Windows of
CANBERRA BAPTIST CHURCH

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I am the Door: St John X-9
"In memory of George Whitehouse Griffith, President of the Baptist Union of NSW 1909-1910. He Gave His Life For King and Country, March 22nd 1918."

THE GRIFFITH WINDOW

In memory of Mr George Whitehouse Griffith, 
President of the Baptist Union of NSW 1909-10.

He was the first country layman to become President of the Baptist Union of NSW. 

Mr Griffith was the second son of Mr Henry Griffith, wholesale manufacturing jeweller, of Birmingham, England, where he was born on 12 December 1860. He came to Australia in 1885 and married his wife (nee Miller) of Cumnock in 1887. He did pioneering Baptist work, especially in Manildra, and preached around country NSW. He was a farmer turned businessman who opened a large and flourishing business known as "Griffith's IXL Stores" at Manildra. Mr Griffith was a conscientious objector during WWI and courageously held his views against considerable opposition. However, he went to the front as a Red Cross Supervisor of Stores and held the honorary rank of Captain. He died at his sister's home in Birmingham, England on 22 March 1918, of a number of illnesses contracted as a result of his war service. 

Mr Griffith's connection with the Canberra Church was through Canberra's first Minister, Dr A J Waldock, and Dr Waldock's cousin, Rev James Warboys, who as Minister at Orange Church, baptised Mr Griffith at Pinecliffe (formerly called Garra) on 12 November 1888. Dr Waldock worked in the Griffith business in Manildra and lived with the Griffith family as a young man prior to entering the ministry. Mr Griffith was a member of the Home Missionary Society Executive at the time Dr Waldock was Superintendent of the Society. During his Presidential year he travelled NSW by horse and buggy and, at one stage, was seriously injured when a horse kicked him in the head. 

The window was donated by the Griffith family and unveiled at the church's official opening ceremony on 23 February 1929 by his son. 

The text: John 10:9 - "I am the door. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."

 In his Presidential Address in 1909, Mr Griffith spoke of the inevitable growth of Australia and of the need to "meet the newcomers with the Gospel of God's grace". The text is considered most appropriate for a person who, in the words of the Australian Baptist, devoted a "wealth of time, labour, money and love ... to the service of God" and who possessed a "zeal for the Kingdom of God".

(Bill Hughes, Church Archivist)