James Reid: Ministering Amidst Controversy

 

                                                            Thompson Town Baptist Church

 

James Reid was a Scotsman from Dumblane. In 1836, he applied to the BMS for missionary service after studies at the University of Glasgow. He was accepted and he sailed for Jamaica, arriving in Kingston on March 13, 1837.

His coming to serve as a BMS missionary in the country resulted from earnest appeals to BMS by Rev. H. C. Taylor, BMS missionary in Old Harbour. According to BMS, “growing inability, through age and infirmities” was preventing Taylor from satisfactorily meeting the needs of the churches under his care. In addition, Taylor assured BMS that “the churches in Vere [and] Clarendon, having nearly surmounted the pecuniary difficulties attending the erection of their new chapels, were both able and willing to take on themselves the maintenance of a pastor.” In response, the BMS Committee sent “Mr. James Reid, late of the University of Glasgow, and for several years laboriously and usefully connected with the City Mission there [having] designated him to his important work, on the evening of December 29 [1837], at the Baptist Chapel in Hope Street, Glasgow, of which church he was a member.”

Reid’s first posting was in the parishes of Vere and Clarendon, where he had responsibility for oversight of the churches at Hayes and Ebenezer, Four Paths. In 1838, he initiated Baptist witness in Thompson Town, which was a community named for George Thompson, a member of the Jamaica House of Assembly. Reid led the church in Thompson Town to erect a building which was opened and dedicated on August 10, 1840.

It was while he lived in Four Paths that Reid met and married Miss Margaret Barrett, a sister of Rev William Garland Barrett of the London Missionary Society (BMS), who served as pastor of the Congregationalist Church in Four Paths.

Reid and his fellow BMS missionaries in Jamaica got into quarrels over membership admission practice in the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU). Reid was severe in his judgment of the way in which the Baptist churches processed candidates for baptism. He believed that often inquirers did not manifest sufficient proof of conversion. By observing his congregants in daily life, he also developed some scepticism about the strength of their discipleship.  In 1842, Reid wrote a letter in which he criticized the method Baptists in Jamaica employed in admitting persons to church membership and apportioned blame on the BMS leadership in Jamaica for what he regarded as poor policy direction. Reid’s letter appeared in a British publication called the Morning Journal.

Reid’s criticism mirrored those of his brother-in-law who had campaigned excessively against church membership practices in JBU. So severe were the objections that W. G. Barrett spread against Jamaica Baptists that Samuel Green, a member of the BMS Committee issued a publication to refute the claims. The 32-page essay, Baptist Mission in Jamaica: A Review of the Rev W. G. Barrett’s Pamphlet entitled A Reply to the Circular of the Baptist Missionary Committee (London: Houlston & Stoneman & G & W Dyer, 1842) was a carefully prepared refutation of Barrett’s claims.

Reid was recalled to England, but did not heed the order. So, BMS terminated his appointment one of their missionaries.

Reid’s connection with BMS was renewed after the visit to Jamaica by BMS Secretary Edward Underhill and Rev J. T. Brown of Northhampton, over 1859 and 1860. Their mission was to investigate the religious and social condition of the emancipated people. The deputation from BMS claimed that they visited every Baptist church in Jamaica and they had discussions with Reid, resulting in the minister regaining his status as a BMS missionary to Jamaica.

Not long after this, in 1847, the First (now Burchell) Baptist Church in Montego Bay was facing a crisis. To resolve it, they invited Reid to come and work among them Their desire was that Reid would help to heal the breach in the church that was rapidly heading for a clear schism. Instead of establishing the peace of the congregation, Reid led the First Baptist church through tumultuous years. At one time, a significant majority of the church membership voted to request Reid’s departure, which he ignored. This led 700 members to withdraw from the church. Reid remained unmoved. He stayed on to serve as pastor of the First Baptist Church and worked under circumstances of much controversy.

After spending 30 years as pastor of the First Baptist Church, Reid went on to serve as pastor of the St Margaret’s Bay Church in Portland. Reid remained in Jamaica until his death in 1879. He completed 42 years of service in JBU and became the joint third longest serving BMS missionary to Jamaica.