A Post-Reformation Model of Worship: Baptist Worship

Baptists emerged from a variety of Separatist congregations in seventeenth-century England. While Baptists disagreed theologically on the issue of predestination, they eventually came to share the same form of worship. Like the Congregationalists, Baptists looked to the Bible for their liturgical guidance. At the same time, early Baptists strongly emphasized the leading of the Spirit in worship and avoided a strict structuring of the Sunday service. As the texts below make clear, Baptist liturgical patterns began to solidify on both sides of the Atlantic by the eighteenth century.

Introduction

As Baptists developed in England in the seventeenth century, they worshiped in a variety of ways (see Origins of Baptist Worship), but by the end of the century a prevalent pattern had formed. The “Churchbook” of the congregation at Paul’s Alley, Barbicon (London), illustrates that pattern.

Seventeenth-Century Baptists

Text:

A MODEL OF BAPTIST WORSHIP, 1695

ORDER OF SERVICE
Psalm
Prayer
Scripture
Sermon(s)
Prayer
[LORD’S SUPPER
Homily and Exhortation
Blessing the Bread
Words of Institution
Receiving the Bread
Blessing the Wine
Words of Institution
Receiving the Wine]
Psalm (hymn)
Benediction

A layman selected by the congregation began the service by reading a psalm. In some congregations he read it. In others he “read” it by “lining it out” for the congregation to sing after him to a known psalm tune.

A time of prayer followed. The layman prayed, and others could follow him in a general time of prayer. The layman then read a portion of Scripture.

After reading his text, the minister preached, the sermon lasting as long as an hour. The minister concluded with prayer directed toward the application of the sermon.

Then a psalm was read or sung (as at the beginning of the service), although in some churches a hymn was sung. An intense controversy over whether hymns could be sung arose during this period. Eventually, however, following the leadership of the London Baptist pastor Benjamin Keach, almost all Baptist congregations adopted the singing of hymns, and hymns became a significant part of Baptist worship. The minister pronounced a benediction to conclude the service.

Usually one Sunday each month, often in an afternoon or evening service, the congregation celebrated the Lord’s Supper after the minister’s sermon and prayer. The minister took his place behind the table at the front of the congregation and began with a brief homily on the meaning of the Supper and exhorted the members to receive it properly. He gave thanks for the bread; then taking it in his hands and saying the words of institution, he broke it as he said the words, “This is my body, broken for you.” He partook of the bread, gave to the deacons for them to partake, and the deacons distributed the bread to the members, who remained in their seats, while the minister said appropriate words of distribution. They repeated the same pattern for the wine. This pattern would remain virtually unchanged during the first three centuries of Baptist life, although in many congregations the frequency decreased to once each quarter during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Eighteenth-Century Baptists

Text:

Regular Baptists. The Baptists who came to America from England brought the aforementioned pattern of worship with them and modified it according to their own experience. These Baptists who followed this somewhat more structured pattern came to be called Regular Baptists, distinguishing them from Baptists who had developed later with a less-structured style of worship.

An example of the Regular Baptists was Morgan Edwards, a product of the Baptist college at Bristol, England. Edwards was pastor of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia. With history as an avocation, Edwards visited Baptists up and down the east coast collecting statistics on congregations and materials regarding their theology and practices. His Customs of Primitive Churches, 1768, provides evidence for reconstructing Regular Baptist worship in the latter part of the eighteenth century.

MODEL OF REGULAR BAPTIST WORSHIP, 1768

ORDER OF SERVICE
Call to Worship
Prayer
Scripture
Prayer
Singing
Preaching
Prayer
Singing
[Lord’s Supper]
Offering
Benediction

The call to worship could be a brief word spoken by the minister or the singing of a hymn by the congregation. The minister followed it with a brief prayer of invocation.

The minister then read a portion of Scripture, which provided the larger context from which his sermon text would be taken. The main prayer in the worship service followed. In this lengthy prayer, the minister addressed all the needs of the congregation.

The Lord’s Supper normally was celebrated once each month either before or after the offering. It followed the pattern of the English Baptists cited earlier.

Separate Baptists. Although the Regular Baptists began Baptist work in America, during the eighteenth century another Baptist group evolved out of the revivals of the Great Awakening. Known as Separate Baptists because of their origins out of Separate Congregationalism during and following the revivals, these Baptists’ roots were clearly evident. Whereas the Regulars were more prominent in the cities and towns of the East and relatively more formal and structured in worship, the Separates were more prevalent in frontier regions, especially in the West, and more informal and openly evangelistic in tone.

Because of their informality, lack of structure, and disinterest in chronicling their worship, no materials have been preserved to guide in reconstructing a definitive Separate Baptist worship. However, by piecing together information from Separate Baptist writings and journals, the following speculative model emerges.

MODEL OF SEPARATE BAPTIST WORSHIP, c. 1770

ORDER OF SERVICE
Hymn(s)
Prayer
Sermon(s)
Prayer
Exhortation(s)
Hymn(s)
[Lord’s Supper]

Separate Baptists began their worship with singing. Sometimes they sang one hymn, at other times several hymns or choruses.

The minister led a time of prayer which followed, but the pattern of prayer varied. Sometimes only the minister prayed; at other times several joined in. The Separates were criticized because of the emotional nature of many of the prayers and because women often prayed during this part of the service.

The Separates used a unique preaching style which was characterized as emotional and noisy, and which evoked an emotional response in the hearers. People cried out, expressed their emotions physically, or exhorted others around them.

After a prayer at the close of the sermon, the minister came down from the pulpit and walked among the congregation exhorting persons to prayer and repentance. He then joined with persons who knelt to pray for the state of their souls. Sometimes others joined in the exhorting as well.

