Grace Baptist Assembly, May 2026
Robert Strivens
Discipling has received a great deal of attention among evangelical churches in recent times. Discipling means bringing the truths of the Christian faith to bear upon individual believers in a manner designed to influence and change their way of life in a more Christ-like, biblical direction. It is seen as helping to fulfil the command of the Great Commission, to ‘make disciples’ of the nations. It is intended as a correction to the idea that churches focus their efforts on evangelism and assume that, once someone is converted and baptised, they will simply be absorbed into the regular life and teaching of the church. The task of the church, according to the Great Commission, is to make disciples, not merely converts. Pastors are therefore encouraged to devote time and energy to the active discipling of all believers in their churches, either themselves or through others trained for the purpose. Discipling takes place in one-to-one or small group contexts. It focuses on Bible study, prayer, Christian fellowship and the practical application of the Christian faith to the individual lives of those involved. Christian publishers market discipleship resources: Christianity Explored has developed a course called ‘Discipleship Explored’, with the tagline, ‘What does it mean to live as a Christian in today’s world?’. Eight studies take participants through Paul’s letter to the Philippians in order to show them ‘what the experience of following Jesus is actually like’. The intention is to teach believers how to live biblical Christian lives.
The objective driving these discipleship resources is clearly a good one. How did baptist churches in the past go about fulfilling this task? This is an enormous field that is under-researched – a great deal more historical work needs to be done on all aspects of everyday church life among seventeenth- and eighteenth-century baptists. The exploration of church books and personal accounts of how churches operated on a day-to-day basis would yield fascinating insights into how baptists went about the task of discipling their members, in the sense that we are discussing. My pastoral responsibilities have not given me opportunity to engage in such exploration, though I am hoping that that may change now that I am retired from full-time pastoral ministry. I have therefore focused on one aspect of church life that was popular among baptists, as it was among churches generally over the centuries until more recent times. This is the use of catechising. I want to explore the way in which baptists and others used catechisms and look at how their use of catechisms related to other means of instruction in the faith, particularly family worship and, especially, preaching. I will argue that there has been a significant shift in the relationship between these various forms of instruction – and in particular a shift in the place of preaching – which has led to the need for the kind of discipleship resources that are being published today. I will argue that we will benefit from considering how previous generations approached the work of discipleship and that a readjustment of our view of the place of preaching alongside other forms of instruction is needed.
Catechisms of whatever theological or denominational conviction tended to have a common structure and content. They were based on the Apostles’ Creed, or addressed equivalent theological questions, the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the ordinances. They were used throughout the protestant churches from the time of the Reformation onwards, to instruct people in the elements of the Christian faith, by means of a simple question and answer method. Teachers used the questions and answers in a catechism to expound the various topics addressed. The questions and answers would be recited and learned by heart, so providing a stable and structured foundation in the elements of the Christian faith. This was intended to aid the learner to listen profitably to the preaching of the Word, to partake of the ordinances in a way that would benefit their souls and to help them pray. We might say, then, that catechisising was viewed as a prime means of discipleship – to help the new convert to begin to grow in his or her faith by means of the instruction that it provided. The Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger held that it was catechesis that enabled people to understand the preacher when he spoke about ‘the covenant, the Commandments, the Law, grace, faith, prayer and the sacraments’[1]
Catechising, then, was seen as an aid to the believer’s growth in the faith. It helped him or her to know how to prepare for the Lord’s Supper, by providing suitable topics to consider and questions to ask in self-examination. Catechism helped people to distinguish truth from error and provided them with a theological structure for their own reading of the Bible. In this way, sound catechising preserved people from going astray in their understanding of the faith. And a good catechism would also directly help people to know how they should live as a Christian. The exposition of the ten commandments that a catechism supplied showed the student what he or she should and should not do as a Christian and so encouraged them to godliness. Catechisms were used in church as well as at home in the family and, though perhaps primarily thought of as a tool for the instruction of children, were also used to help adults in their understanding and practice of the faith.
