'Very Affecting And Evangelical' Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) And The Evangelical Renewal Of Pastoral Theology

Abstract

At the end of the eighteenth century, there was a profound transformation of English dissenting churches as they embraced evangelical theology and piety. The expansionist and activist signs of that evangelical renewal have been well catalogued: reinvigorated associational life, the promotion of international missions, voluntary societies for spiritual growth, widespread itinerancy and lay ministry, and initiatives in education. These new emphases and activities changed the shape of the church in important ways. Deryck Lovegrove has argued persuasively, for example, that the new emphasis on evangelistic itinerancy, entailed “the adaptation of the traditional pastorate” by enlarging the scope of preaching ministry and by allowing greater lay involvement. W.R. Ward has similarly noted that the evangelical transformation of the church was compelling a redefinition of pastoral ministry. The direction of the change that Lovegrove and Ward describe is outward: pastors and congregations engaging new hearers, rural villages, social reform, and even the nations. Andrew Fuller’s (1754-1815) contributions to this evangelical transformation of the church were many: his participation in the Northamptonshire Particular Baptist Association’s cooperative ventures in prayer, itinerancy, education, and social reform; his role in founding, and then as an administrator and advocate for, the Baptist Missionary Society; and especially his articulation of an evangelical and moderate Calvinism which was seen as enabling, even obligating, this more activist