The revitalization of First Baptist Church of Marlborough, Massachusetts, commenced in 2021 when Logan Loveday, a South Carolinian with close family ties to the Baptist Churches of New England (BCNE.net), became pastor of the struggling congregation and was invited to merge it with Hope Community Church, the BCNE-affiliated fellowship he planted in town in 2017.
Even casual visitors to First Baptist these days will find a spiritually healthy, family-friendly, and interculturally diverse fellowship of Christ-followers. They will discover that relationships are being developed and people are finding faith that impacts their everyday lives. That was not true several years ago.
When he started Hope Community, they were meeting on Saturday nights in a second-floor space that was rented by a Brazilian BCNE congregation, Connect Baptist Church. They shared a gym and other rooms. Loveday and his core group met there for nearly a year before they rented a similar place nearby and then met for worship on Sunday mornings.
Two churches unite to serve their city
Hope Community counted 35 members and participants before COVID-19 but, during the pandemic, some families moved away. After the global crisis subsided, attendance was about twenty-five. Meanwhile, across town, the interim pastor of the 12-member First Baptist decided to retire and ask BCNE Executive Director Terry Dorsett for advice about uniting the two churches.
Check out full story.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Dan Nicholas and originally published by Baptist Churches of New England.