I am not aware of any detailed work on the use of catechisms by early Baptists specifically, but the historian Ian Green published a comprehensive work in 1996 on catechisms and their use in English churches between about 1530 and 1740, entitled The Christian’s ABC. I have relied largely on his work in what follows. It is clear that our Baptist forefathers valued and made use of catechisms as part of their regular programmes of instruction both in church and in the family. Catechisms were produced and used from the time of the reformation and it is likely that the early baptists made use of some of these, perhaps informally adapting the sections on baptism and church government to their particular views. Once the Westminster catechisms were published in the late 1640s, it seems that these were used also by baptists, but during the second half of the seventeenth century some specifically baptist catechisms began to appear. In 1652, Henry Jessey, after he had adopted baptist views, produced A Catechisme for Babes, beginning, ‘Who made you? God made me. When did God make you? God made me before I was born. Where did God make you? God made me in my Mother’s womb.’ It goes on in this same simple format for about forty questions, covering Scripture, God, creation, sin, redemption, the law and the last judgment. There follow some verses in rhyme to summarise essential truths, for example:
God is a Spirit Eternall.
Most Holy, Wise, Great, Good, and Just.
Before Him all to judgment (must)
Then Naughty ones to Hell are cast.
Good go to Heaven, where joyes do last.
O happy Child, if this I Know.
And love, and learn in Life to show.
Here happy, in adversity:
And happy to Eternity.
There are then further questions and answers on the ‘four conditions of man’ – in the Garden, after the fall, in salvation and in eternity. The work is clearly aimed at small children, but there were catechisms for older children and adults too. In 1653 Christopher Blackwood published his Soul-Searching Catechism. This begins with the challenging question, ‘What grounds have you to prove there is a God?’ Six brief answers are provided, essentially, creation, the confession of all nations, cause and effect, conscience, providence and the unseen workings of God in the soul. The questions go on to address in some depth, though with commendable brevity, God and the Trinity, predestination and election, creation, providence, sin, the fall, the saving work of Christ, faith, repentance, the spiritual life, assurance, covenant, the law, the ordinances, laying on of hands, prayer, temptation, the family, and the last things. The questions and the answers given are detailed and searching. It would provide material for a great deal of instruction over a considerable period of time. Some of the material covers similar ground to that addressed in modern discipleship courses, for example on how to pray, how to resist temptation and how to be sure that you are in fact a Christian. The catechism seems to have sold reasonably well in the middle of the seventeenth, as it went through three editions between 1653 and 1658.
Of considerable interest is Blackwood’s introductory remarks to his catechism, in which he makes clear that the catechism is intended for use in a household, family context. As was common, he says that it is for the instruction of ‘children and servants’ and was intended to help the head of the household in his duty of teaching these the fundamentals of the faith. This was important, wrote Blackwood, for two reasons. It would help establish those instructed in the faith and so protect them from ‘sundry, dangerous, and destructive Errours’. But also, in line with Bullinger’s comments already mentioned, catechesis would prepare people to hear preaching with true profit: ‘To preach unto people, and not to catechize them, I take to be a building without laying a foundation.’ This is an emphasis that we will meet again and consider further.
Other baptist catechisms were produced during the second half of the seventeenth century, particularly those of Benjamin Keach, who wrote a variety of catechetical and other works at differing levels whose aim was instruction in the elements of the faith. But in 1693, the general assembly of Baptist churches meeting in London resolved that ‘a Catechism be drawn up, containing the substance of the Christian religion, for the instruction of children and servants’. This request was repeated by the 1694 assembly meeting in Bristol, with a note of insistence, as ‘a thing so needful and useful that the country have been longing to have it, and are troubled at the delay of it, and earnestly desire that you will hasten the pritning of it’. The need, it was said, is for thousands to be printed ‘and sent abroad to the churches’. The request was complied with, probably by William Collins of the church in Petty France in London, though it has traditionally and confusingly been known as Keach’s Catechism. The earliest extant printing is that of 1695, marked as the fifth edition. It is based largely on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, with appropriate changes on questions of baptism and church government, as well as a few differences in the opening questions.
