aftermath of the Great Revival'. As Professor R. T. Jenkins once put it 'Harris, Rowland and Pantycelyn succeeded in casting the cloak of Methodism over them all'. It was only after 1779, under the influence of the Revival, that Baptists began to make inroads into North Wales.

In England and Wales Methodists formed societies which provided pastoral care for their members. By the nineteenth century Baptist churches in Wales followed the Methodist practice of holding society meetings (or fellowship meetings) but while the Methodists described such a meeting as a seiat the Welsh Baptists used the word cyfeilydd. During the 1859 Revival society meetings were held after every public service. Under the influence of the Evangelical Revival Dan Taylor formed in England a 'New Connexion' of the more evangelical General Baptists in 1770 and a number of New Connexion churches were formed in Cheshire but none was formed in Shropshire. Some General Baptist churches adopted Socinian beliefs and became Unitarian. The Revival also had a profound influence on several eighteenth century Particular Baptist ministers

Another Calvinistic Baptist movement began in Scotland. 'Scotch or Sandemanian Baptists', as they came to be called, were founded on the principle that both the doctrine and polity of a true church must be taken in literal detail from the New Testament. Each church should have at least two ruling elders, who were responsible for the government and teaching of the church, while deacons attended to financial matters. The elders were unpaid; Scotch Baptists often had contempt for an educated ministry and were antagonistic to what came to be called 'a one man ministry.' They observed the Lord's Supper, which they called 'The Breaking of Bread' every Lord's Day and made it a central feature of their services, often holding a Love Feast (Agape) between the morning and the evening services. The Breaking of Bread could not be observed if an elder was not present. The beliefs of the Scotch Baptists spread from Scotland into England and later into Wales. A Scotch Baptist church was founded at Haggate, two miles north east of Burnley, Lancashire, in 1760, while a church at Shrewsbury was formed in 1800. At Wrexham its minister, Robert Roberts, became a Sandemanian and by making Ramoth Jones (Rev. J. R. Jones of Ramoth, Merionethshire) acquainted with Scotch Baptist doctrines he was the means of introducing these doctrines into North Wales.

At the end of the eighteenth century there were theological tensions amongst Particular Baptists as a result of the publication in 1785 of a book written by Andrew Fuller of Kettering, entitled The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation. Although he was a convinced Calvinist, he taught that it was the duty of everyone to believe the Gospel and he went as far as to define the work of Christian ministry as 'to hold up the free grace of God through Jesus Christ.' Fuller's style and theology often clashed with those of his stricter brethren but eventually his perspective overwhelmed the old order. The churches that followed Andrew Fuller retained the title Particular Baptist calling themselves 'Moderate (or Evangelical) Calvinists' and in due course most adopted open communion, welcoming to the Lord's Table all believers whether or not they had been baptized as believers. The adoption of open communion was encouraged by the St. Mary's Norwich Chapel Case in which the High Court held that a Particular Baptist church might adopt open communion if it was not barred by the church's Trust Deed. William Gadsby and other high Calvinists rejected Fuller's contention that the law was 'The believer's rule of life.' Their churches, known as 'Strict and Particular Baptist', practised strict (or close) communion restricting attendance at the Lord's Table to those who had been baptized as believers, some accepting only those of 'the same faith and order'. The churches that followed William Gadsby became in due course Gospel Standard churches.

Calvinistic ministers were often unwilling to baptize those converted in General Baptist Churches or to admit them to communion. For instance, those converted in the General Baptist Church at Newbridge, six miles SW of Wrexham, were not recognized by the Particular Baptists of Wrexham. So they had to walk 25 miles to Nantwich for communion. Nantwich people had to walk 32 miles to be baptized in the baptistery on the Rhual estate.

Gradually the majority of Particular Baptist churches in England drew closer to the General Baptist churches and ministers were able to move freely between pastorates in Particular and General Baptist churches. For instance, in 1750 the Nantwich General Baptist Church called Henry Phillips, a Particular Baptist from Wrexham, although in 1757 he was succeeded by John Pyne, a General Baptist whose views were to cause disagreement in the Shrewsbury church. Later the re-formed Nantwich church called to the pastorate the high Calvinist Edward Evans, who had previously been pastor at Snailbeach. His predecessor, J.B.Lockwood, had left for a General Baptist Church.

