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A Brief History of Our Congregation
Although the Baptist tradition in Glocester is ancient -- dating back at least to the eighteenth century -- our
congregation was gathered on May 7, 1822. Originally denominated "The Church of Christ in Glocester," the group at its
founding was affiliated with the Free Will Baptists and later became known as both the Free Baptist Church and the Free Will Baptist Church. Although our official name remains "The Chepachet Free
Will Baptist Church Society," we are not associated with the national organization of Free Will Baptists. For convenience, we generally refer to ourselves as the Chepachet Baptist Church.
The gathering of our congregation was, in part, the result of earlier evangelical work in the northern Rhode Island area by
John Colby and Clarissa Danforth. We were affiliated with the
American Baptist Convention through most of the first half of the 20th century. From the 1920s through the early 1950s, our members were associated with those of the Chepachet Evangelical
Congregational Church in the Chepachet Union Church. Since that time we have been unaffiliated. Although our twentieth century roots lie in the mainstream of the American Baptist tradition, we
consider ourselves today to be non-denominational in spirit and in fact. We are theologically varied, but true to the essentials of evangelical belief and faith.
Our first pastor was Reuben Allen; our current pastor is Angie Henrichon.
In the original church compact, the sixteen founders (six of whom were men and ten of whom were women) stated that since they "felt themselves united in the bonds of Christian fellowship,
on proper deliberation, they considered it would be conducive to their spiritual welfare and the advancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom to embody themselves as a Church of Christ." They declared that,
"Having given ourselves to God by repentance and baptism, [we] do hereby solemnly testify that we give ourselves to each other by the will of God." They declared further that "We take the
scriptures of truth as our only rule of faith and practice: engaging to watch over each other for our upbuilding in the most holy faith; to maintain (by practice) all the ordinances we consider contained in
the holy Scriptures."
The congregation throughout its history has attempted to be true to these principles, bringing both to the nearby community and to the world beyond, the Word of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ,
as lovingly found within the scriptures. Although grounded in the Baptist tradition, our congregation throughout its history has been welcoming to others from different Christian denominational perspectives.
All who believe in our amazing Lord and his message of love and mercy, and all who commit themselves to Jesus as God's offer of forgiveness, are welcome. The congregation in 2011 adopted a
statement of belief, fully consistent with its original compact, that sets forth what it believes to be the essentials of Biblical Christianity. See Our Beliefs.
The Chepachet Baptist Church has always contributed to the support of missionary work. Today ten percent of our Sunday collection goes to this purpose. We have long helped to support a team of missionaries in the Cameroon. See our Overseas Missions page. We contribute to local area relief efforts, to the Glocester Food Bank, and we respond to emergency
circumstances and appeals.
The Church has also played an active role in bringing fellowship to the community. For many years during the 20th Century we sponsored May basket socials, Memorial Day
luncheons, strawberry festivals, and harvest suppers. Starting in 1906, we organized an annual Old Home Day celebration (which featured a traditional Rhode Island clam bake) that attracted hundreds
each year to the church grounds. These celebrations continued through the 1940's, and a 100th Anniversary celebration of the first Old Home Day was held in 2006. See our page devoted to Chepachet's Old Home Days.
With its rich history, the church has hosted meetings of many historical organizations and family associations, and has been the site of many family gatherings, including those of the Roger
Williams Family and the Steere Family, which holds reunions at the church annually in August.
For the last quarter-century, as part of a community outreach program, the church has sponsored a
Music at the Meeting House series each year, typically with three concerts each fall and three each spring. These present a wide variety of high-quality music, both
instrumental and vocal, ranging from hymn sings, old-time fiddle music and barbershop quartets to organ concerts, opera, and classical chamber music.
We often feature the works of a single hymn writer or composer -- like Fannie Crosby, Stephen Foster, or Glenn Miller. See our Music at the Meeting House
page. We also recently started an annual Easter Egg Hunt, and we participate in Chepachet's Memorial Day and Fourth of July celebrations (which the church helped to found). We join other
Chepachet churches in an annual ecumenical Thanksgiving service.
This website, shared with the Proprietors of the Meeting House, is also a major historical and community resource. It is the authoritative national source of information on Holbrook steeple bells;
it is a major resource for information on Rhode Island's Dorr Rebellion; it contains a biography of John Colby, an important figure in early 19th Century evangelism; it has
excerpts transcribed from the diary of Alexander Morrell, a former pastor influential in the founding of Storer College; it has extensive photographs of late 19th century Chepachet, taken around the
time of Morrell's pastorate; it has extensive materials about Chepachet's Old Home Days; and by mid-2015 we plan to add a large section on New England Meeting House architecture and
especially the work of architect Elias Carter, who designed our church building. We invite you to browse the Our History page and its many components to read the in-depth materials presented there
about the Town of Glocester, the State of Rhode Island, and the New England region.
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