What can we say, then, about catechisms and discipleship in this early baptist context? We see that catechesis was part of a structured network of means whereby the believer was helped in his growth as a Christian – that is, in our terms, in his discipleship. Catechisms, used in a church or a family setting, provided the basic theological foundation for the believer, or indeed for the child or servant in a Christian household. The questions and answers were intended to instil in a brief format the essential teachings of Scripture on the foundations of the faith. They often formed part of family worship, the aim of which was also to help the Christian in his daily walk of faith. But the particular objective of the catechism, in the minds of many, seems to have been as a preparation and an aid to hearing preaching. It was the regular preaching of the Word on the Lord’s Day which was viewed as the spiritual high point of the believer’s week. This was the means, above all, by which the believer grew in his or her faith and through which he or she was to be discipled. In Puritan times especially, preaching was primarily about doctrine and application. Whereas our sermons can tend to be heavily weighted towards exposition, the seventeenth-century expositor would move on quickly in the sermon from exposition to extract the teaching of the passage and apply it, by means of ‘uses’, to his hearers. This is in stark contrast to some preaching traditions in evangelicalism today which regard the sermon primarily as a means of intellectual instruction. For the Reformers and Puritans, preaching was the main instrument by which Christians were to grow in their faith, or be discipled, and it was catechesis which served to prepare people to listen to preaching profitably to that end.
A poignant insight into the high place that the preaching ministry held among the baptists of the late seventeenth century, in promoting godliness and spiritual fervour among them, is seen in the account of the General Assembly of the churches meeting in London in 1689. The narrative of that meeting demonstrates an acute awareness on the part of the churches of the need for believers to align their lives with the doctrine that they profess. Fears are expressed about spiritual decline, about putting personal comfort and advancement above the needs of the church of Christ, of a worldly spirit and of a spiritual languishing among the people of God. Two significant factors that are identified as contributing to this sad state of affairs are, firstly, the neglect of ordination and a failure to make provision to help poorer ministers and preachers and, secondly, a neglect of the Lord’s Day. The cumulative effect of this was, it was said, to impact adversely the ministry of the Word of God, as well as family worship. In response, they urge – not a programme of teaching and discipleship as such – but a general fast among the churches coupled with genuine and heartfelt reform and repentance in these areas of lack, that we may ‘reform our Doings, and shew our Zeal for Christ and his Gospel, and love to him, and act as becomes a willing People professing his Name’. They would cry to the Lord in sorrow and repentance and entreat him earnestly for his blessing on the churches,
that greater Light may break forth, and the Glory of the Lord rise upon us, and that the Word may not any more be a miscarrying Womb and dry Breatsts, but that in every place Multitudes may be turned to the Lord, and that Love and sweet Concord may be found among all the Lord’s People in these Nations, that the great work therein so unexpectedly, may go on and be perfected, to the praise of his own Glory.[2]
In other words, we again see the central place that the ministry of the Word held among these early baptists. It was the Spirit of God working through his word preached that would cause believers to flourish spiritually and grow in their faith. Preaching, then, lay at the heart of discipleship and it was there that the efforts and the prayers of God’s people needed to be expended if the churches were to prosper in their spiritual walk with Christ.
What then was done among these early baptists to encourage and help suitable men to enter the ministry of preaching? As with discipleship, there is a great deal of interest in this topic among evangelicals today. Much has been written on how to identify suitable men, how to encourage and help prepare them for preaching or pastoral work and what kind of training to provide for them. How did our forebears go about this task? Critical to this is the question what kind of man ought to be preaching and pastoring. On this issue, there was a clear difference of opinion in the seventeenth century. Presbyterians tended to the view that the activity of preaching should be restricted to men who were ordained and that, for a man to be ordained, he should have a learned education, probably a university qualification. Congregationalists and baptists took a different view. In a book published in 1658 and entitled, The Preacher Sent: or, a Vindication of the Liberty of Publick Preaching, by Some Men Not Ordained, the three congregationalist authors (Samel Petto, John Martin & Frederick Woodal) wrote,
Every man … to whomsoever the Spirit hath afforded a gift, either wisely to speak, and apply Gospel truths to the souls of others … or understandingly to give an exposition of the Scriptures, every man that hath such gifts, it belongeth to his place and calling, to use those gifts … else he crosseth the end of the Spirit.[3]
In other words, the work of preaching was not in itself an office but rather the exercise of a spiritual gift – and spiritual gifts should be used. What was needed, therefore, was to examine if a man had that gift, whether or not he had a university education.