Many of those who responded to Gospel preaching and became Baptists were drawn from the lower classes of society, such as farmers, farm labourers, lead miners and tradesmen. The report in The Baptist Annual Register 1792 of the meeting of the South-West (Welsh) Baptist Association records that Brother W. Williams preached in English and Welsh but adds in a footnote 'His civil title, justly and deservedly, is Esquire.' 'A gentleman of independent means' built the chapel at Plealey, Shropshire, early in the nineteenth century on the estate. He at first supported the Independents, then transferred his allegiance to the Baptists c.1839, and finally to the Wesleyan Methodists c.1858. About 1840 James Freme of Wrentall House built a Baptist chapel at Wrentall. Very few members of the gentry became Baptists and the impact on the aristocracy was minimal. A few aristocrats became Baptists including Sir Egerton Leigh, who founded the Baptist church at Rugby, and the Hon. George Henry Roper-Curzon, who before he succeeded to the peerage as 16th Baron Teynham, served as a minister of the Baptist church he founded at Ledbury, Herefordshire. He was later invited to preach at Baptist churches on special occasions and no doubt helped to confer a degree of respectability on Baptists. In 1846 at Y Deml, Newport, Monmouthshire, there was great rejoicing when he visited the church and the minister, Thomas Morris, was so overcome that he forgot to address him as 'My Lord'! When he preached at Stafford in February 1868 he was entertained by the Mayor.

The cost of building chapels and repayment of mortgages on the properties proved a heavy burden for many congregations. Country ministers used to go to London to seek help from sympathetic London merchants. It was to avoid this situation that the Baptist Building Fund was founded in 1824, whose object was 'to assist in the erection, repair or enlargement of Particular Baptist chapels throughout the kingdom'. In Wales Christmas Evans was obliged to make extensive preaching tours to raise money for the churches in Anglesey. In his last preaching tour when he was minister of Tabernacl, Caernarfon, he visited many places, including 'Trefnewydd' (i.e. Y Drenewydd), Caersws, Capel Newydd, Nantgwyn and Dolau. There is little doubt that the need to clear chapel debts was a heavy burden for many ministers.

In 1835 The Baptist Magazine sought to compile statistics for 'Evangelical Baptist Churches'. While the figures published are incomplete, they do show that attendance at Baptist churches was larger than the number of members. However, by 1839 there was widespread anxiety about the state and progress of Particular Baptist Churches and a widespread longing for revival.

'Revival meetings' became a feature of the life of many churches and this continues to the present day among some Baptist churches in Mid-Wales.

Baptists also faced the challenge of others who sought to restore the purity of the New Testament church, but who came to different understandings. Especially in the seventeenth century Quakers sought converts among both General and Particular Baptists. Quaker beliefs took a strong hold in Radnorshire and most of the early General Baptists in the County became Quakers. Although Quaker influence in the county was eventually to decline, they built a meeting house at The Pales in the parish of Llandegley c.1717 and it is the oldest Quaker meeting house in Wales in continuous use. Thomas Hammersley from Berryhill, Staffordshire, became a Quaker by 1654. He had been one of the Arminian Baptists who had signed a petition to Cromwell in 1651/52.

In the nineteenth century Baptists faced the challenge of the Irvingite Movement and the Plymouth Brethren, both of which affected the church at Bridgnorth. The Irvingite Movement sought to restore the ministries listed in Ephesians 4: 11f - apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. This Movement, later known as the Catholic Apostolic Church took its name from Edward Irving, a Scottish Minister, who was excommunicated by the London Presbytery of the Church of Scotland for publishing a tract declaring Christ's human nature sinful. A number of Baptist ministers became associated with the Movement.

The Plymouth Brethren movement also attracted a number of Baptists. At Barnstaple Robert Chapman was said by a Baptist author to have 'imbibed peculiar notions' and joined the Plymouth Brethren but Chapman never held Strict Baptist views. At Ledbury 13 members left the Baptist church to join the Brethren. At Bridgnorth in 1844 Rev. David Payn also joined the Brethren for a short while before becoming a Baptist again. The 16th Lord Teynham also became a member of the Plymouth Brethren. A report in 1844 said that 'He was first a General Baptist, then a Particular, and now he is one of the "Brethren"', although 'it is believed that, at his own expense, he built Baptist Churches in many parts of the country, even as far away as the Orkney Islands'. Mr. Charles Doughty left Whitchurch Baptist Church to join the Brethren in 1884 but later rejoined the Baptists becoming Pastor at Donnington Wood and later at Welshpool. The seriousness with which some Baptists saw the threat of the Brethren Movement can be seen judged from the review of a tract examining the claims of the Brethren which concluded as follows:

In the 1890s the Rock Lane Chapel, Ludlow, passed into the hands of the Brethren but in the following decade it became Baptist again. In the twentieth century many Brethren joined Baptist churches, especially from the Exclusive Brethren, which experienced schisms in the 1960s and 1970s.

