Introduction

“The past is a story told; the future may be writ in gold.” So wrote Dr. E. J Tongue, then Secretary of the Baptist Historical Society in, 1952. Who he was quoting is not known, but it was a warning not to live in the past. Nevertheless history has an uncanny way of repeating itself and this is particularly so in the story of the Christian Church, and looking back can often help us to understand the present and to look forward.

It is always interesting to recall how groups of fellow-believers have interpreted their faith, in the local church, and applied it to their contemporary scene, and a study of Baptist believers in Chichester is no exception.

The name ‘baptist’ started as a nickname; more than that, it was a shortened form of the pejorative nickname ‘anabaptist’, meaning those who ‘re-baptised’. The early baptists in England, as with the continental anabaptists of the 16th century - and some groups in previous centuries - could find no authority in the Bible for the baptising of infants. Indeed they did not regard a rite or ceremony performed on an infant as true Christian baptism, and for them the baptism of a person as a believer was a first baptism and not a re-baptism. This was in such sharp contrast to the belief and practice of the Roman and Anglican Churches, that believers’ baptism was seen as the distinguishing feature of this dissenting branch of the protestant church, and its nickname of ‘baptist’ has persisted¹.

This concentration on baptism, however, has tended to obscure the other important elements that contributed to the identity of baptist Christians. Perhaps the original distinctive feature, which arose from the re-examination of the doctrine of the Church following the Reformation, was that of the concept of the ‘gathered church’. That concept was opposed to the territorial view, that all born in a ‘Christian Country’ were Christians; it was opposed to the family view that all born into a ‘Christian Family’ were Christians; it was opposed to the conformist view that all who submitted themselves to ceremonies of the national church or had a common liking for a particular way of worship or liturgy, were Christians. The Church, in the baptist understanding of the New Testament, was a believers’ church. Believers’ baptism followed from this, for if baptism is part of the initiation into a church of believers only, then it must be administered only to believers.

Not less important were what were called ‘the crown rights of the Redeemer’, a principle still enshrined in the Constitution of the Baptist Union of Great Britain:

“That our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scripture, and that each Church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws.”²

Each gathered Church sought (and still seeks), through its believing and baptised members, with the help of the Bible and the Holy Spirit, to find the mind of Christ in all matters of belief and practice, including the acceptance of new members (or ejecting them if they err in doctrine or conduct), the appointment of pastors, elders, deacons or others to serve the Church, and the ordering of the worship and the ordinances of the Church.

The early baptists made it clear that they rejected the need for any central church authority (though from the start they believed in ‘association’ and interdependency, rather than independence). They would not tolerate state interference with religion. They often believed simple statements of faith were preferable to complex creeds, because they feared the faith might become legalistic rather than Spirit-filled.

The Church Meeting – the gathering of the members of a local church for Christian fellowship and transaction of the business of the church – was not an early form of democracy, but a meeting characterised by prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, often coming to no decisions until unanimity was obtained. Significantly in earlier times these church meetings were often held on Sundays, after worship.

Associated also with the liberty of each local church to interpret and administer the laws of Christ was the principle of freedom of conscience for the individual, a freedom later enshrined in many of the laws of our land. Behind all this was their affirmation of the special significance of holy scripture and its authority for the church.

The call to evangelism, although less active at times and among more extreme calvinistic groups, was also a feature of baptist life, and remains an important part of the present day responsibilities of baptist Christians.³

The story of baptists in Chichester, as elsewhere, reflects not only the paedo-baptist/anabaptist debate, but attitudes to these other important facets of baptist polity, which have had far-reaching effects upon our country and indeed upon the world.⁴

It is almost impossible to discover now the details of the beliefs, the behaviour, the forms of worship⁵ and the impact upon the community of the early local baptist churches. That their influence was considerable – at least through individual members – is clear from the fact that, although some of the first pastors went to prison for ‘unlawful preaching’, later members made notable contributions to civic life.

Much more information is available about the present Baptist Church, formed in 1951, which now meets at Sherborne Road, Chichester, and Part V of this account is necessarily much longer than the others.

It is hoped that this attempt to bring together both the ancient and the modern will be of interest to historians, especially to the Baptist Historical Society, and to those concerned with the history of Chichester, but also an encouragement to know that God, by his Holy Spirit, is alive and active in a ‘gathered church’ of our own day.

¹The Baptist denomination has, over the years, spread to many lands and is to-day one of the largest protestant communions in the world, linked to the Baptist World Alliance, formed in 1905. Many other denominations and groups, notably the Pentecostal and Brethren Churches, the charismatic Fellowships and Community Churches, and increasingly many Anglican Churches practise believers’ baptism.
²Declaration of Principle of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, III.1.
³Ibid III.3. “That it is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelization of the world.”
⁴Paul Beasley-Murray: Radical Believers – The Baptist Way of Being the Church (Baptist Union, November 1992). Considers the late 20th century applications of these principles.
⁵Peter Evershed: “The Billingshurst Meeting House still has a Pitch Pipe used to start the singing and its use as early as 1840 is testified.” Perhaps the Chichester Chapel also used one of these.