First Baptist Church
Washington, Georgia
Our Heritage...
Church began in 1827 as arm of Phillips Mill
The Town of Washington, Georgia, in the Ceded Lands of original Wilkes County, was 47 years old before a Baptist church was constituted within its boundaries.
Research to determine the beginning of the first church in Washington and a building to house the church has not provided any definite date for the establishment of the church.
James Armstrong, pastor of the Fishing Creek Baptist Church, could have been the leader in erecting a building in which to organize the Washington church. On March 10, 1826, with four others as trustees- Bolling Anthony, John M. Butler, William G. Gilbert, and Osborne Stone- a lot was purchased. These men are listed as "trustees of the Baptist Church in the town of Washington," with Armstrong as chairman.
On March 10,1827, Phillips Mill Baptist Church minutes report the establishment of an arm in Washington with "James Armstrong and James Carter of Fishing Creek present." The first record of a building is found when the General Association of the Baptist Denomination in Georgia, held April 27,1827, "convened in the house of worship just completed in the town for the Baptist Church."
No detailed description can be found of the building which seems to have been last used for the centennial celebration of the Georgia Baptist Association in 1884.
The Phillips Mill minutes report a conference held at Washington on May 26, 1827, when several were received into the fellowship and one was dismissed. On December 8, 1827, the Phillips Mill minutes report that the "branch of the church at Washington petitioned to form a constitution and become a separated church." This was done on December 29, 1827, with James Armstrong as Moderator and Billington Sanders as clerk.
The Washington minutes begin on this date and indicate that the newly-formed church held a conference on January 20, 1828, and called Jesse Mercer as pastor. His years as first pastor include a record surpassed by few pastors in Georgia. The church itself remained small. Minutes show 230 additions during his pastorate, with 135 of them black. Ninety-nine of these came by letter, mostly for the rural churches. Eighty-five of the blacks were by "experience."
Mercer led the state convention in making plans to establish a Baptist college in Washington a center of Baptist activity by bringing The Christian Index to Washington in 1833. This publication was later given to the Georgia Baptist Convention and is the oldest continuing religious newspaper in America. He also continued publication of the Cluster, an early Baptist hymn book with two final editions in 1829 and 1835.
Other pastors and some of their accomplishments outside the church and association include the following:
Dr. N. M. Crawford served as president of Mercer University, 1854- 56 and 1858- 66.
Dr. H. A. Tupper left Washington to become secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Dr. J. J. Brantley and S. G. Hillyer were both professors at Mercer University.
Dr. Homer L. Grice held the earliest Vacation Bible Schools of the convention at the Washington church and became head of this work with National Baptists in the Georgia Baptist Convention.
Albert W. Huyck Jr. was instrumental in developing Penfield Christian Home into a part of the Georgia Baptist Convention. He has been chairman of trustees for Tift College and a director of the Alumni Association of Furman University. In 1980 he went on a preaching mission to Japan and the Republic of China.
Dr. John Murry Childers became pastor of the church in March 1999, coming from the First Baptist Church of Vienna, Georgia.
For more details on the history of Washington First Baptist Church go to the blog page by Mr. William Johnson at the address below. Mr. William updates this on a regular basis so visit often.