The Tabernacle, Bristol

The Tabernacle in Bristol was one of the many meeting houses established by George Whitefield and his followers in the eighteenth century. In the summer of 1794 a series of meetings was held there, attended by John Ryland, Jr., that eventually led to the formation of the London Missionary Society in 1795, the missionary arm of the Independent congregations of England. Various Calvinistic ministers, both Baptist and Independent, preached at the Tabernacle, but the congregation did not call their first stated minister, David Ralph, until 1796.