The birth, death and resurrection of the Irish baptist churches 2

In 1796, Samuel Pearce, the “seraphic” Birmingham preacher, was invited to travel to Dublin to preach in a number of the city’s evangelical churches. His visit brought new energy to the Baptist community in the Irish capital, and, in a number of other churches, Pearce witnessed something of a mini-revival as churches shook off the spiritual lethargy that had taken hold upon them. But he left Ireland with real concern about Baptist prospects.

Pearce’s visit was followed by that of Andrew Fuller in 1804. The situation he encountered was much less encouraging. In the years since Pearce’s visit, erroneous notions of saving faith had taken hold of large numbers of Dublin evangelicals, including many within the Baptist community. As a consequence, Fuller refused to join the Dublin Baptists at the Lord’s Table, and encouraged the orthodox party within the largest church in the city to form a new fellowship. He returned to England with a burden for Ireland.

Fuller shared that burden with other believers. John West, an English pastor, arrived in Ireland in 1811, and spent some time preaching in Waterford before being called to the large Dublin congregation. He began to re-organise the work, establishing gospel discipline and revitalising evangelistic concern. West formed the Baptist Irish Society, and recruited a number of young preachers to evangelise in the counties around the capital. The results were dramatic. Within a few months, the evangelists were able to report 70 conversions. With advice from Carey, financial support from Fuller, and the prayers of the English Particular Baptist churches, the evangelists associated with the Baptist Irish Society moved steadily north and west from Dublin, and saw Particular Baptist churches planted at the remarkable rate of almost one per annum for a period of forty years.

These were extraordinary times. But the Baptist advance in the southern counties of Ireland was not to be continued. In the middle and late 1840s, the Irish potato crop failed, and government reaction only exacerbated the crisis. Around one million Irish men and women died of starvation. One million more emigrated. Among their number were 3,000 Baptists from the southern counties of Ireland who left for America.

The famine devastated Irish Baptist witness in the southern counties, and dramatically shifted the balance of Baptist witness. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were hardly any Baptist churches in the area that would constitute Northern Ireland, but by the end of the century, most Baptist churches were located in that area. Once again, the Baptist cause in the southern counties of Ireland was on the verge of extinction.

But God has preserved the witness of his people. Today, it seems that the Calvinistic Baptist cause in Ireland is stronger than it has been for a very long time. Between 1980 and 2006, the number of Irish evangelicals trebled, and around 40% of evangelical churches are less than 15 years old. Most of these new fellowships are baptistic, and many are Calvinistic.

The movement still faces many difficulties. Many large towns do not have any evangelical witness. A great deal of work remains to be done. But Andrew Fuller would not be surprised at the things that God has achieved. “Christ has much more yet to do in the world; and, numerous as his enemies yet are, and few his friends, his heart does not fail him; nor shall it, till he has spread salvation throughout the earth.”

First part is available here. Article by Crawford Gribben.