African Americans George Liele and Moses Baker arrived in Jamaica in 1783 and, in 1814, British Baptists began sending missionaries to Jamaica at the invitation of Baker and Liele. After the British Baptist leaders arrived, several churches in Jamaica continued to be served by local Black leadership with whom the White British Baptists did not develop a positive relationship. Generally, the British Baptist missionaries did not regard the leaders of these churches as well-trained ministers who were properly equipped to lead a congregation. Nor did some of the Black-led churches request association with the British Baptists. Instead, they formed alliances among themselves and continued their ministerial work.
One church that continued its ministry without entering into alliance with the organizational structure with oversight from BMS missionaries was the former Windward Road Baptist Chapel, which later attracted a series of appellations: Kellick’s Church, Elletson Baptist, and First Church. This church remained a part of the network of Native Baptist churches. Even though, for a brief period, it was served by a white British missionary, the Windward Road Chapel remained independent. One of the outstanding pastors of this church was Rev. Gabriel Emanuel Stewart.
Rev. G. E. Stewart became pastor of the First Church before 1914 and he presided over church meetings there in that year. He was dismissed from his post when certain trustees called a church meeting on December 11,1918 at which they influenced the church members to vote to approve a resolution dismissing Stewart as pastor and changing the composition of the church’s Board of Trustees.
After receiving the letter notifying him of his dismissal, Stewart made several attempts to hold services in the church, but the new trustees locked the church doors against him. Notwithstanding this, on February 23, 1919, Stewart managed to gain entrance to the church to conduct a worship service. This became the basis of litigation which dragged on in the law courts for a long time.
The Black-led churches, sometimes referred to as Native Baptists, of which First Church was one example, nurtured a fiercely independent spirit and the members did not remain together for long as a cohesive unit. Meanwhile, a group of churches emerged from the Native Baptist family, adopting the name “Fellowship Baptists,” and this group had an impact on the scattered congregations of Native Baptists.
Member churches of the Fellowship Baptist group included Fellowship Baptist Church, whose buildings were at the corner of East Queen Street and Highholborn Street in Kingston Other churches in the Fellowship group included the following from Kingston and St Andrew: Elletson Baptist – the former Windward Road Chapel; Bethlehem Church, 109 Charles Street; Maiden Lane; and 11a Upper Regent Street; Mamby Park Baptist Church and New Providence Baptist Church, Barbican. Other members were from Port Antonio in Portland; Cyprus (now Cypress Hall) and Old Harbour in St Catherine; and Trinityville in St Thomas. Ministers in this group of churches included A. V. Petgrave, Matthias Munroe, R. M. Whittle, G. S. Hollar, J. G. Printer, Alexander Rickards, J. N. Johnson, A. A. Grant, H. Leonard, J. Baines, J. A. Neill, D. A. Waugh, R. M. Whittle and G. E. Stewart, who was pastor at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Kingston. Stewart preached often at the New Providence Baptist Church in Barbican.
The great earthquake in Kingston in 1907 damaged the Elletson Baptist Church and several other churches in Kingston. After this happened, some of the trustees tore down the Elletson Church to sell its timber and bricks. Then, they proceeded to rent units built on the three acres of land on which Liele’s church stood and misappropriated the funds.
On behalf of the Fellowship Baptist group, Rev. G. E. Stewart travelled to USA to solicit help in restoring the church buildings that were either damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. During the visit, he was put in touch with the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention (NBC), which pledged its support for the planned restoration work. This was the beginning of a relationship between the Fellowship Baptist group and NBC.
Having received a firm promise from NBC, Stewart returned to Jamaica and, in 1908, he led the churches associated with the Fellowship group to seek affiliation with the NBC of America. The local body became the National Baptist Churches of America in Jamaica.
Seven years later, two outstanding NBC leaders, Rev. Dr Charles Henry Parrish and L. G. Jordan, attended the Convention of the local affiliate – NBC of America in Jamaica. In their report to the NBC Convention, the delegates explained, concerning Jamaica:
Baptists who are trying to
maintain themselves without white leadership are regarded even by many of the
Negroes themselves as impossible. They throng the popular churches pastored by
white men and have heretofore regarded the other Baptists as very ignorant and
superstitious…. The churches of Jamaica should be trained to give to … denominational
work at home and abroad. Many causes have kept these twenty-eight Baptist
churches [of the Fellowship Baptist group] poor and undesirable, and only men
of God could have sacrificed to serve them all these years.
To
commemorate the pioneer of Baptist work in Jamaica, the NBC deputation collaborated
with the locally-affiliated NBC body in establishing the George Lisle Academy
at 3la Drummond Street, Kingston. The school was to begin its work on April 13. 1916. Rev.
W. A. Waugh was chosen as the Principal and Rev. G. E. Stewart, Vice-Principal.
In January 1917, the Academy was launched with a very small school population as the George Lisle Academy and
Preparatory School. Unfortunately, this institution had a short life-span.
During their visit to Jamaica in 1915, the NBC representatives paid a visit to legendary Rev. A. Bedward "and his large following" in August Town. The "influential" East Queen Street Baptist Church, led by "Rev. William Pratt, (white)," received the delegation at a public reception "on behalf of the Baptist and other religious denominations of Jamaica."
The members of the deputation took the liberty to seize some pieces of old furniture from Liele’s Church and also the iron railing that had been torn from around Liele’s grave and took them to America. They believed they were rescuing these items from “sacrilegious hands.” The NBC delegates reported as follows: “The church property which has been used by the trustees with a mercenary hand for years, we sought out by legal process and hope to see it reclaimed for the Baptists.” Whatever it is that they did, NBC never succeeded in helping the Baptists recover ownership of the Elletson Baptist property. Today, a church building with the sign, Church of Christ, Elletson, occupies a small portion of the land along the Elletson Road side of the property that once belonged to the former Windward Road Baptist Chapel.
On September 9, 1917, during the Annual Session of the National Baptist Convention, USA, NBC organized a programme to unveil a monument to George Liele at the First Bryan Baptist church in Savannah, Georgia. Liele was hailed "the First (Negro] Missionary, Gift of American Baptist to the West Indies and the Non-Christian World."
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