Church to celebrate 175 years of service
Flatwoods Baptist Church in Franklin Township is celebrating its 175th anniversary this Sunday. “I’ve been calling it 175 years of God’s grace, that God has maintained this body of believers,” said the Rev. Nathan Anderson, pastor. Flatwoods Baptist, which is located at the corner of Town and Country and Griffin roads, will offer regular worship at 11 a.m., a dinner at 1 p.m. that is open to anyone and an anniversary service at 3 p.m. Sunday, said Anderson, who has been pastor since 2007.
The Rev. Melvin Wingrove, who was pastor at Flatwoods Baptist from 1980 to 2000, will be speaker at both worship services Sunday. Members of the church will perform special music at both services.
Member Lydia Strickler explained there would be a history program at the anniversary service with photographs, biographical sketches and a timeline that puts church history into the context of national history. For example, Anderson said Andrew Jackson was president when Flatwoods Baptist was founded.
Strickler compiled the history program, noting it contains information that Yvonne Blair Morgan and Jess Strickler both contributed to the church while doing research on their own families.
“There’s a lot of stories so we will probably try to make sketches throughout the year,” she said. “That’s why we’d like to have more information from more people in the community. Anything they have would be helpful.”
The church’s beginnings can be traced to 1833 when the Rev. William Wood began to preach at Arnold School in Franklin Township. Wood was licensed to preach by Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Smithfield and was also a pastor at Great Bethel Baptist Church in Uniontown. Strickler said many of these early preachers were circuit riders and traveled from area to area.
“These kind of Baptist preachers came to the area before the Revolutionary War,” she said. “Some came because Pennsylvania had religious freedom. By the late 1820s, Baptists were on a decline. But William Wood was a new generation. He grew up in these beginning churches. In a time of decline, this church (Flatwoods) started and thrived. People came to church from 25 miles away. They didn’t have towns in this area. This was all farming community.”
Flatwoods Baptist Church was founded in 1834 with 22 people, and Wood as the pastor. They continued to meet at Arnold Schoolhouse.
“What’s most unique is that the church has basically the same doctrine today that it had then – that the Bible is the word of God. Salvation is in Jesus Christ who is God incarnate. Christ died for our sins. He rose again and all who believe in him may be saved,” said Strickler.
In 1835, a frame building was constructed on donated land in front of the current Flatwoods-Bowman Cemetery on Route 201.
The church joined the Monongahela Association that year. The first trustees were chosen in 1836 and a Sunday school started in 1839. Four members of the church became preachers during these early years, including William Wadsworth in 1840, Caleb Rossell in 1843, and Job Rossell and James Arnold in 1850.
In the early years, worship was not held every Sunday because of the distance that people traveled to reach the church and the availability of circuit riders who served as pastors. They usually held worship services twice a month and Sunday school only took place six months out of the year. Flatwoods Baptist did not have a fulltime Sunday school or pastor until 1890.
In 1861-62, the congregation replaced the frame church with a brick building. Strickler noted this was a sign of prosperity.
“They decided to raise $2,000. The church cost less but they used the rest of the money for upkeep. They got the $2,000 even with the Civil War starting,” she said.
Yet another member felt the call to preach in 1894 – Philip Dennis, a former schoolteacher, who was licensed in 1897 and ordained in 1902.
In 1897, the Rev. S.H. Protzman, pastor at Flatwoods, decided to preach in Star Junction and, eventually, another church started in Star Junction. Flatwoods pastors served both churches until 1933.
Flatwoods had its largest congregation with approximately 300 members from 1890 to 1921, began evening services in 1910 and Tuesday night prayer meetings in 1934. Flatwoods left its denomination in 1957, becoming an independent church.
The brick church remained in use until 1983 when it suffered structural damage. Under Wingrove, the congregation was able to construct a new building on its present location with no mortgage. Roy and Libby Griffin donated the land. The church received many contributions and, while they used contractors, members of the church performed a great deal of the work on the one-story stone structure.
The present building, which was dedicated in 1985, contains original pews as well as several pieces that are 100 years old, including the pulpit, platform furniture and table.
The historical program will also include several biographical sketches of women, such as Rhoda Rittenhouse Blair, who started a journal in the 1820s that kept a record of local churches she visited with her family and noted who was preaching and what part of the Bible the sermon featured. Her family eventually joined Flatwoods Baptist, and her son became a preacher while many of her descendants became deacons, and wives of deacons and a pastor.
Strickler also said, “You can find in early church records, names whose descendants are still members of this church.”
Today, Flatwoods Baptist has 120 members. The schedule includes Sunday school at 10 a.m., worship at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday along with Bible study and prayer meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Vacation Bible School will be held this year, beginning June 21.
For more information or to share local history with the church, phone 724-677-2700. The Rev. Nathan Anderson is shown inside the sanctuary of Flatwoods Baptist Church in Franklin Township, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary Sunday. (Robert Esquivel/Herald-Standard)