An Historical Sketch of the Jersey Baptist Church – Part 2: the Twentieth Century

Taking a couple of weeks break from "Jersey As It Is", here's the second of two parts of the history of the Jersey Baptist Church.

An Historical Sketch of the Jersey Baptist Church – Part 2

1903

On 1st January 1903 Mr. Alfred Benest passed away. It was in his house that the Church had been formed in 1864 and he had served it faithfully ever since.

1914

In August 1914 the membership of the Rev. W.D. Reynolds, B.A., B.D., was transferred from Beckenham so that he could serve as a special representative of the Jersey Baptist Church at Matadi in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) where he was the Principal of a training college for African preachers and pastors. The Jubilee of the Church was held in the autumn of the same year but rather quietly due to the tragic outbreak of the First World War.

1920

The Grove Street premises were sold to the Oddfellows Friendly Society in 1920 for £600 and two years later a manse was purchased at a cost of £1,000, the Baptist Building Fund lending £500 free of interest.

1930

The Revd. S.J. Smurthwaite was appointed in 1930 and served the Church faithfully for nineteen years until his retirement in 1949.

Mr. Smurthwaite's ministry included the five years of German occupation (1940-1945) which followed the fall of France in the Second World War. During the occupation, when the Channel Islands were completely cut off from the mainland of Great Britain, the Jersey Baptists, in common with other islanders, suffered many privations but nevertheless continued to meet regularly for worship and fellowship, and continued to save money for the Baptist Missionary Society. Because of the difficulty of 'blacking-out' and heating the main Church building many of the services were held in the school hall.

1945

Following the liberation of the Island in 1945 it was decided to allocate £50 of the Thank offering to the Baptist Union's Fund for the re-building of bombed churches in the United Kingdom. The money reserved for the B.M.S. was also sent to England.

1949

The old Manse in St. Mark's Road-was sold in 1949 and the present Manse at Millais Park was purchased for the sum of £3,600.

1960

The Baptist work and witness suffered some losses during and after the German Occupation and from 1960 the Church was helped by the Baptist Union Home Work Fund but happily became self-supporting again in 1968.

The Rev. Clifford Measday, A.R.I.B.A. commenced his ministry in 1963 and under his guidance the first alterations and internal decorations to the main church building since 1927 were carried out. The building was re-opened for worship in 1964, the Centenary Year of the Church and in the following year the fellowship gratefully accepted the anonymous gift of a new electronic organ.

The active membership gradually more and, looking to the Risen Lord for help and wisdom, took fresh heart.

1967

A valedictory service was held on 2nd September 1967 for Miss-Marion Furzer, a Church member who had been called to serve as a nurse with The Leprosy Mission at Purulia in India.

In 1965 the Church had become aware of the poor nature of their Church Halls and through a gift from a group of interested ladies in the Baptist Churches in New Jersey, in the United States of America, decided to commence a re-building fund.

1970

The Church invited the Minister, a registered architect, to design new halls and these were opened on the 5th September 1970 by his wife, Mrs. Doreen Measday. The rebuilding marked a significant step in the work of the Baptist Church in Jersey.

Through the earnest prayers of the fellowship the giving was remarkable, the sum of £14,000 being raised in the short space of six years. Many friends in Jersey, on the mainland and overseas gave generously and the Church was also grateful to the Southern Baptist Association Assembly for being recommended as the Chapel Case for 1971, the sum of £688 being received.

1973

At a Church meeting in May 1973 it was decided that the Church would 'twin' with a French Baptist Church at Vitry-sur-Seine on the outskirts of Paris. For several years this small fellowship had met and worshipped in a house in which also its Pastor, the Rev. Georges Bonneau and his wife lived, but they were now engaged in the erection of a large modern church building. The friends and members of the Jersey fellowship not only upheld the new venture in their prayers but gave practical help with the building work and financial support by means of the Thank-offering and other gifts.

1974

Rev. Measday was invited to speak at the official opening of the new building in May 1974, several friends and members of the Jersey Church were also present for the occasion.

On the 3rd June 1973 a valedictory service was held for Church member Miss Anne Agnes, prior to her departure for Africa where she was to serve for eighteen months as a missionary nurse in the Southern Sudan. On the 15th September 1974 another was held for two more members, the Rev. Robin Agnes, brother of Anne, and his wife Eileen who had been called to serve with the Belgian Evangelical Mission.

