Joshua Lawrence

Who was Joshua Lawrence?

Joshua Lawrence, of Tarboro, North Carolina, was an influential Baptist minister in the eastern United States during the Baptist missions controversy in the early 19th century.

Joshua Lawrence was born September 10, 1778. Lawrence in Edgecombe County, North Carolina was named for his family. He began preaching when he was about 23 years old. He quickly became an active and influential minister in the Kehukee Baptist Association. The Kehukee Association was organized in Halifax County, North Carolina in 1765 and is generally considered the fourth oldest Baptist association in the United States¹. Lawrence was often called upon to represent them at other associational meetings, and was regularly chosen to preach before the body and to serve on its committees. He was a man of limited education, but possessed natural talents of oratory and logic. He was a popular preacher among his contemporaries.

In 1814, the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions was formed, which set about a controversy that would divide the Baptists in the United States. On one side were those who promoted the use of foreign and home mission societies, theological seminaries, and various church auxiliaries, and on the other side were those who rejected them as not conforming to the Scriptures. Joshua Lawrence took the position that such auxiliaries and societies were without scriptural command or example, and became one of the leading voices on the east coast against them. Hassell credits Lawrence with saving the Kehukee Association from becoming part of the missionary movement. Through his influence, the growing missionary tide, led by Elder Martin Ross, was abated and in 1827 the Kehukee Association "agreed that we discard all Missionary Societies, Bible Societies and Theological Seminaries,...believing these societies and institutions to be inventions of men, and not warranted from the word of God." In the two years following, the Kehukee Association reaffirmed this stance against opposition, and afterward became one of the leading "anti-missionary" associations. It is today considered the oldest Primitive Baptist association in existence. In Lawrence's day, the terminology Primitive Baptist was not in common usage, and the preferred term was usually Old School Baptist, which still retains a strong usage among Primitive Baptists on the east coast.