William Screven (c. 1629 – 1713) was a 17th-century

Reformed Baptist Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith ...

church planter and preacher from England who founded the first Baptist church in the South. William Augustine Screven was born in the town of Somerton in Somerset, England in 1629, and emigrated to New England in the 1640s. In the 1670s, Screven was baptized at the First Baptist Church in Boston by John Myles, pastor of the

First Baptist Church in Swansea The First Baptist Church and Society is a historic Baptist church in Swansea, Massachusetts. The congregation, founded in 1663, is the oldest Baptist congregation in Massachusetts and one of the oldest in the United States. The congregation w ...

, who was also serving as pastor of the nearby Boston church during

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

. Screven was ordained in January 1682 by the First Baptist Church of Boston, so that he might establish a church in

Kittery, Maine Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town i ...

, which he did on September 25 of that year. In 1696, the new church moved to Charleston, South Carolina at least partly because of disagreements between the Rev. Mr. Screven and the New England Baptist authorities. According to family tradition, however, Screven and his band of ten followers were escorted to the edge of town by the local Puritans and told to leave and never return, on pain of hanging. The relocated congregation became the

First Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina First Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Charleston, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The congregation was founded in 1682 under the leadership of William Screven. It is one of the oldest Baptist congreg ...

, the oldest Baptist church in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. The Rev. Mr. Screven recommended that any future pastor be "orthodox in faith, and of blameless life, and does own the confession of faith put forth by our brethren in London in 1689" declaring the church to be firmly

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

(

). The Rev. Mr. Screven died in 1713 and was buried on his personal property. The inscription on his grave reads as follows:

"A pioneer Baptist Preacher of Sommerton, England, immigrated to Kittery, Maine, forced to leave that state for preaching the gospel, came south with a group of Baptists, organized the First Baptist Church in the South 1693, at Charleston, and served First Baptist there until 1706. Died in 1713 and buried in private yard at Georgetown, S.C. A servant of Christ, Pure in Morals, Sound in Doctrine, Abundant in Labors."Rev. David J. Wells 'The Name We Bear', p.4
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The Screven Baptist Association, founded in 1950, is named for him. This group is an umbrella group for churches in Dorchester, Berkeley, and eastern Orangeburg Counties.

Notes

External links

A History of the Baptists. Chapter 6: The Baptists of Maine and South CarolinaGoogle Book Search: The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical MagazineHistorical Marker Database Cemetery Inscription
(Not Rev. Screven's grave marker)
First Baptist Church of Charleston, South CarolinaThe Screven Baptist Association
(Named for Rev. William Screven) {{DEFAULTSORT:Screven, William Clergy from Charleston, South Carolina 1629 births 1713 deaths 17th-century Baptist ministers from the United States 18th-century Baptist ministers from the United States South Carolina colonial people English emigrants

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