Baptist church plans last service in downtown Batavia
Members of the First Baptist Church of Batavia - now Faith Baptist - will hold their last worship service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in their present location at 15 N. Washington Ave.
It will be the end of a 172-year era for the church in downtown Batavia, near Route 25 and Wilson St.
The congregation is building a 9,000-square-foot, $1.6 million church on an 8-acre site at Mill Creek Drive and Main Street in Blackberry Township, west of Batavia.
"We're hoping that a lot of people who have been married here, or baptized here, or those who have been to the funerals of loved ones here, will come to our final service Sunday," said Bob Thomas, a member who is helping to coordinate church events and has researched the church's history.
Shirley Nelson, 88, of Batavia, is part of the church's history. She first attended services at First Baptist when she was 10 and has been a member ever since. She has taught Sunday school and she remembers raising money for the new addition in the 1950s.
"My Dad took me to the Methodist church when I was about 4, but we could walk to First Baptist," she said. "I remember the boy next door told me I'd like the Baptist church.
"We had so many groups, there was so much to do," Nelson recalled. "And we had so many children. That's what makes me sad. For the last few years, we've been going down.
"I will miss it, but we have to go to a different church. I think it will be nice."
The congregation first met in a frame church in what is now downtown Batavia in 1836. The present church building is made of limestone and brick and was dedicated in 1889. An addition was added around 1958.
Church leaders say renovating the old church would have cost almost as much as new construction. The building at 15 N. Washington Ave. is a maze of stairways and has no elevator and no air conditioning. Plus, attendance has decreased and it is hoped the new Faith Baptist will be able to attract some of the young families who are part of the growing population in west Batavia.
The land for the new church was donated by Kent Shodeen of Shodeeen Construction Co.
The congregation will welcome a new pastor, the Rev. John Pattison, in June.
On Sunday, members will be able to reminisce and share memories of events through an open microphone following the 10:30 a.m. service.
There is also a 6 p.m. concert Sunday at the church featuring pianist Huntley Brown. Brown appears around the world with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Services and is the resident pianist on Chicago's TV Channel 38.
The new church will be ready around mid-September. As the city of Batavia had made its final payment for the existing church property, the congregation will have worship services this summer at 10:30 a.m. Sundays in the annex of Bethany Lutheran Church at 8 S. Lincoln Ave. in Batavia.
The city bought the building at 15 N. Washington Ave. for $715,000 in 2005 when officials thought it was needed for a project to eliminate the Route 25 "jog" at Wilson Street. The city subsequently decided that project was not financially feasible. City officials hosted an open house at the church in January, hoping to attract buyers for a redevelopment project but so far there are no takers. The city is presently studying what to do with the property.
For information about Sunday's events, call the church at (630) 879-1467.