Sandwich Baptist Church

Too Many Churches, Dr. Smith

By William Doyle-Marshall
Jamaican-born Reverend Dr. Colin Smith is the new moderator of the Amhert Regular Missionary Baptist Association which has a congregation of approximaely 500. As pastor of the First Sandwich Baptist Church his eyes are currently focused on the 171st anniversary celebration on the last Sunday of November.
   Sandwich was declared a national historic site by the three levels of government. As a result tourists have been visiting the church for conducted tours that include re-enactments of what it was like back in the days when enslaved African men and women sought refuge from the slave masters' agents known as bounty hunters. "They get a historical account of how the church came into being. Visitors sit and they are told what it (the experience) was like back in 1821 to 1841," Dr. Smith explained.

Rev.Dr.Colin Smith

According to folklore this was the mouth of the tunnel (a few windows or places to exit and find themselves out into the community. The oldest section was a log cabin from 1820 to 1841, when it was demolished.
   The existing church was not there at the time. Originally, the congreation worshipped in a building that only housed a few members back in 1821 but with the growth in membership that structure was torn down and replaced with the current edifice in 1841. A unique feature in the church building, Dr. Smith noted, the bricks were made by former slaves and runaway slaves who went down to the Detroit River where they dug up dirt , took it back to the church, designed and created bricks for the building.
   "Each family member would have a colour coded brick or bricks for recognition purposes. So you'd have bricks with yellow, brown or black so you'd know which family donated those bricks," the pastor recalled.
   "Interesting enough the bricks are still in existence as we speak. Because of the refurbishing that had to be done for the procurement of those bricks. That was very much part of the church history. There is a subsealing but beyond that you will se the real McCoy up there. From there we look at the pews. The pews were not like the pews today. They were benches and they served a significant purpose because runaway slaves or refugees who were being sought were told to sit at the edges of the benches so that whenever e.g. on a Sunday whenever the pastor -- he would place someone outside who would signal there was a bounty hunter," the moderator reflected.
   "Bounty hunters were not alowed here because the Governor Simcoe did not allow it," Dr.Smith reported. But some would still come into Canada and sneak out runaway slaves. "So when someone was approached, someone who looked unusual the lookout peson would give a few raps on the door so that the pastor would know and the congreation would break out into a hymy like "Someone Is Standing at the Door". Those who were being sought after would hideby sneaing out. They would go down through a hole in the floor and remain down there until they got another signal whether or not the bounty hunter is still nosing around. They would know while down there in the hole (no basement) what to do. "They would vacate the premises, get lost somewhere or go back through the tunnel from whence they came,"Dr. Smith reflected.
   "The bounter hunter would decide this is it: I am not going to prolong tis. And he decides to return from whence he came."
    "They (refugees) would know: they would have a signal to come back up and they would return to the service. Gaining access to the service: they would come up through this way -- a sort of make shift pathway. When I came here we had strips of wood. We try to keep this as original as possible," says the pastor.
   Since taking over the stewardship of the First Sanwich Baptist Church Dr. Smith has been pursuing a venture to increase the number of people who attend his nine churches in Amherstburg, Dresden, Chatham and other locations. He concedes when a pastor passed on or leaves the flock usually go asunder. This is what is happening at Sandwich. "When my pre-decessor passed, quite a few went to other churches. Now we are rebuilding, trying to entice more people to come in here. It’s relatively slow. They come and they leave. You have to look at how to sustain people. One of the reasons I think there are too many churches in Windsor," Dr.Smith reminisced.
  While no one is about to suggest a merger of churches in the comnmunity, Dr. Smith believes such a move would be good for all concerned. “A typical example is on Mercer Street: we have a church there., Bishop Morton’s brother has a mega church in Atlanta and one in Florida, his church is also on Mercer Street. Another Bishop has a church on Mercer Street and there is one more on the street. They should be considering merging,” the moderator concludes.