3 - Baptists' Frontier Age in the British Empire

Summary

Baptists' frontier phase was characterized by geographical expansion, challenges from new intellectual venues, quests for organizational and theological definitions, and experimentation on a variety of fronts. Baptist emigrants from England established churches in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and beyond. Baptist emigrants from the United States spread their faith communities to new regions of the American West (some of which were Mexican territories at the time), to Brazil, and Africa. German Baptists pioneered work in many parts of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the United States, and elsewhere, especially among German-speaking populations. Swedish Baptists established a growing presence in America's Midwest, eventually constituting one of that nation's significant Baptist traditions. These migrations illustrate but one dimension of the myriad experiences that constitute Baptists' frontier age.

In addition, this was an era when Baptists were awakening to global mission engagement. This core feature of Baptist identity grew from creation of the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) in Kettering, England, in 1792. By the end of the following century, BMS missionaries were actively deployed in India, the West Indies, Cameroons, the Congo, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and China. Baptists in the United States formed the General Missionary Convention in 1814, which became the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU) after 1845. By the end of the century, it supported work in Burma (Myanmar), Northeast India, and Africa. Southern Baptists created their Foreign Mission Board (FMB) in 1845, which by the century's end directed mission stations in China, Africa, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. Black Baptists in America organized the African Baptist Missionary Society in 1815. By the century's end that society had established a significant mission enterprise in Africa, focused especially on Liberia. Baptists in Jamaica organized the Jamaican Baptist Missionary Society in 1842, which at the close of this period supported work in Africa and Central America. Collectively, this was an era of frontiers that shaped the entire Baptist movement in profound ways.