Early Adventism in England Season 2 | Episode 34
When J. N. Andrews arrived in England in 1874 on his way to Switzerland,
he didn't find any Adventist converts.
There was one Adventist English family, but they had emigrated before he arrived.
In 1878, English-born William Ings, who himself had emigrated to America,
arrived here in Southampton for a two-week stay
to visit his relatives and also to evangelize.
He passed out some literature while he was here
and was able to convince two people to keep the Sabbath.
His next visit in 1878 would prove more fruitful,
and in May of that year
they sent a request the General Conference to send a minister over.
In June of that year the General Conference voted
to send the experienced pioneer and administrator J. N. Loughborough.
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Southampton was one of the cities
that the Mayflower left from on its way to America,
and it would prove the birthplace of the Adventist Church here in Britain.
J. N. Loughborough found the work here
both different and more difficult than in America.
He held a series of meetings
in an area near where the present Seventh-day Adventist Church is,
and his opening crowd of a hundred and fifty dwindled quickly.
After two hundred and fifty five meetings,
in December of 1879 he did not have a single baptism
though he did have a Sabbath school with 17 members.
The work was hard, and the challenges were multiple, but they pressed on.
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In January of 1880 the newly-formed tract and Missionary Society
began sending Signs of the Times to libraries and interested people.
By February of that year,
thirteen people were baptized in Southampton
and by 1883 the first Adventist Church was formed in Britain
with 19 founding members.
By the end of 1883 there were 65 members in Britain
and by 1887 there were 122.
The headquarters of the church in Britain with the staff and the printing press
would move to Grimsby, a house there on the North Sea coast,
and by 1884 two churches would be formed in Grimsby and Ulceby.
This building behind me is the first
Seventh-day Adventist-built and -owned church in the British Isles
and was dedicated in 1889.
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S. N. Haskell would come over
and take over the leadership of the church in Britain
and moved the headquarters
from the relative obscurity of Grimsby down to London.
In London, using a house as their base,
they began to train local people
and continued with aggressive literature evangelism.
In June of that year they baptized nearly 20 people.
Judson Washburn would further develop the evangelistic work in England
with an emphasis on literature evangelism,
Christ-centred preaching, and musical singing groups.
He held audiences of up to 1,000 people
and in the town of Bath baptized nearly 80 people.
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In 1902, the British Union was formed with three missions and two conferences,
a newly formed college, and a health food factory.
In 1907, the three institutions, along with the British Union headquarters
were relocated to the 25-hectare Stanborough Park
which still serves as a headquarters of the British Union to this day.
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Even though church membership increased by 20 percent through the war,
World War I would prove a huge test to the young church
as the challenge of conscription was faced.
Some were able to serve as conscientious objectors,
but others were less fortunate
and were imprisoned and tortured for refusing to compromise their faith.
This memorial stands here as a testament to their faith under fire
and in recognition of the sacrifice that they and their families made.
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Even though the work progressed relatively slowly here in Britain
with quite a few challenges early on,
workers from the British Union and graduates from Newbold College here
would prove quite influential in world missions,
serving as missionaries in Africa and India, amongst other places.
Through dedication and commitment the work moved on.
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As in other parts of the world,
there has never been a 'glory era' of evangelism,
but the Commission is to go into all the world,
no matter how easy or hard the work may be.
If you are living and working for Christ today in an area
and you're not getting the success that you hoped or dreamed of,
then I want to encourage you to stay faithful at your duty,
for God rewards us not according to our seeming success
but according to the spirit in which the work is done.