Black Americans established the Baptist Church in Jamaica

DURING THE American War of Independence, enslaved black people were promised their freedom if they fought for the British against the separatists. When the British lost the war, these enslaved people who fought for them were offered free passage on ships to the West Indies. George Liele was one of those who chose to come to Jamaica.

Liele was born about 1750 in Virginia, but eventually resided in Kiokee, Burke county, Georgia. His holder was a Christian man named Henry Sharp. Liele himself was converted in 1773 by a reverend Matthew Moore. He preached in Reverend Moore’s church and that was how Liele began his ministry in America.

He was formally ordained and licensed to preach in 1775, after which he was called Reverend George Liele. Before leaving for Jamaica, Liele was briefly imprisoned in Savannah by the family of his now-deceased holder as they sought to re-enslave him. He was assisted by Kirkland, a colonel in the British forces, to get his proper documents. Leaving Savannah in December 1782 he arrived in Kingston in January 1783,

Liele began to preach in Kingston in September 1784 in a small private house,and his church was formed with four brethren from America. In 1789 he saw the need for, and acquired, three acres of land at the corner of Ellison Road and Windward Road/Victoria Avenue to construct their own building.

This was in 1791 and it became the first church in Jamaica to be started and led by a black man, and by extension the first Baptist church in Jamaica. By 1793 Liele had established a line of preaching stations stretching from Spanish Town across the mountains to the parishes of St Thomas In The Vale, St George and St Ann.

The East Queen Street Baptist Church in Kingston grew out of the original church. The sign in the church yard said East Queen Street Baptist was founded in 1816. Liele and some of his own converts were to establish more churches across the island, mainly in the east and north of the island. There were fall-outs, tension, and break-aways, and some of his flocks grew to rival him in prominence. Moses Baker was one of them. Liele died in 1828.

Baker came to Jamaica about the same time as Liele as an unconverted Anglican. He could read the scriptures, and write. He came with his wife and child, but could find no work to sustain his family. He turned to farming and his wife worked as a seamstress. A mere observation by an old enslaved African named Cupid Wilkin of his eating was to change his life forever.

Wilkin saw him eating a meal, but he did not say his grace before doing such. Wilkin broached the subject and gave him a lesson about thanking God, returning God’s love, prayer, and thanksgiving. Baker was a coloured man who thought Wilkin had passed his place by reprimanding him. But, Baker’s wife was more embracing of what Wilkin was teaching them from the scriptures, and encouraged her husband to do likewise, since he was a heavy drinker.

Eventually, Baker visited the enslaved Africans who were preaching the gospel. When he found them in a little hut, they were on their knees praying and praising God. He, too, fell on his knees. But, the thrill of finding God did not last long for Baker; he was perhaps longing for the tingling sensation that he would derive from drinking rum.

He regretted being led by the enslaved old man and banished him from his yard. Baker did not see the light of which Wilkin preached, and suddenly he also could not see the light of day either. He went blind, and was beset by excruciating headaches.

Those motivated him to resent Wilkin some more as he became bed-ridden. Death was now on his mind, and Christ was not yet in his heart, so he became afraid. Wilkin was not done with him, however. He returned to Baker’s home, not only with a mouthful of scriptures, and empty hands. From his farm Wilkin brought food for the Baker’s family and when Moses heard from his wife that he was eating Wilkin’s food, his resentment towards Baker subsided.

Wilkin surmised that Baker’s malaise was a sign from God, and suggested that he proceed on a period of fasting. Baker found the suggestion unsettling, but he yielded and beseeched the Lord, begging for mercy to fall upon him. And, it seemed like it did.

Baker went to St James after his recovery because a wealthy St Andrew landowner named Joseph Winn, who had helped him with his medical bills, gave him a piece of land in that western parish where he relocated with his wife and daughter in February 1788.

Previous to the arrival of Baker, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ was non-existent on the plantations in western Jamaica, and the plantocracy was wary of Baker’s activities. He was to also face opposition from within his own church, especially from a judge-cum-deacon named Kitt, whose intention was to take over the leadership of Baker’s church.

Baker attempted to set up a ministry in Montego Bay, but initially, it turned out to be the classic case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire. He was stoned and shot at, and his meetings were interrupted. Despite the efforts to curtail Baker’s activities his ministry in the parish grew and he established churches on a variety of estates. At one point the total number of his congregational members was over 500. Baker died about 1820. He and Liele were not alone in establishing Baptist churches in Jamaica. Thomas Swiggle and George Gibb were also on a mission of Baptist church-planting.

“Baker’s greatest contribution may have been the part he played, along with Leile and Swigle, in writing to the Baptists in England, requesting them to send missionaries to Jamaica to assist because of the problems and roadblocks thrown in their way through various laws passed between 1802 to 1807. Collectively these are known as The Consolidated Slave Laws,” Lloyd A. Cooke writes in The Story of the Jamaican Missions.