The baptists followed the congregationalist line on this question, formalising the position in their confesssions of faith. The first London confession of 1644, in its article 45, provides ‘That also such to whom God hath given gifts, being tried in the Church, may and ought by the appointment of the Congregation, to prophesy, according to the proportion of faith, and so teach publicly the Word of God, for the edification, exhortation, and comfort of the Church’. In the second London confession of 1689, chapter 26 paragraph 11 states, ‘Although it be incumbent on the bishops or pastors of the churches, to be instant in preaching the word, by way of office, yet the work of preaching the word is not so peculiarly confined to them but that others also gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit for it, and approved and called by the church, may and ought to perform it.’ Preaching, for the baptists, was not to be confined strictly to ordained ministers. Others, suitably gifted, should also exercise this ministry.
Such men needed to be tested before being allowed to minister publicly. Testing for gifted brethren, as they became known, and for ordained ministry depended, then, on discernment of the relevant spiritual gifts and not upon an enquiry into the training or preparation that a man might have received or studies that he had undergone.[4] The testing would take place in the candidate’s church, not in the public services but in a meeting of members; if successful, the man would be allowed to minister publicly in his own church as well as go elsewhere to teach and be commended to other meetings. The general epistle of the general assembly meeting in London in 1692 expressed their earnest desire ‘that you should appoint Meetings among yourselves, for the Discovery, Exercise, and Improvement of Gifts … and this we hope, by God’s Blessing, will prove a means of our Reviving and Flourishing’. These men would act under the authority of their local church – they would not simply preach wherever they happened to be invited or pleased, but submitted requests to minister to the church for its approval before accepting them.
Churches should be patient with men as their gifts developed. They did not simply dismiss a man if they thought at first hearing that his gifts were not sufficiently developed. They would appoint times to hear him regularly over a period of time in order to encourage him to develop and, when the time seemed right, they would grant their approval. Failure to comply with this – by going about preaching without the church’s approval – would lead to discipline. This practice of testing and approval, with discipline for preachers who did not comply, was endorsed by the Western Association at its 1693 meeting, citing Rom. 10:15 in support, ‘How shall they preach if they are not sent?’ The preacher, that is, needs to be ‘sent’ – clearly, in the baptist understanding, by the local church.
Such men could go on to be ordained as elders or pastors. How were men encouraged in that direction? Michael Haykin provides a good example of how one man was helped so that he eventually entered pastoral ministry in the later eighteenth century – that of John Sutcliff, who in 1776 became the pastor of the baptist church in Olney, Northants. Sutcliff was converted as a teenager under the ministry of John Fawcett at Wainsgate Baptist Church in 1767 or 1768. He became a church member in 1769. He gave evidence of serious interest in the study of the Scriptures, discussing the interpretation of difficult passages with fellow-members and writing to Fawcett about his spiritual struggles. He spent time with Fawcett and the latter began to encourage him in more structured study – particularly in English grammar and classical literature. The studies seem to have intensified in 1771 and this led to the church commending Sutcliff for study at Bristol Baptist Academy, where he began in January 1772 – he walked the entire way.[5] It was just over four years later, after a short period preaching for the baptists in Shrewsbury and then at Cannon Street, Birmingham, that Sutcliff was ordained and entered formally into pastoral ministry in Olney.
