Join us for Worship each Sunday at 11:00am
Church School for all ages begins at 10am every Sunday
Adult Sessions
February 17th
Myanmar: A State in Crisis – Ruth Marris Macaulay
The human rights crisis in Myanmar has worsened as the military authorities continue their
crackdown on peaceful opposition. Unfair trials of pro-democracy activists continue and more
than 1,600 people have been sentenced to imprisonment, hard labor or death. More than half
a million people have been displaced. Tens of thousands of ethnic Rohingya people, forcibly
displaced over a decade ago remained in squalid displacement camps. The military authorities
prevented humanitarian aid from reaching them after a devastating cyclone in May 2023. The
military junta has carried out aerial attacks on civilians, homes, and places of worship. Rights
to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly are severely curtailed and jour-
nalists were among those imprisoned for their legitimate work.
February 23rd
First Baptist and the Free Masons 1774-1830
March 2nd
On Sunday, February 23rd the team that went to LaRomana in January will share their experiences during the morning worship.
Come to learn and prayerfully consider if you should be a part of the 2027 team.
A Time for Quiet Meditation and Reflection
Tuesdays – 12:00 – 1:00
Join us in the Auditorium for a few minutes or the full hour. Please enter and leave silently.
Book Groups
Wednesday Ladies Group at 1:00 via Zoom
Jesus Alternative Plan : The Sermon on the Mount by Richard Rohr
Thursday Evening at 5:45 via Zoom
For more information contact Linda Bausserman
Garden of Earthy Delights
Join us after church on March 16 to plant peas.
Choir
You are invited to join the choir. Choir will resume on January 23rd in Fellowship Hall We meet each Thursday evening at 7:30 pm and on Sunday morning at 9:30 am.
Mark Your Calendar
Sunday, March 23, 2025
Amanda Tyler, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Commission for Religious Liberty and lead organizer for Christians Against Christian Nationalism will be preaching.
On March 22nd there will be a Christian Nationalism Conference sponsored by RI State Council of Churches at Community Church (Providence)
Times, program and Registgration TBD (stay tuned!)
On the weekend of October 11-12 we will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our historic building. (This is the weekend closest to Roger Williams banishment from Massachusetts for spreading “newe & dangerous opinions“.) We will have tours, speakers and music. Plans are still developing. So stay tuned.
Did you know? The Meeting House will be 250 years old in 2025. While you wait for the celebration here are some building facts from the book First by J.Stanley Lemons. (You can purchase the book at the Meeting House.)
- At the December 11, 1911 meeting of the Charitable Baptist Society, a vote was taken to add an “additional water closet”. Our historian’s best guess is that the original water closet was added in 1902 when the sub-basement was dug out and a new steam heating plant was added. What we know for sure is that during the building’s 250th year, an ADA bathroom will be completed.
- Until 1802, the basement of the Meeting House was primitive and unfinished. It had been rented out to local businessmen, was a practice room for a church choir, and had been used to store the hearse which the Charitable Baptist Society had imported from England in 1791.
- In 1802, it was improved to create a meeting room, which was still dim and damp when the Sunday School began in 1819. As the Sunday School grew, more space was carved out. In 1837, the floor was leveled and finally in 1857, after years of debate, the whole lower region was excavated and reconstructed.
- In February 1774, some of the leading men associated with the church began planning for a new larger building. In addition to deciding on the design of the building, they needed land. Unfortunately, the main parcel they wanted was owned by John Angell who despised the Baptists. So, an Anglican friend, William Russell Purchased the Angell property and sold it to the Charitable Baptist Society.
- Monetary pledges were made to cover most of the cost of the meeting house. Those who could not give money donated labor and materials. Daniel Hawkins pledged £6 to be paid in timber & bords, and John Pettis pledged £9 to be paid in stones. The expense accounts also record “Licker at Raiseings & at other times…£22.
- James Gibbs sketched four designs for the steeple of the Church of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fieldsin London, one of which was chosen and used in 1726. The other three appeared in Gibb’s Book of Architecture (1728), and Joseph Brown, architect for the Meeting House, picked one of those for the Meeting House.
- The steeple was erected in 3 1/2 days in June 1775.
