In the 1825 circular letter to the Yorkshire and Lancashire Association, William Steadman noted that ‘within the last thirty years a new face has been worn, and a new course of action has been adopted by a great majority of the Christian world. He referred to the great missionary impulse, overseas and at home. ‘A new face . . . a new course of action . . . ‘: this is surely a striking description of that revival and renewal which had led to the transformation of English Dissent. In contrast to the introspective ‘walled garden’ mentality of many in the mid-eighteenth century, from about 1780 onwards we see the proliferation of outward-looking projects, in village preaching, Sunday School work, training, associational life, foreign mission, and inter-denominational enterprises of all kinds. This has been vividly described by Deryck Lovegrove in the important work, Established Church, Sectarian People: Itinerancy and the Transformation of English Dissent, 1780-1830.He demonstrates the crucial role of itinerant evangelism in church growth during the period 1780- 1830, and lists over seventy organisations, active in itinerant evangelism, formed in this period by Calvinistic dissenters. Michael Watts also highlights the significance of itinerancy and other evangelistic activities, but analyses the wider context, giving a clear picture of opposition as well as growth. As far as the Particular Baptists are concerned, the contribution of leaders such as William Carey, Andrew Fuller, John Ryland and John Rippon is well known. But all the themes relevant to revival and renewal at this time – itinerancy, training, Associational life, interdenominational sympathy, and mission – can be seen clearly in the life of William Steadman (1764- 1837).

Excerpt from The Baptist Quarterly