FAITH MILESTONES West Hampden Baptist Church to celebrate its sesquicentennial

West Hampden Baptist Church marks its 150th anniversary at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, with a re-enactment of the Nov. 11, 1856, meeting that resulted in the congregation’s founding.

A celebration will be held during the 10:45 a.m. service Sunday, Nov. 12. Former members and the public are invited to attend the sesquicentennial events at 574 Western Ave.

History

The church was organized by 12 “brethren and sisters … who are in good fellowship with each other,” according to the records of that organizational meeting held Nov. 1, 1856.

Five congregations – from Carmel, Dixmont, Frankfort, Bangor and Hampden – sent delegates who approved formation of West Hampden Baptist Church on Route 9 as an apparent successor to the town’s Second Baptist Church.

During the past 150 years, 552 people have called the church home, according to a history compiled for the church anniversary. Thirty-three pastors, including two women who led the congregation during the early 20th century, have served the congregation.

Members first worshipped at the West Hampden Meeting House, later called Liberal Hall. At some point, the building was purchased by the state. In September 1949, it was purchased by the Grange and moved to Newburgh.

It is not clear from church records when the congregation built its first church on Route 9 at the corner of what is now Western Avenue and Shaw Hill Road. It is believed to have been built in the late 1800s.

Upgrades to the building, including the addition of electricity in 1923, the addition of a vestry in 1937, the installation of a furnace in 1956 and the completion of a well and septic system in 1961, have been recorded in church documents.

The current building, with a sanctuary that can seat 300, was completed in 1989 at a cost of about $200,000 on 23 acres on Western Avenue. During the early phase of construction, a freak windstorm hit the area on Dec. 30, 1987, cracking the scissors trusses, which took down one wall of the church. Damage was estimated at $10,000.

The church covenant has changed little since it was written in 1900. It encouraged family and personal devotions, the religious education of children and walking “circumspectly in the world.” The covenant urged members “to avoid all gossip, backbiting, and anger, and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the Kingdom of our Savior.”

The final paragraph of the covenant emphasizes the role the church continues to play in the community in the 21st century.

“We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior, to secure it without delay.”

Timeline

1856 Founded by 12 brethren

1896 Parsonage on Shaw Hill Road purchased

1900 Articles of Faith written

1913 First woman, Mrs. P.E. Miller, serves as pastor for 21/2 years

1923 Church wired for electricity

1961 Well completed to provide running water to the church

1965 New parsonage on Western Avenue dedicated

1949 Liberal Hall bought by Grange, moved to Route 69, Newburgh

1989 Services first held in current building

1991 Old church on Route 9 torn down

2006 West Hampden Baptist celebrates sesquicentennial