Biography Chronicles life of Scottish church planter

By David Daniels and ChristianWeek | October 15, 2008

When Glenn Tomlinson began searching out the origins of his childhood church, he didn't intend to write a historical biography of the founder of Toronto's first Baptist Church. But his 10-year quest, demanding work on both sides of the Atlantic, has produced a meticulously researched and well-written biography of a fiery, determined Scottish Baptist preacher.

As he pursued the origins of what became Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto, Tomlinson realized he needed to learn more about its founding pastor. But he found his interests were changing: "The desire to discover the birth date of a church was supplanted by the challenge and spiritual benefit of reconstructing a life that was devoted to the cause of Christ," he says.

From Scotland to Canada: The life of pioneer missionary Alexander Stewart (Joshua Press, 2008) is a fascinating account of God's providence in saving, calling and using an unknown Scottish highlander to plant a church in what would become Canada's leading city—a church that would profoundly change the face of Baptist witness in Canada and give birth to a seminary that continues to train people for worldwide gospel ministry.

Alexander Stewart was born in Perthshire, Scotland, the youngest of eight children, and was born again during the great revival in the Scottish highland community of Moulin, just a few miles from his birthplace.

Shortly thereafter, sensing God's call on his life, Stewart was providentially brought under the influence of James and Robert Haldane, while attending a theological seminary operated by Robert.

Following those formative years, Stewart began a life of vocational ministry that included years of evangelistic church planting in Scotland and eventual emigration to Canada with his young family in 1818. During his Canadian years, Stewart planted the first Baptist congregation in York, now Toronto. That fledgling, 19th-century congregation would become Jarvis Street Baptist Church, arguably one of the Dominion's most influential Baptist congregations during the early to mid-20th century.

In a recent conversation I asked the author what surprises he had encountered while researching his book. "What surprised me as I was doing my research," he said, "was Alexander Stewart's connections. It was neat to see his life intersect, in very close and intimate ways, with the lives of prominent Scotsmen and Canadians of the time. Robert and James Haldane and William Lyon Mackenzie are two prime examples."

Readers will be delighted to find eight appendices, a bibliography of sources and a biographical glossary of 54 people whose lives were in some way connected with Alexander Stewart's.

In his book, Tomlinson tells about two lessons he learned while writing.

Lessons learned

"The first lesson: Stewart's persistent zeal to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Despite familial heartache, despite inner-church squabbling, despite pioneer hardships etc., he continually proclaimed to all the Gospel of God's saving grace through Jesus Christ. This, I am convinced he did, because he was so aware of God's mercy to his own soul.

"The second lesson: Stewart's perspective that it is God alone who grants Gospel blessing. He embraced the truth that God makes things grow and it was for him to simply spread the Good News. This he faithfully did, never being the instrument of a revival and never pastoring a mega-church. The subsequent history of his field of labor demonstrates that his ministry was not in vain."

Tomlinson says this story is significant because it shows God at work in Canada.

"We Canadians are a self-effacing lot and are so prone to look for heroes of the faith outside our own country not recognizing that God has worked in this land as well," he says.

This is Tomlinson's first book, but hopefully not his last. When I inquired about that, he confessed, "I'm getting the research and writing 'bug' again. I'm in the process of doing some preliminary research on a prominent 19th-century Canadian pastor who was much revered by the congregation and denomination in which he served. I won't reveal his name but I'm thinking of entitling the work …"

Ok, we can wait, but please don't make it 10 years.