The 15th subject in our newly released A Noble Company, volume 6 is John Williams 1767-1825.

Welsh-born John Williams has been rightly described as “the man who was largely instrumental in bringing the new missionary movement into prominence in the American churches.” Converted at the age of 19, Williams was a friend and fellow-traveler in Wales with the famous preacher, Christmas Evans. After Williams emigrated to America, the two ministers maintained their correspondence until Williams’ death. Though he lacked formal theological training, Williams proved to be an avid theological reader, which resulted in his exhibiting great judgment in his preaching. With the advent of the foreign missionary societies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Williams soon emerged as an important point of contact between American Baptists, British Baptists on the field, and Baptists in Britain. He was one of the founders of the New York Baptist Missionary Society in 1806 and the American Bible Society a decade later in 1816. After serving as pastor of the Fayette Street (later Oliver Street) Baptist Church in New York for nearly 27 years, John Williams passed away to his eternal reward in May 1825. The simple inscription on his grave marker read: “John Williams. Man of God,” to which his friend and biographer added, “Let who will, claim a higher eulogy!”