Queensland Baptist Forum
Published three times per annum
New Edition No. 37 July 1997
Editor: Dr David
Parker
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The Baptist Historical Society
of Queensland
President: Mr Eric Kopittke, 98 Yallambee Rd.,
Jindalee, 4074 Queensland Australia
Phone (+61 7) 3376 4339
Secretary: Dr Ken Smith 110 White St, Graceville
Q 4075 Phone (+61 7) 3379 6117
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Qld Baptist
Forum No. 37 July 1997
Contents
Society News and Notes
Announcing the 1997 Festival of
Baptist Heritage
Taringa Baptist Church Centenary 1897-1997
With Tribute to Rev. James Voller
Sunday October 19, 1997
Thanksgiving Service 10.30am
Guest Speaker: Rev Dr Stan Nickerson, MA, BD, PhD
Principal, Qld Baptist College of Ministries
Celebration Program and Lunch 12.30 pm
(Important - RSVP for lunch by Oct 10 - Phone 07-3878
3178)
Co-sponsored by Taringa Baptist Church and Baptist
Historical Society of Qld
Featuring the launch of two books
Updated and revised Centenary, Taringa Baptist Church
Life and Ministry of Rev. James Voller, Pioneer
Baptist Minister of Australia
Rev. James Voller was personally
involved in the early work at Enoggera, Sandgate and Taringa churches,
and had indirect influence on Ipswich, Maryborough and Rockhampton,
as well as being a highly valued counsellor, and later an honoured
member, of the City Tabernacle (Wharf St) and first president
of the Baptist Union of Qld. In NSW, he was pastor the Bathurst
St church 1854-70 and influential in the establishment of some
country churches. In England he had served three churches, spanning
a decade. At the Taringa centenary celebrations, where members
of the Voller family will be present, a book about his life and
work will be launched. .
Pastoral Profiles: short profiles of Baptist pastors
reprinted from The Queensland Baptist, 1899, and supplemented
with extra notes. This issue of Forum features the life
of Rev. H. Coombs, minister of Wharf St Baptist Church, 1879-85.
Also there is a new article by R.A. Scanlan on the life of a prominent
German Baptist pastor, Rev. J. Heinrich. (see
below)
The editor reports on recent research into the German Baptist
churches, and there is a review of an interesting book by former
Queensland missionary, Dr Neville Kirkwood on life in India's
troubled north-east 1952-1969.
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Some excerpts from this issue of Forum:
Rev.
Johannes Heinrich, 1875-1936
by R.A. Scanlan
This article by BHSQ member
and experienced author, Dick Scanlan of Laidley supports a story
in this issue on German Baptist research and outlines the life
of one US German pastor who spent the majority of his ministry
in Queensland. Mr Scanlan writes, It has been my pleasure to
compile this account of the Heinrichs. My parents, James and Martha
Scanlan (nee Topp) were married by Rev. John Heinrich in October
1919, and they (the Heinrichs) have always interested me greatly.
My mother, who is still living, tells me how fond she was of the
whole family, and how as a teenager, she used to nurse the younger
members of this family.
Rev. Johannes (John) Heinrich
was born in Berlin, Germany on Sept 6, 1875 and migrated to America
while still a young man - probably in his early 20s. Being of
the German Baptist faith, he linked up with what is now known
at the North American Baptist Seminary in South Dakota. From 1900
to 1906 he attended the Theological College at Rochester, NY and
was ordained at Delmont, South Dakota on June 17, 1906.
During his period of theological
training, Johannes married Augustina Olm in New York in 1903.
Augustina was born in Luxembourg, Germany on Feb 28, 1882 and
was of the Catholic faith previous to her marriage to Johannes.
Their first child, Ruth Caroline was born in Feb 1906.
Rev. Heinrich then served
as pastor of a Baptist Church in Delmont South Dakota from 1906
to 1908. It was late in 1908 that the Heinrichs accepted a call
from the German Baptist churches of Blenheim and Tenthill in South
Eastern Queensland. It is recorded in the Minute Book of the Blenheim
(Laidley) Church that Rev. Otto Krueger suggested that John Heinrich
be called to that pastorate following his (Krueger's) departure
in Sept of that year.
The Heinrichs, together
with two small children, Ruth and Carl, duly arrived at Blenheim
in December 1908. Rev. Heinrich preached his first sermon (in
German) at Blenheim on Sunday, Dec 13, 1908, using as his text
Psalm 122:6-9. Thus commenced a long and fruitful ministry to
the churches of Blenheim and Tenthill where Rev. and Mrs Heinrich
served for 22 years.
Their salary at that time
was fixed at 120 pounds per year. They took up residence in the
Baptist manse which was situated a short distance from the Blenheim
church. It was form there that they served the two independent
churches. On the first and third Sundays of each month, Rev. Heinrich
preached at Blenheim; on the second and fourth Sundays at Tenthill.
The Heinrichs were faithful in the preaching of the Word in both
centres and were much loved by both congregations.
Travelling to Tenthill
meant that a long arduous journey over the hills by horse drawn
vehicle was necessary. It is recorded that the Heinrichs had motor
buggy transport in 1913. However the writer has been lead to believe
that this mode of transport was not successful for very long.
In 1928 the two churches presented the family with a new Chevrolet
car at a cost of £205.
No extensive building
operations were necessary during Rev. Heinrich's ministry. This
mean that he was free to concentrate on a preaching and teaching
ministry. He was particularly active among the young people and
formed groups of "Christian Endeavour" at both churches
in 1911. Between 1923 and 1926 there was an enrolment of 119 scholars
at the Blenheim Sunday School and a teaching staff of 17.
