First Baptist Church of Madison, North Carolina (1841-2011)

First Baptist Church of Madison, North Carolina (1841-2011)

A Message to a Missional People

by

Dr. Charles P. McGathy

November 6, 2011

Just a few miles to the north of here, travelling along Highway 220, just after you cross the border from North Carolina to Virginia is a historical marker. It reads, “William Byrd’s Camp. Near here on Matrimony Creek, William Byrd pitched his camp, November 1728, while determining the Virginia, North Carolina boundary line.” What that sign does not tell you, what you must do some further research to discover, is William Byrd’s opinion of the North Carolinians, specifically the residents of this area we call home. Now William Byrd himself was a well- known politician and statesman, and his work describing the mapping of the boundary between the two states is considered his most influential piece of literature. In it he describes the society and attitudes of the time. In the History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina, coincidentally published in 1841, the same year as the founding of this church, Byrd describes those on this side of the border as slothful, lazy, and full of sexual desire.

He focuses on work ethic . . . and emphasizes the sheer laziness of the North Carolinians. Byrd distinguishes the border between Virginia and North Carolina as a cultural border as well as a physical one. He describes the residents of North Carolina as lazy and corrupt, and provides himself as a contrast to their behavior. He describes the ways in which the North Carolinian men chase after women, as well as the ready acquiescence of the women to the men’s urges.[i]

That is only one layer of description. There is yet another way to view our past. Dr. Bill Leonard, in his book Baptist Ways, records how over the years we Baptists have disagreed about baptism, the Bible, slavery, women, war, and a host of other issues. Dr. Leonard quotes an Anglican pastor who is clearly befuddled by eighteenth-century “Carolina back-country” Baptists: “They don’t all agree on one Tune. For one sings this Doctrine and the next something different—So that People’s Brains are . . .turn’d and bewildered. . . . Then again to see them Divide and Sub divide, Split into Parties—Rail at and excommunicate each other—Turn out of one meeting and receive into another . . . must give High offence to all Intelligent and rational minds.”[ii]

With those outside observations acknowledged: welcome, as we celebrate our 170th anniversary as a North Carolina, Baptist church!

On November 6, 1841, the first Baptist church was founded in the town of Madison.[iii] Named for the fourth president of the United States, Madison had been established at the confluence of the Mayo and Dan rivers by an act of the North Carolina legislature just twenty-six years earlier. Madison, however, was in no great hurry to get started. Three years later Randall Duke Scales “laid off 96 half-acre lots and sold them at auction on June 3, 1818 for $67 to $100 each.”[iv]

Madison was planned for river trade and flourished as bateaux brought horses, hogs and other goods to town. Ferries were used to take people across the river until bridges could be built. Being destroyed by floods, the bridges had to be replaced several times. Then in 1830 a toll bridge was built across the Dan . . . This bridge was washed away in 1850. A covered bridge was built in 1887 and remained in use until a higher bridge was constructed at the end of Academy Street in 1931.[v]

In the early 1800’s agriculture dominated the area. The area was dominated by small farmers who owned their land. The area was considered an outpost, isolated from the other areas of the state and her residents were described as possessing an “air of independence.” Only about a quarter of farmers owned slaves although a plantation aristocracy was developing in the Dan River Valley.[vi]

In those days “dancing and horse racing were common amusements.” One historian decried the social scene this way: “that vile and abominable practice of card playing which is so prevalent at out county courthouses, taverns, and many other nefarious practices to delude the young and unwary . . .”[vii] Life in Madison of the 19th century was described as a place with fashionable homes and a “focal point” for “social and educational activities.” “In and around Madison were bateau rides, horse races, fox hunts, and shows on Franklin Street. There was however, another side of life in Madison with livestock and chickens roaming the dusty streets, plenty of saloons, as well as sanitation problems.”[viii]

Baptists in those days were of divided opinion on the subject of missions. County historian, Bob Carter, describes the theological terrain from which our church was germinated:

In 1792 William Carey formed the World Mission Society in England. Carey’s program had far reaching effects on the Baptist denomination in the coming decades. In the early 1800’s the mission movement grew among the Baptists in America but the members with Calvinist views opposed the effort which led to the split between the Missionary Baptists and the Primitive Baptists in the 1830’s. Both the County Line and Mayo Associations became anti-missionary. However, it was as late as 1840 before all missionary Baptists left the County Line Association.[ix]

Into this environment a group of Christians decided to establish a new Baptist church. An itinerant preacher named Elias Dodson was sent out from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, an organization that was itself barely a decade old. He, along with five charter members, began the Madison Missionary Baptist Church.[x]

According to a past history of First Baptist Church, the earliest meetings of the church were held at what was known as the camp meeting grounds; this area had been in use since the 1700’s for camp meetings and revivals.[xi] The meeting grounds were located adjacent to an old colonial road (which was originally an Indian trail and came to be known as the Salem-Petersburg Road) not far from the home place of Joshua Wall, one of the charter members of the church. In order to get to Madison, folks had to ford the Mayo River near the camp meeting grounds.

