webmaster posted on September 21, 2009 13:20
In late July 2009, the Baptist World Alliance assembled in the Netherlands to remember our roots. The Baptist movement started in Amsterdam in 1609, when a pastor named John Smyth and his congregation began practicing baptism by immersion and articulating beliefs we now identify as the first “Baptist” congregation. The congregation would later immigrate back to England in 1612.
The BWA held a celebratory service on Thursday, July 30 at a Mennonite church in Amsterdam. Some Baptist historians claim Smyth’s group was influenced by the Mennonites, placing Baptists and Mennonites together in the Anabaptist family of Protestantism. The church sign by the front entrance told passersby that it was a “doopsgezinde” church. This word was used to describe Mennonites as their movement began, and means “baptism-minded”.
The exact history of the early Baptists is a puzzle, however from the best records, the early Baptists used space at a local bakery owned by a Mennonite. In the modern day, the bakery is gone, and the location is now a quiet side street. The BWA stopped here during on a tour of sites significant to Baptists in Amsterdam. At #137 Bakkerstraat, the tour met two Dutch Baptists dressed in period clothing. The re-enactors told of the congregation’s activities, where the group is thought to have worshiped and perhaps had living quarters.
Standing at #137 Bakkerstaat, I felt a kinship with the Catholic going to Rome and the Anglican pilgrim on the way to Canterbury. The simple setting of #137 Bakkerstraat seemed fitting for a place where my faith tradition began. Standing at the place where the divergent, wide river of Baptist convictions and spirituality began its course, I was quite moved. I said a little prayer of thanksgiving.
In 1609, a small group of English dissidents worried about what the future held. Four hundred years later, Baptists are the largest Protestant movement. Standing at #137 Bakkerstraat, I behold the Baptists of 2009 as the many gathered from around the world, saying the Lord’s Prayer together in dozens of languages, joining to work on common issues, and gathering for table fellowship.
That little congregation believed in the Christ who supplied their needs and gave them spiritual strength. The many who gathered in 2009 serve as testimony to the witness and legacy of these early forbears. Christ was with them all along the pilgrim way.
The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot serves as coordinating minister of the First Baptist Church of Bennington, Vermont. Correspond: fbpastor@sover.net