The first BMS workers to Jamaica arrived on the island in 1814. In the 1820s the climate for missionary work became less favourable as the plantation owners openly opposed the growing Baptist churches and the missionaries’ support for the anti-slavery movement.
William Knibb and his colleagues were passionate in the fight against slavery and worked tirelessly until it was finally abolished in 1838. On the eve of emancipation, Knibb proclaimed before a packed congregation:
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The hour is at hand; the monster is dying;” and then, as midnight struck, “The monster is dead; the negro is free.” The following day, a coffin was buried containing a slave chain and whip.
The Baptist church in Jamaica grew rapidly and also soon became self-supporting, significantly enabled by Phillippo’s work in establishing Calabar College – a theological college to train people so that a permanent indigenous ministry could develop in Jamaica.
In 1849 – just 35 years after the start of work in Jamaica - there were 25 BMS missionaries and the Jamaican Baptist Union comprised 44 organised churches with 18,000 registered members.