The 1800's
Beginnings and Buildings - The Baptist Church of Nashville (later FBC) was organized on July 22, 1820, in then Davidson County Courthouse. Thirty-five members of Mill Creek Baptist Church presented letters of dismission to form the new church.The church built its first building in 1820-21 on Spring Street (now Church Street) for $6,000 but lost it in the late 1820s to followers of Alexander Campbell led by Philip Fall, the church's second pastor. Campbellism opposed Baptist practices and viewed baptism as essential to salvation. Remaining FBC members met for worship in the Masonic Hall in 1830-39.
FBC built two more worship centers in the 1800s. After worshiping in the basement of its unfinished building for two years, it completed its second building on Summer Street (now Fifth Avenue) in 1841. The third building, which included facilities for Sunday School, was built at Broadway and Vine (now Seventh) and dedicated in 1886.
Crises
Besides Campbellism in the 1820s, FBC struggled in the 1830s with antimissionism which opposed organized missions, Sunday Schools, an educated ministry, and conventions. In the 1850s, the church fought off Landmarkism, a divisive movement which viewed Baptist churches as the only true churches.The Civil War created special problems. FBC supplied more than one hundred soldiers for the Confederacy. The Union Army seized the church's building and used it for more than two years, part of the time as a hospital. It wrecked the interior of the building. Church finances suffered during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Key Achievements
FBC ministered to the African-American people of Nashville before, during, and after the Civil War. In 1853, it ordained Nelson Merry, a slave, as pastor of its African-American congregation, a position he held until 1884.FBC formed several new churches. It organized a Sunday School in 1835 and had a choir by 1842. The church developed an influential deacon body. FBC applied rigid discipline to wayward members.
The church led in organizing and conducting several denominational agencies. In 1891, two such organizations were formed at FBC: the Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources) and the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home. The Baptist state newspaper originated at FBC.
The church licensed and ordained numerous people to the ministry. Ministries formed by the church included work with prisoners and the poor. Missions programs arose for all ages within the church.
Relationships
FBC has related to Baptists on the association level. It joined the Concord Association in 1820, the Cumberland Association in 1871, and the Nashville Association in 1900.The church has related to Tennessee Baptists. Although early attempts to organize a permanent state convention existed as early as 1833, the present Tennessee Baptist Convention was formed in 1874.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was chartered in 1845 when Baptists in the South broke away from the Triennial Convention primarily over the issue of slavery. FBC immediately related to this national body of Baptists and continues to do so.
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FBC Pastors
Twenty men have served as FBC pastor. Fourteen launched their ministries in the 1800s, six in the 1900s. Robert Boyte Crawford Howell served the longest in the 1800s - 25 years; William Francis Powell the longest in the 1900s - 34 years.Through 1998, the Howell and Powell pastorates, combined with that of H. Franklin Paschall, 1956-83, covered more than 48 percent of the church's total history.
___________ [Produced by The FBC History Committee, 1998. Taken from the church's website. The title has been changed. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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