If a man were considered by his church to be suitable for ministry, what preparations was he expected to undergo before being recognised by the churches as a minister of the gospel? Two or three options, generally speaking, were open to baptist men. Some were placed with an experienced minister who would direct and oversee the man’s studies. As we have seen, John Fawcett is an example of a minister who took in young men to prepare them for ministry. From 1772, Fawcett taught students, initially at his home in Hebden Bridge and then in the Wainsgate chapel where he was minister. In 1776, the work moved to Brearley Hall and then, from 1796, to Ewood Hall, where the future Serampore missionary William Ward studied.[6] It is difficult to know what individual ministers taught young men under their care, or indeed how many studied in this way, but standards could be high – those under John Sutcliff at Olney, for example, could expect to read substantial amounts of theology and biblical studies, learn the biblical languages and gain extensive experience in preaching.[7]
Other men simply taught themselves. They had a thirst for knowledge and realised the importance for a minister to be well educated. Edward Wallin (1678-1733), later the minister of the Particular Baptist meeting at Maze Pond, London, ‘indefatigably set himself to the study of the Scriptures, and the oriental languages’. Other auto-didacts among particular Baptist ministers include John Gill, John Brine, John Fawcett, Robert Robinson, Andrew Fuller, Abraham Booth, William Carey and, of course, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.[8] Again, it can be difficult to know what they studied and to what level, but all read widely and some – Gill and Carey pre-eminently – became very proficient in the biblical and other languages.
Still others would be sent to a training institution. In the eighteenth century, this meant Bristol Bible Academy, later renamed Bristol Baptist College, but during the course of the nineteenth century a further seven institutions were founded – three in Wales, two in the north of England and two in London – that is, Spurgeon’s Pastors’ College and Stepney College which became Regent’s Park College, continuing today in Oxford. In 1773, the principal of Bristol Baptist College, Hugh Evans preached a sermon entitled The Able Minister,[9] in which he highlighted four areas of study which he believed should be provided by a course of training for future ministers of the gospel. Firstly, the ministerial student should seek to master the biblical languages, for, said Evans, ‘it must be very desirable to be able to read [the holy scriptures] in the languages in which they were wrote, without being obliged to view them through the medium of fallible and varying translations’. Secondly, the student should learn all that he can of the customs and culture of Bible times, so as to be better equipped to ‘understand, explain and defend’ the Scriptures. Thirdly, he should seek to master as much of the various branches of human learning on which Scripture touches, so that he may ‘explain and illustrate to others those things which may be hard to be understood, to defend the cause of God and truth against those who may oppose it, and to seek out for acceptable words, as well as arguments, whereby the great and important truths of God may be most effectually impressed upon the minds of men’.[10] Fourthly, a course of study for prospective ministers should give them a better understanding of language and literature in general – especially their own – so that they are able ‘to express themselves with propriety upon whatever subject they discourse of’ and make use of the writings of others in a way that is useful for their ministry, under God’s blessing.[11]These aims shaped the course that was offered at Bristol Baptist Academy under Evans and subsequently.
How did the Baptist colleges in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries seek to implement the principles expounded by Evans?[12] Firstly, the curriculum would cover a range of general arts and science subjects. All the colleges offered some instruction in scientific studies of varying kinds and in mathematics, at various different levels. English language and literature were taught and at many of the colleges. French or German were also offered, as well as courses in modern history and geography. It may seem strange to us that ministerial training colleges should include in their curriculum these general subjects, but we must remember that the universities were practically closed to dissenters until later in the nineteenth century. The colleges therefore believed that they had a duty to ensure that the men whom they were preparing for ministry had a decent level of general education.
Secondly, the college courses included a significant amount of classical studies, particularly the study of the Latin and Greek languages and their literature. These were considered by most to be an essential part of ministerial education – and indeed of education generally. Students would be introduced to some of the major Latin and Greek writers. Substantial amounts of time would be given to these studies, especially at Regent’s Park and Bristol, but also at the other colleges. The reason for the focus on classical languages and literature was probably twofold. Firstly, students for ministry needed to have a sound grasp of how language worked, so as to be able both to understand written texts and to communicate to their audiences with an effective use of language. The study of the classics would help this, it was believed. Secondly, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, one significant mark of an educated man was a grasp of the classics. A minister without such knowledge was, it was felt, likely to be looked down upon by his congregation as unlearned and so fail to gain their confidence, to the detriment of the message that he sought to preach to them.
