John Smyth (1554-1612)

John was born in Sturton- le Steeple, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at Gainsborough grammar schol and at Christ’s College, Cambridge where he became a fellow in 1594.

In 1594 he was also ordained as an Anglican priest. Between 1600-1602 he preached in Lincoln. In 1606 he broke with the Church of England and became minister at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, to a group of who also had abandoned the C. of E… He then spent 2 years with John Robinson where they helped organize the Separatists in Nottinghamshire.

In 1608 the two Johns, with their followers,fled to Amsterdam in Holland. which was known for its religious tolerance. There they all began to study the Bible ardently.

John Smyth then took it upon himself to baptize himself. He recited a confession of faith then baptized himself and then baptized all his followers.This brazen act scandalized even those who despised England’s state church. Amsterdam Separatist, Richard Bernard, nicknamed him ‘So-Baptist’ - self baptizer. His followers preferred ’ Christians Baptized on Profession of their Faith’. The derogatory ‘so-baptist’ later shortened to ‘Baptist’, stuck.

John insisted that true worship was from the heart and so the liturgy was abandoned - no readings from the Bible John wanted prayer, singing and preaching to be completely spontaneous. This idea stemmed from the belief that worship should be ordered by the Holy Spirit.

Church leadership would be just 2 fold- pastor and deacon.

In 1609 they came to believe in believer’s baptism- rejecting infant baptism- and they came together to form one of the earliest Baptist churches. He was convinced that believer’s baptism and a free church, gathered by covenant, was foundational for the church.

Before his death, in 1612, he wrote a letter of apology, regretting that he had baptized himself. By then Thomas Helwys had returned to England to form the first permanent Baptist church in 1611,

I have included, from Amazon, details about *The True story of John Smyth. the Se-baptist, as Told by himself and his Contemporaries (1881) *

Sources used
Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Christian History