John Heinrich's ministry
covered the period of time during which there was complete transition
from the German to the English language. Rev. Heinrich also took
a leading part in the work of the German Baptist Conference which
was a union of 6 or 7 German speaking churches in South Eastern
Queensland. (BHSQ Newsletter No 5 July 1986) It should be recorded
here that the German Baptist Conference ceased to function as
such, following the first World War. By 1930 most of the member
churches had become part of the Baptist Union of Queensland.
Following the conclusion
of their ministry at Blenheim and Tenthill (1931) Rev. and Mrs
Heinrich purchased a farming property at Coominya. With the help
of their family, they managed a vineyard and grew cotton. From
1931 to 1933 John Heinrich accepted preaching appointments at
various centres. From 1933 to 1935 he served as Pastor of the
Kalbar Baptist Church.
Rev. Heinrich passed away
on May 5, 1936 at a Lowood Private Hospital, and was laid to rest
on the following day at the Laidley Cemetery. He was aged 60 years
and 7 months. His beloved wife, Augustina, passed away on 16 Feb
1943 aged 60 years and 11 months and was also buried in the Lowood
Cemetery. Left to mourn their passing was their loving family:
Ruth (Moller) born 1906, Carl 1908, Walter 1910, Daniel 1912,
Myrtle (Jackwitz) 1913, Samuel 1915 and Mildred (Wolter) 1917.
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Book
Review
INDEPENDENT
INDIA'S TROUBLED NORTH EAST 1952-69: An Australian Missionary’s
Story
by Rev Dr Neville A. Kirkwood
( Published by the Centre
for the Study of Australia-Asia Relations, Faculty of Asian &
International Studies, Griffith University, Qland 411 (Australia.)
ISBN O 86857 743X.
Reviewed by Ellen Chataway
Whilst not purporting to be an
historical document, Neville Kirkwood’s story of the people
and times of the 17 years that he spent in the NE of the Indian
subcontinent, tells of the refugees who fled to Assam from the
oppression of the Muslims and the Sino Indian War of 1962. Yet
it is fascinating history, and from the perspective of his Christian
oriented approach, it gives a valuable insight into the lives
of the people, broadly categorised as the Bengalis, the Plains
and Hills Tribals and the Assamese. We look briefly at one of
the Hill Tribes, the Nagas, who until the late 40’s were
fierce headhunters.
Through the advent of Christianity,
two thirds of these Hill Tribals had become Christians. A struggle
for the Naga Hills to secede from India caused a military confrontation
at the border with Assam for several years. The intervention of
a Peace Team which included a godly Naga, Rev Longri Lo, in 1958
brought a cessation of hostilities. One sentence at the commencement
of the 2nd chapter, headed “The Colonial Influence”
puts it succinctly: “The sanctimonious, pompous, self confident,
all knowing Europeans voiced indignation at many practices of
the Hindus, Muslims and Animists of India, without recognising
some of the logs impairing their own vision of themselves.”
Whilst recognising certain positive
benefits from the Raj's rule of the Indian sub-continent, as in
building of roads, bridges and systems of government, very like
that in the UK., Mr. Kirkwood points to the extremes to which
British officers and other wealthy ex-patriates would go with
regard to their socialising and the contempt with which those
seen as being inferior to them were treated.
The writer draws the contrast
with the above and the simple life style followed by the ABMS
staff. The houses in which they lived were of simple design, with
vary few “mod cons”. Churches were small in comparison
with the Hindu temples, and the schools and hostels likewise.
When out visiting pastors and churches, Mr Kirkwood was happy
to eat their food and to sleep with the men on a raised platform
or mud floor. Ever the practical missionary, he was involved in
several building projects and he enlisted the aid of the hostel
boys who were required to sieve sand and gravel for concrete work,
repair the road and keep the compound clear of jungle. He worked
hard at introducing a better breed of fowl to withstand local
diseases and produce larger eggs, and also the planting of a greater
variety of veges. and fruit. These activities led to him being
given the name, the “Gardener” Sahib!!
With the invasion of the Chinese,
in 1962, the escape route for the Kirkwoods and Assamese staff
lay across the river and through the Garo Hills to the East Pakistan
border. However, the fighting was soon over, and the government
officials could not find an answer as to why they (the Chinese)
had not crossed the border or why they stopped their invasion
when they were seemingly in a victorious position.
Ultimately, there were bonuses
for India in that Nehru's position was secured and his people
were united against the intruder. In the 1965 war between India
and W Pakistan, the Kirkwoods remained in Assam, forging stronger
ties between the local people irrespective of their racial grouping
- Hindu, Muslim or Tribal. This warmth and genuine concern for
the people indicated that the missionaries’ priority was
not to flee the country as most of the nationals and ex-patriates
had done. Toward the close of the decade, 1960-1970, the Plains
Tribals began flexing their muscles toward gaining independence,
but it was not until 1994 that the Boros & Rabhas attained
statehood.
Early in 1969, the Australian
missionaries were told that they had to be out of the country
by the end of the year. Thanks to having given over most positions
of authority to their indigenous pastors, teachers, nurses and
the wisdom of not holding properly in the name of the mission,
(ABMS). the changeover did not have the problems that beset other
Missions, who had erected large, pretentious buildings. Mr. Kirkwood
states, “Yet all, in God's wisdom, happened at a time when
we could leave the Church with confidence.”
Reading this fascinating book
by one of our own Queensland missionaries should be a must for
every Australian Baptist. Several maps, showing the relative positions
of Assam, E and W Pakistan, and the Hills and Plains Tribals would
add to its value.
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Copyright David Parker Aug 1997