Jenkin Jones

Jenkin Jones was born in Wales about 1686. At the age of 24 he made his way to the New World.

In 1725 he became the pastor of the Lower Dublin Church and continued there for 21 years. He then led the people to organize the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia in the year 1746. This group of people that organized had been members at the Lower Dublin Church, which was also called the Welsh Tract Church. As faithful people they had lived too far to actively participate and so as he saw their lives and the need before him, he followed the leadership of the Lord and stepped out by faith. He put his life on the line and instead of just preaching about missions he became a missionary! He led his church to grant the authority to those people to organize as a separate church and he himself became their new pastor. He served in this role until July 16, 1761 when he passed away. What a blessing it is to see the pioneer spirit of the men of his day. They were willing to risk all for the advancement of the gospel of Christ and the establishment of sound Baptist churches.

Jenkin Jones was described as “A good man,” and was active in many realms procuring the right for the Baptists to serve their Lord according to the dictates of their conscience and dictates of the Word of God. He was the reason that the colony changed its marriage laws and allowed non-state church ministers to officiate. He labored tirelessly for the good of his church. This is illustrated by his giving spirit. He built a large parsonage mostly at his own expense from which the church benefited. He also gave much of the needed funds to purchase a silver cup that the church used for the Lord’s Supper that cost 60 pounds. May his kind be rekindled in our day!

Written by Doug Hammett