Separate Baptists concluded the service with singing. On occasion the exhorting continued while people sang. It is not surprising that critics often called their services disorderly and chaotic.

With their entire concept of worship focused upon conversion of sinners, the Lord’s Supper did not hold an important place for the Separates, but they observed it because Christ commanded it. When they did observe it, they placed it at the end of the service after everything else was finished. The Lord’s Supper was held infrequently, most commonly on a quarterly basis—the same pattern used by other American Baptists.

Nineteenth-Century Baptists

Text: During the nineteenth century the Regular Baptist and Separate Baptist patterns merged, with the resulting Baptist worship patterns exhibiting clear marks of both strands. In 1870 John A. Broadus set forth a clear example of this merger in his renowned text on preaching, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons. Although the work is obviously about preaching, Broadus devotes the last chapter to elements the preacher must consider in worship, saying that preaching is an act of worship and must take place within the overall context of worship.

Because he was a native of Virginia and a long-time professor of preaching at the Southern Baptist Seminary, Broadus was clearly aligned with the more structured worship of the Regular Baptists. Yet, his delineation of elements of Baptist worship practice showed the influence of the Separate Baptists. Thus Broadus’ chapter on worship was one of the clearest indications that these two strands which formed the foundation for modern Baptist worship had finally merged. Although Broadus provided no order of service, by reading his descriptions of the liturgical elements and piecing the parts together, the reader can clearly discern Broadus’ vision of Baptist worship.

The worship model and the commentary are based on the work of Broadus. It is supplementary with other works of the period which address the various elements of worship.

MODEL OF BAPTIST WORSHIP, 1870

ORDER OF SERVICE
Choral Call to Worship
Invocation
Hymn of Worship
Devotional Scripture Reading
Hymn of Devotion
Principal Prayer
Hymn of Preparation
Sermon
Prayer
Final Hymn
Offering
[Lord’s Supper]
Benediction

The service began with a call to worship. As choirs developed in Baptist congregations, either the choir sang an anthem or the congregation sang a suitable hymn.The prayer following the call to worship invoked God’s presence in the worship service. It was usually short but could be longer on occasion.

After the invocation a hymn of worship was sung which might relate closely to the sermon and the service as a whole. It could be a hymn of praise or rejoicing, or thanksgiving; the essential element was that it promote a sense of worship. The lines of the hymns were usually read to the congregation just prior to their singing them. In some instances this was done due to a lack of hymnals, but it also made the congregation reflect more thoughtfully on the words of the hymn. In more informal services, the worship leader might say a few words about the origin of the hymn, its tune, or its meaning for the congregation.

The devotional reading of Scripture followed the first hymn. This Scripture passage was not necessarily connected with the sermon, but was devotional in tone drawing the listener to God. Passages from the Psalms were particularly favored, but any selection could be used. On occasion the worship leader might preface the reading with some well-chosen remarks to explain the reading, to awaken interest, or to promote a devotional context.

The next hymn was a hymn of devotion. Sometimes it was left out so that the prayer followed the Scripture reading, but if used, it would carry the devotional tone from the reading to the prayer.

The prayer at this point was the major prayer for the worship service. It was often quite long; in fact, Broadus warns about its being too long. It began with invocation, adoration of God, and thanksgiving. It then moved to confession and prayer for forgiveness. After petition for renewed dedication and for help for current needs, the prayer concluded with intercessions, both general and specific.

Immediately preceding the sermon, a hymn was sung to help prepare the congregation. It could be sung by the congregation or by the choir. Broadus felt it was better for the choir and congregation to sing somewhat familiar hymns rather than for the choir to sing anthems which would be unfamiliar. He clearly believed that the primary function of a choir was to lead the congregation in singing.

The sermon normally was twenty-five to thirty-five minutes in length, although occasionally it was as short as fifteen or as long as forty-five minutes. The text was often read prior to beginning the sermon, but it could be read at a later point. Broadus stressed that the length of the sermon should be coordinated with the elements of the service so that the worship service did not often go beyond the normal time for ending.

The prayer following the sermon was usually short and focused on the main objective of the sermon, yet it could be extended on occasion if the situation seemed to merit it.

The final hymn applied the sermon and formed a conclusion for the service. Broadus, however, pointed out that for many churches following the revival tradition, to always make this an “invitation” hymn, inviting persons to come to the front to make a public profession of faith in Christ or to become members of the church.

The offering was often the last item in the service prior to the benediction. It was sometimes called a “collection for the poor” or a “collection for the necessities of the saints.”

The benediction was sometimes preceded by a few sentences of prayer appropriate to the theme of the worship service. The minister then concluded with a benediction.

In some churches the Lord’s Supper continued to be celebrated once each month, but many churches changed to a quarterly observance. It either preceded or followed the offering, using the same pattern Baptists had used since the seventeenth century.

Bibliography

There are no secondary works providing models of Baptist worship; therefore, material must be gleaned directly from primary sources. Since Baptists did not use service books, one must consult material in churchbooks, journals, and historical accounts. However, there are a few works that give some attention to elements and patterns of Baptist worship. For the seventeenth century, the best description and rationale for some elements of Baptist worship is found in Thomas Grantham, Hear the Church (1688). The best eighteenth-century resource is Morgan Edwards, Customs of Primitive Churches (1768). Although Edwards was a Regular Baptist, he visited Separate Baptist churches and gave some account of their worship in his Materials Toward a History of Baptists. Although many nineteenth-century resources provide pieces of information, the best single resource is Broadus’ On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons (1870).