From the earliest days Baptist churches in England and Wales recognized a need for mutual support. There were links between the Arminian Baptists in the 1650's and in March 1660 the General Baptists held an Assembly in London and issued A Brief Confession or Declaration of Faith, which became the standard Confession of the General Baptists. In 1692 the 'Brethren Meeting in or about Shrewsburry' complained to the General Baptist Assembly about a Richard Newton, who was 'teaching and maintaining Doctrines Contrary to the Articles of ffaith' and the Assembly wrote to Richard Newton. However, there was no further contact between the Shrewsbury church and the Assembly. Particular Baptists did not have a national gathering until 1689 and Thomas Lowe (or Loe) of The Hurst, the pastor of the church at Hill Cliffe attended the 1689 Assembly and also the 1692 Assembly.

English Particular Baptists formed the Midland Association in 1655. Likewise the Welsh Particular Baptists formed Associations, the first being formed in 1700. This Association divided into three Associations in 1790 and, as the number of churches increased, so these Associations further divided. There are now eleven Baptist Associations in Wales.

A major step in co-operation among Particular Baptists was the formation of the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) in 1792. In an article in The Baptist Magazine in June 1811 Joseph Ivimey, pastor of the Eagle Street church in London, pointed out that the Society had done much to unite the Baptist denomination. However, the main obstacle to support of the Society was the lack of any 'general bond of union' between Particular Baptist churches. Ivimey proposed that there should be an annual assembly of ministers, messengers of the churches, and representatives of the associations, to be held either in London or in the provinces. Its primary purpose was to raise support for the BMS. The BMS held its first public meeting in London on Wednesday, 24 June 1812. The following day in John Rippon's vestry at Carter Lane Chapel, Southwark, John Palmer of Shrewsbury and other Particular Baptist ministers agreed to form a 'general union' of Particular Baptist churches. The proposed Union was supported by about one-seventh of the Particular Baptist ministers in England. The inaugural meeting of the General Union of Baptist ministers and churches was held on the 24 June 1813. In the words of Brian Stanley, the historian of the BMS, 'The Baptist Missionary Society had given birth to the first Baptist Union'.

In 1832 the Baptist Union was re-organized and its first object was:

The absence of a Calvinistic Declaration of Faith in the 1835 Baptist Union Constitution was to pave the way for the eventual reunion of General and Particular Baptists in 1891. The Baptist Union Constitution was revised in 1873 and for the first time it contained a Declaration of Principle. The Constitution was again revised in 1904 and 1926 and a number of changes were made later in the twentieth-century.

Some churches and Associations were suspicious of the development of the Baptist Union and it is interesting that in 1879 Walter Hanson in his book on Baptist Principles was obliged to argue the case for the Union. Increasingly, however, the churches came to realize the importance of belonging to the Union and the creation of the office of General Superintendent in 1917 made a significant contribution to the life of the churches.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century many Baptist ministers were poorly educated. The desire for a better educated ministry in the north of England led to the opening of Horton College in 1805 under the leadership of William Steadman and he commented in his diary:

The need for an educated ministry was increasingly recognised and in 1840 The Account of the Proceedings of the Baptist Union reported:

The Welsh Associations, in particular, seem to have been concerned about the quality of those ministering in the churches. The Brecknockshire Association in 1837 recommended that their churches should not set apart any brother for ministry without previously consulting the quarterly meeting. A similar recommendation was made by the Old Welsh Association in 1843.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were four Baptist Colleges in existence at Abergavenny, Bristol, and Horton and a General Baptist College at Chilwell. Later in the nineteenth century Colleges were formed at Stepney (later Regent's Park 1810), Haverfordwest (1839) and Llangollen (later Bangor 1862). In 1856 C. H. Spurgeon founded Spurgeon's College -first known as Pastor's College and then Metropolitan College - and in 1866 at Bury (later, Manchester) a college was formed advocating close communion and Calvinist doctrine. Owing to the poor education of many of their students, in the early days the Colleges had to provide a general education in addition to theological training. In contrast to other institutions, Pastor's College took only students who had actually been preaching for two years, and even admitted some who could not read.

