In his own lifetime, John Goodwin's name would become synonymous with the London parish of St Stephen's, Coleman Street. He was vicar of the parish from 1633 to 1645, and again from 1649 to 1660, and it also became the base for his gathered church. It was here that he made his reputation as a preacher, propagandist and controversialist. Although he published nothing in the 1630s, it is during the early years of his London ministry that we can first hear his distinctive voice. He was already gaining a reputation for theological singularity, ecclesiastical nonconformity and political subversion. But at this stage, he was also set against lay preaching, sectarianism and Independency. His intellectual journey was under way, but it had a long way to run.

St Stephen's, Coleman Street

August 1633 witnessed the death of the Calvinist Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot, and the election of his successor, the high church Arminian, William Laud. In the very same month, the vicar of St Stephen's Coleman Street disappeared from his parish. Eluding the five pursuants sent to catch him, he escaped to the Netherlands, where he joined a growing community of exiled English Puritans. John Davenport had been appointed vicar in 1624, after giving assurances of his conformity with canons and liturgy of the Church of England. He had become a key figure in the London Puritan scene, serving as one of the Feoffees for Impropriations, and working closely with the great Puritan preacher Richard Sibbes to edit the sermons of John Preston for publication.