THE BEGINNING
The West Clarksville Baptist church was formed November 28, 1838 as a Baptist Church Branch of Friendship, NY with 11 members. Sermons were given by Elden L. Fuller. A Sabbath (Sunday) school was started in March the next year. In 1843, A.E. Propan was sent forth as their first Gospel missionary.
The building that would be home to the members of this local church was constructed on Route 305 in the town of Clarksville in 1854. In 1907 the church was incorporated and the bell was placed in the belfry at the same time. Hymn books and a piano were purchased around this time.
By 1916 the attendance/members had grown to 47 and a piano and hymn books were purchased, then in 1921 the building was painted white; electricity added to the parsonage in 1926 and in 1928 electricity was put in the church building along with pews and a new floor.
In 1967 new classrooms and a pastor’s study were added to accommodate the larger attendance. Costs were kept low by having members doing much of the work. The dedication of the new addition was held July 25, 1971.
An AWANA program was started in 1975 under the leadership of Pastor Kenneth Alt, with an average of 68 children attending from surrounding towns and villages.
Some ministers who have served here include: Rev. James Craig, Rev. Carl A. Rasmussen, Rev. Rob Titus, Rev. Steven Custard, Rev. Milford Shreckengost, Rev. Raymond Fredericks, Pastor Cobb, Rev. Kenneth Alt, Pastor John Cwyner, Rev. Paul Beatty, Rev. Leslie Chambers.
OUR CHURCH MAKES A MOVE
In 2003 our church was seeking the Lord’s direction about improvements to our facilities to make them handicap accessible. Our pastor, Leslie Chambers, received a phone call from the owners of a vacant church building located three miles down the road. That building was a much newer one-level facility. It had several Sunday school rooms, a sanctuary that seated over 100, a large kitchen and fellowship hall, plenty of parking, and a nice sized lot. After time set aside for prayer to consider the offer, the vote was 100% in favor of selling our old property and purchasing the available church and property. The previous owners held a land contract and by faith promise, God enabled the members to pay the debt off completely in approximately 5 years. The bell placed in the belfry of our old building in 1907, now resides at our new location as a piece of our church’s history.