The Jersey Church undertook to provide full financial support for Anne whilst she was serving in Africa and now contributes to the support of Robin who is the Pastor of a small evangelical fellowship at Grivegnee, near Liege, in Belgium.

At the Southern Baptist Association Assembly in May 1974 Mr. Measday formally invited the Association to hold its 151st Annual Assembly in the Channel Islands in 1975. As a result of this invitation the Jersey and Guernsey Baptist Churches will this year be acting as hosts to 150 Officers, Ministers, Delegates and Personal Members of the S.B.A. It will be the first occasion in the history of the S.B.A. that an assembly has been held in the Islands.

In 1889 when the Rev. C.A. Fellowes wrote a 25-year-old history of the Church, he chose the text from 1 Samuel 7: 12 as being the essence of their convictions at that time, 'Hitherto the Lord hath helped us'. We too can think of no better Scripture to close this brief historical note.

May 1975

Ministers of the Jersey Baptist Church
1865-1867 Revd..F.F. Metcalf
1867 Revd. George Sheppard
1868 Revd. H.B. Bardwell
1868-1869 Revd. B.J. Holland
1870-1874 Revd. George Hider
1874-1875 Revd. Joseph Hawkes
1875-1878 Revd. George Weatherley
1879-1880 Revd. F. Johnson
1880-1885 Revd. Henry Wallace
1886-1895 Revd. C.A. Fellowes
1896-1901 Revd. William Boneer
1901-1905 Revd. Gwynne Thomas
1905-1911 Revd. Dr. J.A. Monk
1911-1921 Revd. Wilson Haffenden
1921-1929 Revd. Grimshaw Binns
1930-1949 Revd. S.J. Smurthwaite
1949-1954 Revd. B.H. Carpenter
1955-1958 Revd. W.G. Davis
1958-1962 Revd. W.G. Leggasick
1963-. Revd. Clifford M. Measday

An Historical Sketch of the Jersey Baptist Church – Part 1: the 19th Century

Taking a couple of weeks break from "Jersey As It Is", here's the first of two parts of the history of the Jersey Baptist Church.

An Historical Sketch of the Jersey Baptist Church – Part 1
1817

Prior to 1789, the year of the beginning of the French Revolution, the town of St. Helier was merely a huddle of thatched cottages around the Royal Square. However within the next quarter century the town grew by leaps and bounds and new churches became necessary. It was at this time, in the year 1817, that the Rev. Joseph Ivimey of London, a prominent Baptist minister, visited the Channel Islands and was instrumental in founding one or more Baptist causes in Jersey. The first body of believers worshipped in a meeting house in Wharf Street and the present Baptists in Jersey are direct spiritual descendants of that fellowship.

When Rev. Ivimey came to Jersey in 1817 he would almost certainly have had a long, uncomfortable, if not hazardous, journey in a small sailing cutter, being the only means of communication with the mainland.

The Jersey which he found on his arrival differed greatly from the Island which we know today. Fort Regent, overshadowing the town of St. Helier, had only been completed three years before, in 1814, there were no Albert or Victoria piers at the harbour and no lighthouse at La Corbière, George III was on the throne of England. Methodism was also in its early stages and the first purpose built chapel had been built at St. Ouen's in 1809.

Although the tempo of life was slower, the manner of living was much harsher. For example, public executions were still being held, which even school children were expected to attend.

1820

It appears that a number of Baptist churches came into being in those early days, In 1820 the first large purpose- built church known as the Albion Chapel was erected by the English-speaking fellowship in New Street and soon afterwards the French-speaking Baptists built a chapel in Ann Street. However because of a peculiarity of the Jersey law of that time both chapels had to be sold to meet the private debts of the trustees. The loss of their property was a fatal calamity to both causes and an attempt to restart the Baptist work in 1845 was short-lived.

