Oct 1, 2020
By Nick Kersten
Director of Education & History
“…We entered into a church covenant the 23 day of Dec. 1671…After Serious Consideration and Seeking gods face among our Selves for the lord to direct us in a right way for us our Children So as might be for Gods glory and our souls good and others Example. We Entered into Covenant with ye lord and with one another and gave up our Selves to god and one another to walk together in all gods Holy Commandments and Holy Ordinances according to what the lord had Discovered to us or Should Discover to be his mind for us to be obedient unto; with sense upon our Hearts of great need to be watchful over one another. Did promise so to do, and in Edifying & building up one another in our Most holy faith…”
—from the covenant of the Newport, RI SDB church
It goes without saying that not having the meetings of our Conference in person this year because of the pandemic was a disappointment—but we all have our different reasons for disappointment. For me, not meeting was especially disappointing in one respect: we had planned to kick off the celebration of an important anniversary at our General Conference meetings this summer: the 350th anniversary of the Newport SDB church, which was founded in 1671. The Council on History has planned celebrations for this Conference year for the past several years, and we expect to celebrate this anniversary regardless of the pandemic.
As we begin our celebration, I thought it appropriate for us to begin with the text of the Newport church’s first covenant, which opens this entry. That first congregation was small and smarting from disagreements with the church where they had previously been members—John Clarke’s First Baptist church in Newport. Some who had shared their convictions had turned away from them, and one of their brothers in Christ had openly leveled charges against them that they were legalists because of their conviction regarding the Sabbath. They were under significant stress, and one of the few comforts in their struggle was correspondence with SDBs in England.
Yet despite that stress, the members of that first congregation decided to stand together and hold one another up, convinced that the God who had called them and convicted them would also preserve and protect them. They did not claim to have all of the revelation of God, and indeed left places for whatever “should discover” to them, but felt it important to gather together and watch over one another in those places where they did have clarity about what “the lord had discovered to them.”
Many of us now feel under stress in these difficult times. But as we begin our celebration of the 350th of the Newport church, we should find hope in what God did in their midst. An entire denomination of people, and indeed an entire world filled with people, have benefited from their faithfulness in difficult times. As they stayed faithful to one another through difficulties and struggles, God was also faithful to guide and direct them, and to bring increase to their work.
The same God who guided and directed those first Seventh Day Baptists in the United States guided those who came before them in England, and many others since. That God is still active in our world, and the Holy Spirit is active in us. Just as that first congregation was committed to edifying and building one another up, let us now all commit to mutual edification in this season of difficulty, taking our cue from those who came before. There are many things, undoubtedly, which we do not all agree on in this season of difficulty and misinformation. But there are more important things we do agree on. As we celebrate this year, may what binds us together in the love of Jesus Christ be greater than those temporal things which divide us!