Looking back: Baptists celebrate 400 years of history and faith

By James Thomas Jr.

Correspondent

Some of that old time religion was revisited last Sunday at the West End Baptist Church in Suffolk.

Heritage Sunday was celebrated by commemorating the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Baptist faith (circa 1609) and the establishment of the West End Baptist Church 80 years ago. Many of the congregants dressed in colonial or 1920s attire to recreate period fashions of the respective eras.

The church building itself - dedicated in 1938 and built to resemble an 18th-century style church - helped to enhance the colonial theater of the occasion, noted Tom Apple, a church member and historical re-enactor who conceived of the colonial Heritage Sunday celebration.

Customs and conditions for the church service were also modified "to get a sense of what it may have been like to worship here over 200 years ago," explained the Rev. T. Floyd Irby Jr., pastor at West End.

Preaching was considerably longer during colonial times and "many of the early services could last for three or four hours," noted Apple. "In a lot of respects, there are many similarities between an 18th century service and the kind of service we do today."

Perhaps, the biggest difference is the acceptance of music in services today.

"There was a controversy in the early 1600s about whether you should have singing and music in a service," Irby said. "Hymns were sung, but there was no organ music and the choir was the congregation because there was no choir."

By the 1800s more churches began using singing as part of their worship, added Irby.

It wasn't easy being Baptist during the early years of the church in Virginia. The Church of England was the official state church and Baptists were considered religious dissenters, explained Fred Anderson, director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society at Richmond.

Anderson portrayed John Leland, an 18th century itinerant preacher who spoke out on religious liberties and is credited with helping convince James Madison to add the First Amendment clause on Freedom of Religion to the U.S. Constitution. In Leland's character, Anderson offered the Heritage Sunday message on the struggle for religious freedom by early Baptists in Virginia.

"In colonial Virginia, The Church of England was the only church permitted by law," Anderson said. "You had to attend even if you didn't want to; you had to support the church financially even if you didn't believe.

"Only marriages performed by the Anglican priest were recognized. Children were required to be baptized as infants.

"We Baptists of Virginia started as a few... Some were persecuted; others imprisoned...because they wanted to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience."

Following the service, members gathered on the front grounds of the church where a tent was set-up for refreshments and where artifacts, pamphlets and documents on the history of the Baptist faith were displayed.

The church traces its roots to 1609 in Amsterdam, Holland, where a group led by John Smyth and Thomas Helwys held its first baptismal service. The group committed itself to the belief that church membership should be based on a personal confession of faith followed by baptism. By rejecting infant baptism and advancing religious freedom, members of the group led by Smyth and Helwys are considered the first Baptists.

West End Baptist Church was chartered on March 11, 1929 when members of the First Baptist Church of Suffolk were authorized to form a new congregation on the west end of town. Five years ago, the church celebrated its 75th anniversary, but Apple felt that a colonial observance would help enhance the 400 year history of the faith.

"It helps to show and relive Virginia Baptist history," he said. "We hope that it will provide a deeper appreciation of our historical roots, especially in religious freedom and help people learn a little more about what it means to be Baptist."

James Thomas Jr., ttomas205@aol.com