1864

The scattered Baptists continued to meet in one another's homes. In 1864 a meeting was held at which it was decided that a Baptist Church should be formed in Jersey. Here is a statement from the first minute book:

"On September 4th,1864 at the residence of Mr. Benest, 19 Queen Street, a private meeting of Baptist friends was held in connection with the Jersey Auxiliary of the Baptist Missionary Society. Mr. J.R. Phillips, the Society's Association Agent, was present, and presided at the meeting. After prayer by brother Benest Junior, the claims of the society were considered and plans for the promotion of its interests were resolved upon for the coming year.”

"The brethren and sisters then gave expression to their desire for the formation of a Baptist Church in Jersey. Some present had been making this object a matter of prayer. Prayer was then offered by brother Bunker for Divine guidance and teaching; after which the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:”

1. It having been ascertained that there are a considerable number of baptised believers in the Lord Jesus Christ resident in Jersey, it is hereby resolved that we, whose names are now read, be formed into a Church of which the Lord Jesus shall be recognised as the Only Head and Lawgiver; His Word shall be the sole Rule of Faith and Practice; and His Ordinance of Baptism shall be administered only to Believers on a profession of their faith - Henry Avis, Mary Ann Alexandre, Amice Benest, Margaret Benest, Ebenezer Bunker, Edmund Francis Carrel, Amelia Carrel, John Cabeldu, George Seager.

2. That whilst this Church shall consist of Baptised Believers only, it will cheerfully welcome to its Communion at the Lord's Supper all who may be true lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ,"

The Church then comprised only nine members who were without Pastor, without settled habitation and without any auxiliary organisations.

The first Communion took place at 3 Wesley Street on the 6th November 1864 and the first Baptismal Service in the British School, Aquila Road on Tuesday evening 31st January 1865 there being five candidates, four of whom joined the Church. For some time services were held in members' homes but as the Church grew it became necessary to lease the Temperance Hall in Providence Street.

In June 1865 the Church moved to the little chapel in Grove Street which was purchased from the Congregational Church for £200 and this continued to be the home of the Jersey Baptists for twenty-two years.

At this time the Church was dependent upon its own members for the preaching of the Word.

Although the membership numbered only thirty-two, the Church was now determined to seek the services of a minister and, with aid given from the funds of the "Baptist Irish and Home Mission", was able to invite the Rev. F.F. Metcalf. During his pastorate a school hall was erected and opened in 1866.

The Ministerial appointments for the next two decades were mainly of short duration there being no less than nine during this period.

1870

In 1870 the Island's first railway was opened between St. Helier and St. Aubin. This enterprise may well have encouraged a new form of outreach as the Church, under the energetic leadership of the Rev. George Hider, held additional Sunday afternoon services in a borrowed chapel at St. Aubin.

Cottage meetings were also held at St. Clements. Those baptised during his ministry included three French ladies who were refugees from the Franco-Prussian war.

A great deal of major engineering and building work took place in Jersey about this period. The Elizabeth Castle breakwater was completed in 1872 and the first concrete lighthouse to be constructed in the British Isles, was erected at La Corbière point in the West of the Island, the place was notorious for shipwrecks.

1887

During the pastorates of the Rev. Henry Wallace and the Rev. C.A. Fellowes the Church grew in numbers and found its little building to be too small. In 1887 the French Independent Church worshipping in the "Chapelle Evangelique" in Vauxhall Street, generously offered their building, which was valued at £3,000, for the nominal sum of £700.

The Baptist fellowship decided to buy the building and were greatly encouraged by the local Free Church ministers. After some structural alterations by Charles Le Quesne, a builder and deacon of the Church, the building was opened on Sunday 25th September 1887 by the Rev. Charles Spurgeon of Greenwich. It is in this building that the present Baptists worship.

Following the move to Vauxhall the Church continued to flourish so that in 1889 it was reported that it had a membership of 165, a Mission Station at Town Mills, two Sunday Schools numbering unitedly over 200 scholars-with 30 teachers, a vigorous Temperance Society and two Bands of Hope, a Tract Society, a Ladies Working Party, a Foreign Missionary Auxiliary and a Young Disciples Band with over 40 members.

In 1895 the Church reluctantly accepted the resignation of Rev. Fellowes; during the period of his ministry over 100 members had been received.

1898

In 1898 the Congregationalist body asked the Church to form a Union with them, but the unanimous reply read: "At present to faithfully acquit our responsibilities as regards baptism, we cannot agree to join the proposed union".