Robert T. Ketcham - Fundamentalist Leader

Fundamentalist Leader

In 1919, Ketcham became pastor of the First Baptist Church of Butler, Pennsylvania, where he became more active in defense of orthodox Christianity especially by opposing liberal tendencies in the Northern Baptist Convention. When the Convention launched a "New World Movement" to create a "civilization Christian in spirit," Ketcham wrote a pamphlet with the unpromising title, "A Statement of the First Baptist Church Butler, Pennsylvania, with Reference to The New World Movement and the $100,000,000 Drive (1919)." Soon after the pamphlet was published, Ketcham received a visit from officers of the Pittsburgh Baptist Association, who made it clear that if Ketcham did not retract the pamphlet, he would never get another pastorate in the Northern Baptist Convention; one member of the committee shook Ketcham by the collar and "roared that Ketchan owed God an apology." Leading fundamentalist William Bell Riley, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Minneapolis, saw the pamphlet and ordered 20,000 copies. The essay was widely distributed and it "established the young pastor as an articulate spokesman for Fundamentalism."

Shortly thereafter, his wife, Clara, died of tuberculosis, leaving him with the care of two young daughters. In 1922, Ketcham married Mary Smart of Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and this marriage endured for more than fifty years.

For their honeymoon, Ketcham took his new wife to the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention, where for twelve years, he and other fundamentalists in the Northern Baptist Convention unsuccessfully attempted to wrest control of the organization from moderates and liberals. In 1923, the conservatives formed the Baptist Bible Union, an unsuccessful attempt to unite fundamentalist Baptists, and Ketcham became a member of the executive committee. The same year, Ketcham also moved to Ohio to pastor successively Baptist churches in Niles and Elyria.