Daily Baptist Encyclopedia Chown, Rev. J. P., the widely-known pastor of Bloomsbury. chapel, London, England

Jim Curran Baptist Church History

AdminTop Contributor  · 1h  · Daily Baptist Encyclopedia Chown, Rev. J. P., the widely-known pastor of Bloomsbury. chapel, London, England, began his ministry in the neighborhood of Northampton, England, about 1844. , In 1846,-he resigned the pas- torate of the village church, to which he had been ordained, and entered Horton College. Two years after, the retirement of the Rev. T. Pottenger left Sion chapel, Bradford, without a pastor, the gifts and high promise of Mr. Chown led to his being engaged to occupy the pulpit, while still a student, and even- tually to his becoming pastor, in June, 1848. His ministry was conspicuously successful from the first, and the membership was largely increased. In 1863, the church erected a new building, known as Hall- field chapel, and dismissed 120 members to form a new church there. Mr. Chown remained in his old field, and in 1873 a new edifice, called Sion Jubilee chapel, was erected for the accommodation of the church and its institutions, as a thank-offering for the labors and successes of fifty years. Mr. Chown’s public work on behalf of benevolent and educational institutions in Bradford received emphatic acknowl- edgment repeatedly, one of the most interesting and valuable tokens of public appreciation being the gift of his residence, which was presented to him on his return from a visit to this country. He has been a leader of the temperance movement for many years. In 1875, he obeyed what seemed to him an imperative providential call, and accepted the pastorate at Bloomsbury chapel, London, where his ministry is eminently successful. Mr. Chown is endowed with a fine presence and a mag- nificent voice, and his platform speeches, as well as pulpit services, attract large audiences. For his earnestness and noble simplicity of character, as well as for his great abilities, he is held in the highest esteem by the churches.From the Baptist Encyclopedia by William Cathcart