From our Minister - February 2012

  As I mentioned last month 2012 is a year of anniversaries.  Coming up in April is the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic which, of all terrible maritime disasters, we seem to remember the most.  For Baptist Christians however, this year makes us look back even further, to 1612 and the formation of the first Baptist Church in England in Spitalfields, London by Thomas Helwys (pronounced HELL WIS).

  The story of the development of that church stems back to the meeting of those who dissented from the Church of England in the late 16th Century and who, in order to worship according to their conscience, fled to Amsterdam in 1609 where they met up with a group of Mennonite Christians and became acquainted with the Anabaptists - those who re-baptised people on confession of a personal faith.

  When Helwys returned to England in 1612 he did so as an act of bravery and commitment.  His concern was not his own safety but because 'thousands of ignorant souls in our own country were perishing for lack of instruction'.  He returned knowing that his style of church, baptising believers and governed not by Bishops but by the church members themselves, and without the need for priests to mediate our access to God, would not be welcomed by the authorities..

  Deeply committed to religious freedom, Helwys wrote a 200 page book also in 1612 entitled 'A short Declaration of the Mystery of Iniquity' in which he demanded religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.

He wrote 'the Kings people be obedient and true subjects, obeying all the human laws made by the king, our lord and king can require no more: for a man's religion to God is betwixt God and themselves, the king shall not answer for it, neither may the King be judge between God and man'. Helwys was arrested and almost certainly died in prison for his trouble.

  Looking back on Thomas Helwys today, he offers us some huge challenges.

  He was committed to a freedom in worship and church life which we enjoy -but do we really value it?  As many Christians around the world are persecuted as the early Baptists were, do we support them prayerfully and practically as they press for freedom?

   When we worship in the way which has been given to us by God and when we organise ourselves in the way in which we feel led by God, do we realise the cost some of our predecessors bore and use wisely the freedom we have?

  Thomas Helwys returned from Holland out of a commitment to spreading the good news of Jesus Christ which is God's gift to us all.  How committed are we to doing the same in our own lives and through the work of the church?

Although long gone, Thomas Helwys still has something to say to us!
  
  Graham Clarke