What Happened at #137 Bakkerstraat? (Bennington Banner column, 8/22/2009)

What Happened at #137 Bakkerstraat? 

By the Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot 

In late July 2009, Baptist leaders from around the world gathered in the Netherlands for the annual meeting of the Baptist World Alliance. The BWA serves as a global network of Baptist denominations, conventions, and organizations. It is a miracle that so many Baptists are represented in this international effort. If you have hung around Baptist congregations long enough, you will hear the old joke: “If there are three Baptists in a room, there are probably also four or five opinions as well.”  

Despite the contrary-minded nature of its adherents, the Baptist movement is filled with many wonderful people, who are convictionally and globally diverse. The face of the Baptist family is multi-hued and graced with a blessed variety. Baptists are known for their commitments to believer’s baptism, mission, humanitarian work, and the defense of religious freedom. In recent years, the BWA has created the platform for Baptists to respond to global issues such as human trafficking. The BWA serves as the “Baptist” voice in Christian/Muslim dialogue taking place in various parts of the world. In North America, American Baptist leaders have led the way creating Baptist/Muslim engagements. Together, we Baptists do more than we can apart or under our own auspices. We are different, yet through the BWA, we embrace the common belief in “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism”.

This year, the BWA assembled in the Netherlands to remember our roots. The Baptist movement started in Amsterdam, where in 1609, a pastor named John Smyth and his congregation began practicing baptism by immersion and articulating beliefs we now identify as the first “Baptist” congregation. Smyth’s congregation found safe haven in Amsterdam, which had become a place for religious toleration by the late 16^th century. The congregation would later immigrate back to England in 1612, under the leadership of Thomas Helwys, establishing a church in Spitalfields, an area then outside the city of London.

The BWA held a celebratory service on the Thursday portion of the official program. We worshiped at a Mennonite church in Amsterdam, among whom Smyth’s group found friendly and likeminded folk. Some Baptist historians claim Smyth’s group was influenced by the Mennonites, placing Baptists and Mennonites together in the Anabaptist family of Protestantism. Indeed, we felt quite welcome as delegates entered the front entrance where the church sign told passersby this place was a “doopsgezinde” church. This word was used to describe Mennonites as their movement began. The word means “baptism-minded”.

After the service, a walking tour of Amsterdam was offered, touring sites significant to early Baptists. At #137 Bakkerstraat, the BWA tour met two Dutch Baptists dressed in period clothing. The exact history of the early Baptists is a bit of a puzzle, however, from the best records, it is thought the early Baptists enjoyed the hospitality and friendship of the Mennonites, including permission to use space at a local bakery owned by a Mennonite. The re-enactors told of the Smyth congregation’s activities here, where the group is thought to have worshiped and perhaps had living quarters. In the modern day, the bakery is long gone, now a quiet residential side street.

Standing at #137 Bakkerstaat, I felt a kinship with the Catholic going to Rome and the Anglican pilgrim on the way to Canterbury. For my Baptist heart, the simple setting of #137 Bakkerstraat seems befitting for a place where my faith tradition began. Here at this place, the Baptists began as “church” (lowercase ‘c’). I was quite moved to stand at the place where the divergent, wide river of Baptist convictions and spirituality began its course.

I said a little prayer of thanksgiving there at #137 Bakerstraat. In 1609, a small group of English dissidents worried about what the future held, safe for now, but yearning to return home. Four hundred years later, Baptists are the largest Protestant movement. Standing at #137 Bakkerstraat on this side of history, I behold the Baptists of 2009 as the many gathered from around the world, saying together the Lord’s Prayer in dozens of languages, working together on common ground issues, and gathering for table fellowship. (We Baptists are “well rounded” from our meals together.) For that little congregation, lost in the midst of the anxiety of what the future held, they persevered. They believed in the Christ who supplied their needs and gave them spiritual strength. The many who gathered in 2009 serve as testimony to the witness and legacy of these early forbears. While estranged from comfort and societal acceptance, they labored not in vain. Indeed, Christ was with them all along the pilgrim way.

The Rev. Jerrod H. Hugenot serves as coordinating minister of the First Baptist Church of Bennington, Vermont. Correspond: fbpastor@sover.net