Pilgrims through the years: the bicentennial of First Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia: an overview

Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall, 2000 by George H. Shriver

Worship and Theology

After three services per Sunday and/or baptism being performed at the river just at sunrise, Baptists in Savannah often staggered home refreshed! Sunday School became a regular part of the day after April 22, 1827, as well as the background activities of the Presbyterian musician and educator, Lowell Mason. (22) Until 1906, the common cup of wine, not grape juice, was used in communion and the softened New Hampshire Confession of 1833 was followed in the doctrinal statements of the various church manuals. Double-edged predestinarianism had been rejected in favor of a position that allowed freedom of the will, missions, and that kind of evangelicalism which often expressed itself in revivalism. Local autonomy was valued but always in the larger contextual circle of the associational principle both with Baptists as well as other denominations. From the start, Savannah Baptist had been creatively ecumenical and committed to the principle of engaged or dedicated fallibilistic pluralism which continuously evolves as pilgrims continue down their road of faith. Savannah Baptist practiced exchanges of pulpits, alien immersion, (23) multiple hymn time, joint services, and individual good character letters to other denominations in relation to membership changes. Pastor Timothy Harley was even present in 1878 for the dedication of Mickve Israel Synagogue in Savannah. In June 1904, Pastor Jordan was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of the venerated Rabbi Isaac Mendes. The ecumenical stance of nineteenth-century Savannah Baptists displayed the same spirit that had been expressed in 1790 in England by the famous Baptist, John Rippon, as he wrote:

   Though I feel it an honor to rank with the Calvinists, whose system
   commonly called orthodox, is peculiarly dear to me; yet conceiving that all
   who hate sin, and love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, are good men, if
   they do not think of Baptism as I do, nor embrace half my Creed, I delight
   in such, as my brethren, and embrace them, by thousands, in the bosom of
   warm affection--and, with my views, it would be criminal not to do so....
   (24)

The ground of Savannah Baptist Church was fertile for the seeds sown by the great new fact of the next century--the ecumenical movement.

Savannah Baptist Church met the new century as the largest white congregation in the city. The average pastorate for the first one hundred years was less than five years. The twentieth-century pastorate would average more than eight years with the two longest ones being seventeen and nineteen. Longer tenures allowed deeper pastoral imprints by Leroy G. Cleverdon and Thomas D. Austin.

J. Judson Taylor

J. Judson Taylor wrote his acceptance letter to become pastor of Savannah Baptist in December 1914. He spoke of the "pang" of leaving Knoxville and also observed that "a new pastorate always has some elements of uncertainty." Though a prophet, little did he know at the time of the pain that would come to him in three years. The winds of war were blowing strong as the "war to end all wars" approached; Judson was an avowed and published pacifist. In 1917, at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans, Taylor opposed a resolution on the floor of the convention which endorsed the nation's participation in the war. Upon his return to Savannah, Taylor reflected on the situation from the pulpit and elaborated on his views. Things were tense for a few months, in the church and finally the board of deacons requested his resignation. To protect the church from more pain and division, Taylor resigned and moved to North Carolina. Prophets sometimes are honored at a later time, for in 1922, with the peace movement gaining strength, he was elected a vice-president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Perhaps contextually understandable, but the Baptist pilgrims of Savannah were obviously wayfarers in their handling of this situation. The price of unity had resulted in pain for both sides.