Thomas BAGLEY

BAGLEY, THOMAS (GABRIEL ALEXANDER) (b. Hepburn, Vic, 22 Dec 1870; d. Melbourne, Vic, 1 Dec 1924). Churches of Christ evangelist, home mission organiser.

Thomas was the last of five children horn to Thomas Bagley Sr, an Englishman who emigrated to the Victorian goldfields. Thomas Jr was deeply influenced by Stephen Cheek (qv), who was preaching in the Taradale area and later gave his life to Christ at the North Fitzroy Church of Christ. Feeling called to the ministry he sailed for America and graduated from the College of the Bible, Lexington, Kentucky.

Returning to Australia, Bagley took up a Church of Christ ministry at Paddington, Sydney. From 30 members in 1898, the congregation rose to 277 by early 1904. For the next few years he was employed as NSW missioner for the Churches of Christ. After a period as minister of the Lygon St church in Melbourne, he was appointed Victorian Home Missions secretary. His organising ability was considerable. In less than eighteen months he reported eight missions with 134 additions and the establishment of four circuits on a self-supporting basis.

In 1912 Bagley returned to Sydney as minister of the City Temple, after which, in 1914, he became involved in establishing a church at Chatswood, near where he lived.

Bagley returned to Victoria in 1918, where he combined the position of secretary/organiser of the Home Mission Department with that of conference secretary to the Vic Churches of Christ. Cancer was diagnosed in 1924. Just before he died he was drawing up plans for the development of a new church at Ormond.

G Chapman, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism: A History of the Churches of Christ in Australia (Melbourne, 1979); A W Stephenson, 'An Evangelist's Vision: A Story of the Life of Thomas Bagley', Digest of the Australian Churches of Christ Historical Society, 54, July 1976

GRAEME CHAPMAN