It is also possible that the church’s earliest worship initially took place in Madison or after a few years shifted meeting locations to the Baughn Schoolhouse (later known as the Beulah Academy). Either way, Madison Missionary Baptist Church shared this location with the Methodist and Presbyterian congregations that were established shortly after the Baptists. A statement in the 1940 history records that: “Until they erected their own churches, the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists met in a log schoolhouse . . . located in a large grove of giant oak trees at the east end of what later became known as Academy Street.”[xii]

During the first nine years of the church, from 1841-1850, Rev. Elias Dodson greatly assisted the new church to get established. One of the five charter members of the church was John M. New. He came from Caswell County and made his living as a shoemaker. In time he was ready to assume the responsibility as the first pastor of Madison’s Baptist church which he did in 1850.[xiii]

The site for the first sanctuary was selected on nearby Franklin Street, where the traveling shows used to perform. The church acquired the land in 1849 and again in 1851. The deed for the third lot was generously given to the church for the sum of one dollar. The benefactor, a Mr. Thomas Smith, stipulated only that “any building placed on the land should be free for use not only by Baptists but by Presbyterians and Methodists.”[xiv] From the very beginning, this has been a church for the entire community.

A description of the seating arrangement of the first sanctuary is interesting:

On the east end of the sanctuary, facing Franklin Street, were two front doors, one for the women and one for the men. A gallery was provided for the slaves who were probably brought to church by tobacco wagons from surrounding plantations. The gallery was located in the west end (back of the church) and was accessed by a back door and stairway. According to the custom of the day a rail was nailed to the top of the middle pews separating the women and men. The pews faced these doors . . . the pulpit was also located in the east end (between the two doors), thus the congregation would enter the building facing those already seated.[xv]

This configuration, typical for its time, led to at least one well known incident. During the years 1855-1859, the pastor, the Rev. Stinson Ivey presided over worship. It also so happened that the emphasis placed upon full immersion water baptism had created a rift between the Methodists and Presbyterians, who baptized infants by sprinkling. This is how the religious temperature was recounted in The Journal of Rockingham County History and Genealogy:

The question of the mode of baptism was an exceedingly hot one and there was firing along the whole line constantly. There was not much culture or erudition among the Baptist faithful in Madison in those days, but they stood to their guns even when firing blank cartridges. They did not know much Greek, but they were very familiar with bapto, batidzo, apo, eis and en, and frequently double shotted their guns with these and fired broad side into their opponents.[xvi]

Now remember how the church was configured. The Reverend Ivy was preaching one Sunday morning and ridiculing “baby sprinkling.” In the heat of his sermon a man from outside the church came to one of the doors and motioned for the town doctor, indicating that he required him for some medical necessity. The doctor, who was short-tempered, left the service at once. The reverend, who did not understand the reason for the doctor’s departure, assumed it was due to his sermon. That’s when he blurted out to the audience, “They always run when you throw hot shot at them!” The next day the doctor met the preacher at a downtown store, horse whip in hand, and threatened to use it if the preacher did not take back his words. He, of course, did so. The entire incident is illustrative of the emotional climate of the times.[xvii]

No church records exist for the first fifty years. We do know that worship services were held each Sunday and every fourth Saturday until 1895, when the Saturday service was discontinued.[xviii] Instead “Preaching Day” was held every fourth Sunday each month.[xix]

In 1845 Baptists in America divided over the issue of slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention was formed over a dispute involving the appointment of a slave-holding missionary. During the Civil War the church saw many of her sons depart for service in the Confederate Army and it can be assumed that slaves continued to worship in the same building until the war was over and Reconstruction began.[xx]

From its inception, this church has been missional in focus. The connection with missions extends beyond attitude. In 1860 Madison Missionary Baptist Church called as its pastor Lewis H. Shuck. To say that he came from a missionary-minded Baptist background is an understatement. Lewis was born in Singapore. His mother and father were Baptist missionaries, going to China in 1835. In fact, his mother was the first American woman missionary to that country. Dr. Shuck was educated at Wake Forest and received a PhD. from the University of Virginia.[xxi] During the three years he served as our pastor he lost a wife and child both, of whom are buried in our cemetery.[xxii]

In 1863, during the war, Southern Baptists voted to create the Sunday School Board and even though most communities had a shared religious education system called “Unions,” Madison Missionary Baptist Church had its own Sunday School with an enrollment of twenty.[xxiii]

The extant church records begin with minutes recorded on June 28, 1890. During the decade that followed, the sanctuary was extensively renovated. The slave gallery was removed, the pulpit relocated to the other end of the sanctuary and the pews reversed. The church bell that had hung in the tree was relocated to a bell tower.[xxiv]

Lloyd Baird, who served as the Chairman of the Church History Committee in 2011, revealed through his research a number of important details about the significant changes and life of the church:

· In 1891the church joined the Pilot Mountain Association.

· In 1895 Saturday worship services were discontinued, but the church did retain “Preaching Day” on the fourth Sunday every month.

· In 1910 there is the first mention of the “Ladies Missionary Society” along with its proposal to “overhaul the church,” which meant painting, new benches, and carpet.

· In 1914 a revival was held that lasted four weeks. Church enrollment moved from 28 to 109.

· In 1918 the ladies decided it was time to stop using the “two goblet “communion set and began using individual cups.

· In 1920 Baptist Training Union was organized.

· In 1923 the Northeast corner of the church property was sold to build the Madison Fire House. Funds from the sale built the first parsonage.

· In 1924 the church made an agreement with Mayodan Baptist Church to share monthly preaching duties.

· In 1938 a motion to begin a fund for building new facilities was made. Little money was collected, and with the outbreak of World War II the building program was put on hold.

· By 1939 the church had accomplished much in all departments including Vacation Bible Schools, Teacher Training Classes, and a Women’s Missionary Union.[xxv]

First Baptist Church called her first full-time pastor in January 1940. The Rev. Willard Brown[xxvi] led the church to adopt the Unified Budget Plan of Financing, a new rotating system for deacons, and a new building program that would culminate in the Educational Building, Sanctuary, and Children’s Building.[xxvii]