Thirdly and finally, the courses covered the core subjects which related directly to ministerial work. This included the biblical languages. The men would study Hebrew – and usually Aramaic – for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament. These language studies would generally be extensive and in-depth. The pre-eminent colleges for the study of the biblical languages were Bristol and Stepney, where substantial sections of the Old and New Testaments would be studied in their original languages. Other colleges were not quite so demanding, but nevertheless taught the biblical languages to a competent level. Instruction in other topics of direct relevance to pastoral ministry was also thorough. A significant proportion of the training course at the colleges was given over, naturally, to the teaching of Christian doctrine and the study of the Old and New Testaments. In biblical studies, the courses offered by the various colleges made students aware of contemporary developments in textual criticism. Church history, pastoral studies and preaching were on the curricula of all the training institutions. All the colleges held sermon classes for their students, at which students would preach and receive critique from tutors and, often, fellow students. It was common for colleges to provide some philosophical instruction to their students, alongside the teaching of theology. Logic was universally studied. The colleges also invested considerable time in the teaching of apologetics.
This, in brief, was what hundreds, if not thousands, of men studied at one or other of the calvinistic Baptist institutions offering training for pastoral ministry over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Thus many men were trained for Baptist ministry in this thorough, in-depth manner, providing them with a solid grounding in general arts and science topics, classical and biblical languages and biblical and theological subjects. The Baptist colleges in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries aimed at a comprehensive and challenging course of learning in order to prepare men for the work of the ministry.
Conclusions
In conclusion, I want to make four comments about the way in which calvinistic baptist churches in the past sought to disciple believers and encourage men into ministry, in order to challenge us today about the way in which we seek to go about these vital tasks.
Firstly, they took these tasks very seriously. Significant resources were poured into the production and employment of catechisms and other discipling tools. Pastors would devote time and energy to catechising their people and would encourage the use of catechisms in the family setting. Churches would invest in men who were thought to have preaching gifts, by inviting them to preach to them by way of trial and, as appropriate, giving them opportunities to exercise a wider ministry in their own church and beyond as recognised gifted brethren. Some of these men would then be encouraged to go on to train and be ordained as ministers, for which purpose they would generally be encouraged to undergo an extended period of serious study in the biblical languages, biblical and pastoral studies and theology, as well as ancillary subjects. Though they believed firmly in the need for preachers to have and display appropriate spiritual gifts, our Baptist forebears did not, on the whole, believe that the possession of such gifts displaced the need for thorough, serious study of the various disciplines relevant to ministry. In a day when training courses for ministry seem to becoming more and more lightweight, with less and less interest in teaching the biblical languages, we should revisit the level of intellectual challenge that we expect of men seeking to enter the preaching ministry.
Secondly, they were traditional in their approach both to discipling and to preparation for ministry. By this I mean that they did not believe in re-inventing the wheel, nor did they feel that they always had to come up with something new or original for these purposes. They employed catechisms, as many generations of Christians had done. The Baptists were content to take presbyterian forms and adapt them to a baptist view of the ordinances and church government, rather than trying to invent something entirely new from scratch. Curricula of study at the colleges were clearly based on what had usually been studied at universities. At the same time, there was development and innovation where appropriate. They were not slaves to tradition. Text books changed, emphases developed as new issues emerged that needed to be addressed. Many of us have grown up among a generation which tended to believe that everything old was to be discarded and only the new would do. Thankfully, a younger generation now seems to be recognising the value of continuity and historical rootedness.
Thirdly, our Baptist forefathers were theological in their approach both to discipling and to encouraging men into ministry. Discipling in the evangelical world today tends to mean practical Christian living. Older ways of catechising tended to be broader and deeper, I suggest, in their approach. It was thought that the best way to train believers to listen fruitfully to preaching and thereby to live the Christian life was to teach them basic theology. Who is the God whom we worship and who has saved us and for whom we live? Who is Christ and what precisely has he done for us? Who is the Holy Spirit and how does he apply Christ’s work of redemption to the elect? What is the church and how should it operate? The practical living of the Christian life was not neglected either, but instruction in this was rooted clearly in a theological understanding of the faith.
