In 1857 W.W. Allen was called to pastor the First Baptist Church of Keokuk, Iowa.
While serving this church, he became convinced of the truthfulness of open communion.
The Keokuk Baptist Church strongly disagreed with this practice, so Allen resigned
as pastor, but kept his membership in the church. In 1859 Allen began preaching for
the First Presbyterian Church of Keokuk and observed the Lord’s Supper with this
congregation. The First Baptist Church of Keokuk was unsure what to do with one of
their members practicing such a clear violation of scripture. They asked for advice
from other area Baptist ministers.
In August 1857 a Council was held with Baptist pastors from throughout Iowa, as
well as Cincinnati and Chicago. The Daily Gate newspaper of Keokuk reported. “The
Council decided that such views and conduct were in violation of the fundamental
principles of the Baptist Church. The Council, there, advised the Church to
withdraw from ‘fellowship’ with Mr. Allen, and formally deposed him from his
ministry in the Baptist denomination.” The vote of the Council was unanimous! As
for Allen, he left the Baptists and began pastoring a Congregationalist
(pedobaptist) Church.
This story demonstrates how strong Baptists in America were in their defense of
restricted communion. Church members and even pastors were disfellowshipped for
practicing open communion. Keep in mind this was not a Baptist church in the South.
It was in Iowa and the Council was made up of Northern Baptist pastors. Today open
communion is common among Baptists of all stripes. May we see a revival of and a
return to our Baptist distinctives!
[From the Courier-Journal newspaper of Louisville, KY - August 25, 1859. Document
supplied by Ben Stratton; scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]