Published three times per annum

Qld Baptist Forum No. 42 April 1998

Contents

Emphasising this year’s annual BHSQ Event. . .

to celebrate the

from which came the Baptist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches in Queensland

and the

featuring music of the period, presentations and inspirational addresses

on the heritage and legacy of the UEC

preceded by

15$ per head - RSVP required for dinner only - 21 April 1999

Baptist Ministers in Qld 1849-1905 Part 3 (conc.) - David Parker (compiler)

Johann Gerhard Oncken

by Eric Kopittke

No history of the Baptist Church in Germany and of the German Baptists in Queensland can avoid mention of the remarkable Johann Gerhard Oncken. For over half a century "Brother Oncken" directed and guided the growth of the Baptist Church not only throughout Germany but also across much of Europe.

Johann Gerhard Oncken was born 199 years ago, on the 26^th January 1800 in Varel, a town in the Duchy of Oldenburg. He had an inauspicious start in life – as an illegitimate child raised by his grandmother. It was a time of great change, a difficult period. Revolutionary changes in industry and agriculture forced many people to move from the country to the towns and cities in search of a better life. Unfortunately, they often found little opportunity for employment there either and alcoholism and crime were the result.

After Oncken’s confirmation in 1814, a wonderful opportunity presented itself. A Scottish merchant offered him training and employment as his assistant. Oncken moved to Leith in Scotland with him and learned the business of a merchant. Through his travels around Great Britain he came to know the Presbyterians in Scotland and the Independents in England. He also had contact with the Congregationalist Revival Movement in Scotland. These experiences bore fruit when he was converted in a London Methodist church in 1820. His life was changed dramatically.

From 1823 Oncken was based in Hamburg as an agent of the British "Continental Society for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge over the Continent of Europe." At the time, he was a member of the English Reformed church which met in private dwellings. Oncken was much in demand as a speaker. Although at first only 10 attended, within a month numbers had grown to 120 and ultimately as many as 280. Such numbers did not go unnoticed and finally the police arrived and forbade such gatherings. Freedom of religion and assembly were not known in Hamburg at the time. Oncken and his followers did not worry much about the ban on assembly – they began to meet in different residences and communicated the venue by word of mouth.

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So, what influence did Johann Gerhard Oncken have on Queensland? Although many Germans emigrated to Queensland, the vast majority of these were from the main Protestant churches – the Union or State church from Prussia, the Lutheran church from most other areas, and the Reformed church from a few more isolated areas – and the Catholic church. In Queensland, the Lutheran Church attracted many of the Protestants and some of the Catholics because it was the "German Church".

But among all of these other emigrants were a few from the German Baptist churches and these often had an influence far out of proportion to their numbers. Oncken’s teaching that "every Baptist is a missionary" obviously was taken seriously by many. Several of the German Baptist settlers were apparently particularly active in sharing the Gospel amongst their fellow countrymen and women.

Johann Georg (or George) Schneider comes to mind in particular here. He was a stone mason or brick layer from Eberstadt in Württemberg an a Baptist. As a 55 year old he emigrated with his family from Hamburg on board the Helene in 1865. They appear to have been following George’s son, Heinrich (or Henry) who had emigrated in 1864 on board La Rochelle. After George arrived in Queensland he is reputed to have worked as a mason on the Victoria Tunnel and assisted with the masonry on Parliament House; as well as cutting timber for fuel for the railway.

His emigration from Germany is typical of that of so many other Germans where members of the one family followed each other to the other side of the world, attracted no doubt by glowing reports of a better life in a new land. And yet, in his relatively short time in Queensland he was active in preaching the Gospel and exercising pastoral oversight in the Mount Walker area. George Schneider baptised numbers of people among whom were Carl Krüger who later became the pastor of the Engelsburg (later Kalbar) church; and William Peters who was later a prominent preacher and choir conductor.

So, although Oncken never came to Australia, many of the German Baptists such as George Schneider who did so, followed in his footsteps, proclaiming the Gospel and baptising men and women who came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Emergence of the Postmodern Church

by David Parker

This year all eyes seem to be on the end of the century and the new millennium. However, there are also some important events to be remembered in 1999, especially the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Baptist minister in Queensland, Rev. Charles Stewart and the establishment of the United Evangelical Church (UEC). We are looking forward to a well supported celebration of this event on 1 May. It was this church which served as the spiritual home for the first Baptists in Queensland, including James Swan, the Grimes, Childs, Lloyds, Bales, Birts, Taylors and other pioneers of our denomination. A Baptist church was first organised in 1855 a few months after the UEC disbanded. So the sesqui-centenary of the Baptist denomination occur in 2005. As this is only a relatively short time away, our thoughts turn to ways of observing it.

One worthwhile project would be to produce a new or updated history of the denomination. The first formal official history, the work of Edmund Gregory and William Higlett, was published at the Jubilee in 1905. The full background and published versions of this have been republished recently by the Baptist Historical Society and are available for purchase. The next major history was published at the Centenary of the Baptist Union in 1977. Titled, A Fellowship of Service, it was written by Rev. John White. Copies are still available for purchase. It is a valuable book with important material, but some of later material can now be seen in far better perspective. More significantly, a great deal has taken place since it was written which calls for attention.

Some work has been done on selected topics or individuals during this (and slightly earlier) periods, including Mel Williams' history of Mission to Queensland, Stan Nickerson's study of the Baptist College, Catherine Grieve's dissertation on church music, Joan Maxwell's history of camping and Ken Smith's paper on the Social Questions committee; John Brooks' biography of his father throws light on a key period of the Home Mission, while a number of College students looked at churches and ministers for their graduation papers. But overall, this period has not been studied adequately. Documentary sources, which are fragmentary and disorganised, are likely to be a problem in tackling this project, but even so, there is much to take into account. It is apparent that even since the 1970s, the denomination has changed so much as to be almost unrecognisable.

For example, in 1977 there were 8173 members in 123 churches, giving an average size of 66; there were 21 churches larger than 100, but only one larger than 200 and one larger than 400. At this time there were 183 accredited ministers, pastors and deaconesses - 1.5 per church on average, or one for 45 members. Twenty years earlier there were 86 ministers for 5074 members (one for 59) in 82 churches, an average of 62, with 11 larger than 100, and as later, one larger than 100 and one larger than 400.

Today we have 141 affiliated churches with 13,000 members and 325 ministers (2.3 per church or one for 40 members), 19% of whom are unordained. The average size of churches has increased by 50% to 92 members, but half of them are under 70 members in size; 15 are larger than 200 and another 30 between 100 and 200.

Baptist membership growth has been a little better than population growth from 1957 to 1997 (2.56% compared with 2.35%), but planting of new churches has lagged seriously. The "20/20 vision" set 15 years ago with a "realistic" goal of 20,000 members by 2000 AD is clearly not possible now. The proportion of small churches (20 to 50 members) has remained steady, while middle sized churches (50-100) are about the same as 40 years ago after rising in the 1970s. It is the number of large churches which has increased.