Religion News / First Baptist Church of Newfane
Church’s congregation honors its 180-year history of service
Published: November 22, 2009, 12:30 am
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NEWFANE — It’s one of only a relatively few cobblestone churches left in North America.
First Baptist Church of Newfane, celebrating the 180th anniversary of its founding this fall, remains a village landmark. The oldest church in town boasts a pyramidal roof, opalescent stained-glass windows, carved oak pews and Gothic Revival- style lectern and chairs.
Built from cobblestone — a masonry style originating in New York State during Erie Canal construction and ending as the Civil War fired up –the East Avenue church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Stones — left by glaciers, rounded by Lake Ontario waves, later placed in horizontal rows and set in decorative mortar — enhanced the beauty of its Greek Revival architecture. Pioneers picked up the cobblestone style and brought it west to the Great Lakes region.
Founded in 1829, with just over two dozen members in the congregation — living in a county with a population of just under 15,000 — First Baptist’s initial cobblestone walls went up in 1843.
Today, the church maintains, along with those cobblestones, its nearly two-century stand against inequities.
“First Baptist in Newfane was one of the first churches in the North to take a public stand against slavery,” said Denise Noble, chairwoman of the church missions committee. “And it’s believed the church has Underground Railroad connections.”
The effort to aid the needy is especially strong during the holiday season.
“We’re a small church with a huge heart,” Noble said of the nearly 130-member congregation. First Baptist’s many outreach programs include its Christmas Toy Drive, to make sure that every child has a good memory of the celebration of Jesus’ birth.
“We have a whole list of kids without anything for them,” said Noble, a longtime volunteer who also helps a day care center with its needy families. “We have children in need of winter coats and clothing, and there just isn’t enough to offer them. We reach out to the working poor, the rural poor who can’t get out to Niagara Falls or Buffalo. I believe this has been my mission in life.”
There’s also the church’s weekly offering to outreach and mission programs, the migrant and rural low-income food pantry, Habitat for Humanity volunteer work, fundraising walks to address hunger, school supply drives, and book and magazine collections to promote literacy.
“With retirees having their retirement and health care benefits cut so drastically, these people have been forced to make potentially unhealthy choices,” Noble said. “While watching the cost of medications, utilities and groceries rising, and seeing their monthly income and insurance benefits being cut, these retirees can’t help worrying about the lingering questions continuously running through their minds — ‘What are we going to do? And, ‘How are we going to make it?’ ”
“I see a tremendous need for very deserving families,” she said. “With heating costs soaring, families and the elderly are finding the need to dip into the grocery money to keep warm. . . . Nutritious food for the specialized diets prescribed by their doctors can’t be purchased. After all the bills are paid, it’s impossible to buy groceries with money that just isn’t there. Low-sodium foods and soups, low-sugar and sugar-free foods, along with fat-free foods are badly needed.”
The good news is that “children and adults are coming in weekly to visit our bookshelves,” Noble said. “How wonderful it is to see the children’s interest in reading on the rise.”
The church missions committee is collecting clean, “gently used,” warm clothing. Hats, coats, boots, gloves, snow pants, snowsuits, scarves, socks and blankets are especially needed. Everything collected will benefit area families—and the good memories generated may last as long as those cobblestones.
For more information on these efforts, call 940-8286.
Have an idea about for Religion News? Write to: Louise Continelli, The Buffalo News, P. O. Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240 or e-mail her at lcontinelli@buffnews.com
Nov. 22 to 29 Niagara County faith-related events
Following is a weekly listing of upcoming faith-related events held around Niagara County.
Today
NEW SERVICE: “LTO,” or “Limited
Time Only,” begins with informal coffee and snack time, a chance to chat and meet friends, followed by music performed by LTO Worship Band and a message from Youth Pastor Stephen Hay, 7 p. m., First Baptist Church, 251 Chestnut St., Wilson. Every Sunday.
Monday
PRAYER: Ministry team from
churches throughout Buffalo Niagara region utilizes God’s word and training to assist anyone who is sick physically, emotionally or spiritually, 7 to 9
p. m., St. James United Church of Christ, 4661 Porter Road, Niagara Falls. No fee and no appointment necessary. Appointments can also be made by calling 884-0048.
If you would like your event included, send the information two weeks in advance to: Niagara Community Calendar, c/o The Buffalo News, P. O. Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240, fax to: 856-5150 or e-mail to: niagaranews@buffnews.com .
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