Gertrude and Giants
Few people in Baptist circles today, if any, will recognize the name Gertrude Green. Her fame or infamy (depending on who you ask) comes from events that took place in the early 1930s. The story is a little David and Goliath-ish.
For many years, Miss Green was the office secretary who served the Union of Regular Baptist Churches of Ontario and Québec from its inception until its Sixth Annual Convention. She left that employment in protest over what she believed to be the mishandling of a situation that had developed in Liberia, a mission field supervised by the Board and supported by the churches of the Union. The Union, and the Fellowship of Independent Baptist Churches, would combine to become the Fellowship in 1953.
But Miss Green did not simply disagree with the decisions made by the Board, she took the step, an astonishing one for a woman of that time, of publishing a couple of pamphlets exposing the situation, which she then distributed to the churches. This brought down on her the ire of some, including the great Dr. T. T. Shields who, apparently, accused her of suffering from a mental illness. Not everyone was of the same opinion.
In a letter written to Miss Green from Liberia after the publishing of the pamphlets, one missionary couple wrote: “Thank you, dear Miss Green, a thousand times! Your courage, daring and fine setting forth of the case are worthy of the highest commendation. You have acted as a true Deborah in our defence and we praise the Lord for the grace and strength He has given you…”
Fellowship Archives houses, not only originals of the pamphlets Miss Green produced, but originals of the massive number of letters that went back and forth between the office and the missionaries* who were serving in Liberia at the time. There clearly was a problem which needed a response other than the one it seems to have gotten. But, whatever we might think of Gertrude Green’s actions, we have to admire her courage in taking on the evangelical Baptist leaders of the time in defence of the missionaries serving in Liberia.
We prefer to celebrate our successes, not contemplate our failures. We are not inclined to spend the time or the effort reviewing the dubious grey shades of our past history. Why not just throw all these documents away and forget them? There are, after all, many reasons why the Liberian mission failed as far as the Union was concerned—and it did fail. However, while this particular incident might prove to be only one of those many explanations, it reminds us that if we want to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, we need to learn from them. That’s why we must preserve these documents, as painful as reading their contents might be.
In the interests of helping this generation and the next generations to know their history and learn from it, Fellowship Archives is gradually moving its historical records to Heritage Seminary in Cambridge, ON. We are grateful to the school for their willingness to allow us dedicated archival space. Heritage is a part of the history of the Fellowship, and this partnership benefits both the school and the churches of the Fellowship. Housing the archives within the confines of the school will allow greater access to the history of Baptists and specifically, Fellowship Baptists, for the students preparing for ministry among our churches. Originals and digital copies of most documents, photographs, and artifacts will be made available to students and researchers by request and by appointment.
Developing the archives is a process, one that is still in its early stages, but one that we hope will contribute to building a stronger, and more knowledgeable, Fellowship.
*Photo is of Rev. Gordon Mellish, one of the missionaries serving in Liberia at the time.