Fourthly, and finally, it was preaching that was seen as the central means for the promotion of Christian growth and discipleship. Catechisms were viewed as a means to prepare people to hear the preaching of the word effectively. It was through hearing the preaching of the word that a Christian believer was to grow in the faith and be discipled. Preaching did not focus, as we tend to do, on the exposition of the passage, though that was not neglected. Rather, the preacher was expected to move on fairly quickly from exposition to the drawing out of doctrine and its application to the congregation, which would take up much of the sermon. While preaching was never viewed as the only means of edifying believers, other means that were used – in particular catechisms – were seen as feeding into and preparing for the central work of preaching. I believe that we would do well to recover this emphasis.
My plea, then, is not that we mimic how seventeenth-, eighteenth- or nineteenth-century Baptists went about the task of discipling believers and encouraging men into ministry. But I do believe that there is much that we can learn, with profit, from the way in which they went about these tasks and the principles on which they sought to do so. I would urge us to take these tasks seriously, as they did, giving careful and prayerful thought and effort into how we disciple those whom the Lord brings to himself among the people whom we serve. Let us ensure that the men whom we encourage into preaching ministry are given a thorough preparation for that ministry by means of an appropriately challenging course of studies. Let us not be afraid of drawing on our tradition to inform and guide us in how we go about these vital tasks. Let us be more theological in the way in which we disciple congregations and train men for ministry, shunning the temptation to be purely practical. And finally, let us regain the central importance of preaching – a preaching which applyies the teaching of the text or passage to the lives and consciences of our hearers – as a principal means for the spiritual growth and discipleship of our congregations.
[1] Ian Green, The Christian’s ABC: Catechisms and Catechizing in England c. 1530-1740 (Clarendon, 1996), p. 31.
[2] James M. Renihan, ed., Faith and Life for Baptists: The Documents of the London Partiuclar Baptist General Assemblies, 1689-1694 (Reformed Baptist Academic Press, 2016), pp. 31-32.
[3] Geoffrey F. Nuttall, The Holy Spirit in Puritan Faith and Experience (Univeristy of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 79, quoting Samel Petto, John Martin & Frederick Woodal, The Preacher Sent: or, a Vindication of the Liberty of Publick Preaching, by Some Men Not Ordained, 1658.
[4] Ian Birch, To Follow the Lambe Wheresoever He Goeth: The Ecclesial Polity of the English Calvinistic Baptist, 1640-1660 (Pickwick, 2017), pp. 151-55.
[5] Michael A. G. Haykin, One Heart and One Soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, His Friends and His Times (Evangelical Press, 1994), pp. 42-47
[6] Anthony R. Cross, Useful Learning: Neglected Means of Grace in the Reception of the Evangelical Revival among English Particular Baptists (Wipf & Stock, 2017), pp. 221-32.
[7] Michael A. G. Haykin, ‘“With Light, Beauty, and Power”: Educating English Baptists in the Long Eighteenth Century’, in Stephen L. Copson and Peter J. Morden, eds, Challenge and Change: English Baptist Life in the Eighteenth Century (Baptist Historical Society, 2017), p. 191.
[8] Anthony R. Cross, “To Communicate Simply You Must Understand Profoundly”: Preparation for Ministry among British Baptists (Baptist Historical Society, 2016), p. 15.
[9] Hugh Evans, The Able Minister: A Sermon Preached in Broad-Mead, Before the Bristol Education Society, August 18, 1773 (Bristol, n.d.).
[10] Evans, Able Minister, pp. 12-13.
[11] Evans, Able Minister, p. 43.
[12] A more detailed account of the curricula of the various baptist training colleges in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be found in Robert Strivens, Training for Ministry in Calvinistic Baptist Colleges, 1700-1900. Strict Baptist Historical Society annual lecture 2025 (SBHS, 2025).