George Gibbs, Unheralded Church Planter

 

                                             Mt Nebo Baptist Church

George Gibbs (sometimes called Gibb or Gives) was among those from the southern colonies of America who evacuated to Jamaica after the American revolutionary war. Gibbs became a member of Liele’s church and he was one of the leaders who understood the call to bear witness to Christ and so expand the reach of the Gospel.

In 1783, Liele told Ripon of his success in acquiring a parcel of land in Spanish Town with a house on it. He intended to establish “a burying ground” there in association with the new Baptist witness that would emanate from the site.

George Gibbs was the one Liele chose to do pioneer work in and around Spanish Town. In the town itself, he formed a church which practised “triune immersion” and built up a membership of 700. Triune immersion, which is one of several forms of baptism by immersion, involved the candidate being dipped three times sequentially once “in the name of the Father,” another time “in the name of the Son,” and a third time, “in the name of the Holy Spirit.” After Gibbs died in 1826, Phillippo visited the communities where Gibbs had worked, and linked some of the converts to the Spanish Town Baptist Church.

But Gibbs’ work was not confined to the Spanish Town area. He was instrumental in forming Baptist churches at Jericho, once called Constant Spring, and in Guy’s Hill in the parish once called St Thomas in the Vale, but now absorbed into St Catherine. Later, John Clarke reorganized the witness in these two communities and some have wrongly credited him with forming these churches.

Gibbs also initiated Baptist witness on Jamaica’s north coast in places such as the Russell Hall sugar estate near Gayle in St Mary and the Goshen sugar estate in St Ann, whose proprietor was James Lang. This estate was near Lucky Hill in St. Mary. Gibbs contributed much to the spread of Baptist work from Kingston to St Catherine, St Thomas in the Vale, St Mary and St Ann.

Credit for starting Baptist witness in St Ann's Bay and Ocho Rios is due to George Gibbs. Citing an unnamed source, perhaps an eyewitness who gave oral testimony, John Clarke, in his Voice of Jubilee, states concerning Gibbs:

 

He came to Russell Hall, near Ocho Rios, where he held services.  Here, Mr Bainbridge, Mrs Paisley, Milbro White, Duncan and others, were baptised by him. He then went down to Spring Valley and surrounding district, where he baptised several persons. In that [Bagnalls district] and the Guy’s Hill district, his labours were extensive and greatly blessed. There are now about a dozen members who were baptized by him, and who stand well. When Bainbridge was baptized, Mrs. Waters visited Russell; eventually she also received the truth and was the first who brought the word to St Anne’s Bay.

Gibbs also started what is now called Emmanuel Baptist church in Port Maria, where he purchased land and oversaw the erection of a small church building, which was destroyed by members of the plantocracy. The arsonists are said to have perished in acts of divine retribution soon after the church building was destroyed.

Gibbs died in 1826 and it is hoped that the full extent of his contribution will become clearer as research continues into the sphere of his missional and pastoral efforts in Jamaica. Only then will we be able to write fully about the persecution Gibbs faced especially in Spanish Town and on the estates that he visited by night to minister to the enslaved.

According to Baptist missionary John Clarke, who wrote Memorials of Baptist Missionaries in Jamaica including a Sketch of the Labour of Early Religious Instruction in Jamaica, published in 1869, Gibbs arrived in Jamaica in 1784. He “bore a good character among the poor people and was well-respected by the slaves. He went on preaching as long as he was able and died in 1826 at Pembroke Hall Estate in the parish of St Mary, aged about 80 years. He was twice married. His first wife was a free person of colour (who) died some time after he came to Jamaica. His second wife was a slave belonging to Pembroke Estate, of good character and one who took care of him in his advanced years…. His widow became a member of the church at Mt Angus and she occasionally visited her Christian friends at St Thomas in the Vale,” where Clarke resided.

Clarke reports that, after Gibbs’ death, his members who did not come under Phillippo’s leadership united under the leadership of Mr. James Alexander Clarke “a brown man of free condition who had long acted as helper to Mr. Gibb.” Long may we remember the contribution and sacrifices made by George Gibbs and may we soon be able to acknowledge properly the contribution of James Clarke.