Love Manifested as Unity and Division; Baptist Identity at Romney Street Baptist Church, 1815–1854

Abstract

ABSTRACT The church minutes of Romney Street Baptist Church from the nineteenth century offer a glimpse into Baptist identity. For this small church in Westminster, identity was constituted by love for God and members, manifested in practices of unity and division. Unity was emphasised through an emphasis on membership and regular participation in church life. Members were subjected to disciplinary division when they behaved in ways perceived as unloving to God and one another. Such discipline aimed to encourage members towards repentance and a re-embracement of loving unity. Unity was a vogue subject in this era due to the rising evangelical emphasis on inter-denominational unity. However, these Particular Baptists saw unity as something which still ought to be protected and, thereby, restricted. Baptist identity was marked by the dual importance of unity and division, both of which were underwritten by love for God and fellow members of their church family.