page_title: R Guy Ramsay
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: R Guy Ramsay / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial of Rev R Guy Ramsay in 1970s
context_page_description: Reverend Robert Guy Ramsay was a twentieth-century Scottish Baptist minister and author, most closely associated with Hillhead Baptist Church, Glasgow, Scotland. Rev Guy Ramsay was President of the Baptist Union of Scotland during the late 1940s.
context_section_description: Great War service (1915-1917)
  During the Great War, Robert Guy Ramsay was commissioned into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), in 1915, through the Inns of Court regiment in London, and served as Lieutenant in France. He was invalided from the regiment on medical grounds in 1917.
  Baptist minister (1918-1970)
  Following his Great War service, Rev R Guy Ramsay held seven consecutive Baptist pastorates spanning half-a-century. While studying at the Baptist Theological College of Scotland (1918-1922) Rev Guy Ramsay was elected a student pastor to Kirkintilloch Baptist Church, with a congregation numbering 200. After completing his theological college accreditations, in 1922, Rev Guy Ramsay made a preaching tour of the United States and Canada, after which he accepted a full pastorate to Dunfermline West Baptist Church in the east of Scotland.  In the 1930s, after two more ministries in England, he was appointed by Horfield Baptist Church, then one of the largest churches in the United Kingdom, with a congregation exceeding a thousand.
  During the Second World War, Rev Guy Ramsay provided ministry during the Blitz aerial bombing of London, including Church services and support to London-based families in north London. This included, for example, services for young children at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in the summer of 1942. He later wrote of surviving the Blitz, "When the German bombers were roaring over London, one had occasionally a strange kind of feeling that they were after you personally. But it was a fleeting ephemeral mood, dispelled each morning by the rising sun.”
  Rev Guy Ramsay returned to Scotland in 1943, accepting the pastorate of Hillhead Baptist Church in 1943, his seventh and final ministry, where he served for nearly three decades. As one highlight of his ministry, in 1955, members of Hillhead Baptist Church facilitated contact between visiting New Zealand clergyman Lloyd Crawford and the American evangelist Billy Graham. This led to Billy Graham visiting New Zealand in the 1950s. Graham was in Glasgow for a six-week visit, stressing spiritual and euphoric aspects of evangelism. This received mixed views from Scottish Baptist ministers more focused on practical  interpretations and guidance.
  The complete list of Rev Guy Ramsay's ministries were: 
  1918-1922: Kirkintilloch Baptist Church, Dunbartonshire, Scotland (concurrent with studies at Baptist Theological College of Scotland)
  1922-1924: West Baptist Church, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
  1924-1930: Accrington Baptist Church, Lancashire, England
  1930-1936: Letchworth Baptist Church, Hertfordshire, England
  1936-1939: Horfield Baptist Church, Bristol, England
  1939-1943: Ferme Park Baptist Church, Hornsey, London
  1943-1970, his retirement: Hillhead Baptist Church, Glasgow, Scotland
  President of the Baptist Union of Scotland (1948-1949)
  Rev Guy Ramsay was elected president in 1948, thirty years into his ministry. His commencement address, delivered in Aberdeen, stressed the importance of reducing Church divisions. He was the fourth minister from Hillhead Baptist Church to be president of the Baptist Union of Scotland. Rev Guy Ramsay's father, Thomas Ramsay, of Maybole Baptist Church, was a past President of the Baptist Union of Scotland in the 1920s. Shortly after assuming the presidency, Rev Guy Ramsay marked the golden jubilee (fifty year anniversary) of Dundee Baptist Church in 1948.
  Rev Guy Ramsay retained active interest in the Scottish Baptist community as a result of the presidency. In 1950, for example, he spoke at the Baptist Missionary Society, in Stirling; in 1952 he inducted new Baptist ministers in Aberdeen; in 1952, he opened the Christian Youth Assembly in Glasgow; in 1954 he spoke at Dundee Christian Conference and provided Christian service to the Glasgow Boys' Brigade.
  During the 1950s, he continued a theme from his presidency, warnIng against the decline in church numbers and rise of secularism within Scotland and around the world. He sought greater unity among religious denominations, and stressed: “We use the same Bible. We sing the same hymns, 
caption: Plaque commemorating Rev R Guy Ramsay at Hillhead Baptist Church, Glasgow, Scotland
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