The December Supplement to the Baptist Magazine from 1851 to 1860 published a List of the Baptist Ministers in England and from 1861 The Baptist Handbook contained an alphabetical List of Baptist ministers. From 1869 the college where a minister was trained was inserted where applicable and the date when he commenced his ministry. The beginning of a system of ministerial accreditation can, therefore, be dated from 1869, since the list carries the note: 'Names are added to this List only on the recommendation of Tutors of Colleges, Secretaries of Associations, Three accredited Baptist ministers, or Three members of the Baptist Union Committee.' In 1889 the rubric in the Handbook went a stage further: 'A name is placed on this List by vote of the Council of the Baptist Union who require a recommendation (1) by Tutors of Colleges, or (2) by Secretaries of Associations, or Three Members of the Council'. Several ministers who served in Strict Baptist Churches were included on the Baptist Union List.

The merger of the General and Particular Baptists in 1891 meant that it would be possible to set a national scheme for ministerial accreditation. In 1896 the Baptist Union established a Ministerial Recognition Committee and the following year it decided which colleges should be recognised for training ministerial students specifically for the Baptist ministry. In 1907 the Baptist Union Assembly adopted Ministerial Recognition Rules. One important aspect of these Rules was that it made provision for the enrolment on the Probationers' List of the names of ministers who had not attended a college but who had passed an examination prescribed by the Baptist Union Council. This provision enabled a number of Lay Pastors to proceed to ordination, including, for example, Frank Foxall of Madeley and Richard Pryce Jones of Montgomery. In March 2001 the name of the 'List of Accredited Baptist Ministers and Probationers' was changed to the 'The Register of Covenanted Persons Accredited for Ministry' to grant denominational recognition to Youth Specialist Ministers and Evangelists.

The numerical growth of Baptist churches in Wales resulted in the formation in 1866 of The Baptist Union of Wales (Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru). An English section of the Union was established and its meetings became a feature of the annual conference after 1902. Today the Union has two Annual Assemblies, one for the Welsh-speaking churches and the other for the English-speaking churches.

The Baptist Union of Wales has a List of Accredited Ministers. Those who have not attended a Baptist College may enter the Baptist Union of Wales's ministry by passing the Baptist Union of Wales Examination.

In 1919 the Baptist Union Council agreed to take over the responsibility for the training and settlement of deaconesses. Deaconesses in active service in 1975 were transferred to the full ministerial List. The first woman minister serving a Baptist Union church was Miss Edith Gates, who was enrolled as a Probationer Minister in 1918. Rev. Margaret Jarman, who served as a deaconess prior to her ordination, became the first woman minister to become President of the Baptist Union in 1987.

The Baptist Union also contributed to raising the standards of lay ministry by introducing schemes for the national recognition of lay pastors and lay preachers. There are, however, other lay preachers who serve the churches but have not sought national recognition.

In 1972 there was controversy in the Baptist Union caused by an address given at the Baptist Union Assembly by the Principal of Manchester Baptist College, Rev. Michael Taylor, in which he questioned the divinity of Christ. The following year the Baptist Union Assembly passed a fuller statement of belief than the Union had ever previously professed. As a consequence of this address a number of Baptist churches withdrew from the Union and their Associations and other churches delayed applying to join the Union for a number of years.

The Ecumenical Movement had a significant impact on church life during the twentieth-century. The ecumenical involvement of both the Baptist Union and West Midland Baptist Association led the church at Wem to withdraw from both the Association and the Union in 1989. That year the Baptist Assembly agreed by a large majority that the Baptist Union should belong to the ecumenical bodies that replaced the British Council of Churches. Churches that did not agree with this decision were encouraged to remain in The Baptist Union but were enabled to record their dissent by writing to the General Secretary.

Most Baptist churches have been influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, by Charismatic Renewal and some no longer calling themselves Baptist have withdrawn from the denomination.

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in seeing covenant as being the basis of Baptist life and mission. No doubt pragmatic reasons led to the creation of an Accredited List of Ministers but the Baptist Union came to see it as an expression of a covenant relationship existing between ministers and the Union.

Following the Denominational Consultation held at "The Hayes" Conference Centre, Swanwick, in September 1996 the Baptist Union embarked on a process of reform. It was the concept of covenant between churches, the Associations and the Baptist Union that provided the theological undergirding of the process. Reference was made to Gainsborough Separatist covenant in which church members committed themselves 'in the fellowship of the Gospel to walk in God's ways, made known or to be made known to them'. So when the major re-organization of the Baptist Associations took place at the beginning of the twenty-first century, churches were encouraged to mark the beginning of 2001 by holding a Covenant Service. To facilitate this process the Baptist Union published the booklet Covenant 21: Covenant for a Gospel People.

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