FBC Missional Work Highlighted in Local Newspaper

Tenants fill church with good works

by MARK E. RONDEAU, The Bennington Banner, March 8, 2010, p. 1A and 6A

BENNINGTON -- In the year after the first non-profit tenant moved into the Nichols Education Building at First Baptist Church in January 2009, three more tenants moved in, filling up the available space.

First, Project Against Violent Encounters' Family Time opened up on the second floor of the building, located downtown. Next, the Bennington Free Health Cilinic moved into the building, and the Vermont Center for Independent Living and Easter Seals later followed suit.

The offering of the previously unused building space is the result of a deliberate decision by the First Baptist congregation to reach out to the community as a form of mission.

"We’ve pretty much taken on as a missional church the goal of providing the missing components for basic human needs in the area here. We’re too small by ourselves to tackle any one of these things," said Wayne Kachmar, a member of the church board of trustees. "But this collaborative model of missional church has given us the opportunity to partner with many different groups and to use what we bring to the table: open space, visibility on Main Street -- accessibility, we’re flat, we’re level -- accessibility to transportation."

In addition to providing easy access for those in need, the use of the space by human services non-profit groups also frees up commercial space downtown for economic development, he said.

Tenants filled the available space faster than anticipated. "It’s sort of amazing when a plan comes together that quickly," Kachmar said. "We think that it was obviously (something) that was needed and the affirmation seems to be that our tenants are thriving, the activity levels are high."

Tracy L. Dorman, peer advocate and community outreach specialist with Vermont Center for Independent Living in Bennington, said that it promotes independent living for individuals with disabilities.

"Many VCIL peers are living on limited, fixed incomes and experience overwhelming financial, physical, mental, or emotional challenges," she said. "VCIL working as their partner helps to build their confidence to face those challenges through accessing services in the community, and to their developing and managing their well-being."

Being located in the building next to the Bennington Free Clinic allows VCIL a closer connection with Free Clinic executive director Sue Andrews and the free clinic on behalf of the people VCIL serves, Dorman said.

"In addition, VCIL endorses the Health Care Is A Human Right Campaign," she said. "VCIL’s location in the First Baptist Church allows the local organizing committee and campaign members a more visible presence."

Another advantage is accessibility. "Being located on the Green Mountain Express route going east on Main Street allows VCIL peers to utilize the bus to attend our events, meetings, and appointments," Dorman said. "Our peers enjoy the autonomy that the church location provides.

"It is a welcoming, friendly, supportive environment. This location provides VCIL the ability to accommodate large and small groups that include support groups, community meetings, trainings, and also one-on-one meetings," she said. "The kitchen space has allowed us to offer cooking classes to our peers without having to find alternative space."

First Baptist has helped offer healthy cooking and basic sewing classes and hopes to collaborate in presenting more such activities. "The idea here is it’s not necessarily the First Baptist folks completely doing it. We really seek out partnerships," said First Baptist coordinating minister Jerrod Hugenot, adding that one does not have to be a person of faith to participate. "Collaboration is key. So we work fairly fluidly with folks within the faith community and with others within the larger community."

The church has received a $6,000 grant from the Vermont Community Foundation. "What they were specifically interested in was the collaborative model we’ve put together and the governance structure we had to put around it," Kachmar said.

The grant was for basic support, and part of this is to update some of the infrastructure for common use, such as Internet access, a more energy-efficient heating program, and setting up a hall in the church for interactive conferences, he said.

Though the Nichols Building is full of permanent tenants, "We’re not done, Kachmar said. "We may be full for the time being. But we’re looking at the other options: people who need a temporary facility, people who may need an office for a month or two and being able to come in here and support an activity.

"Finding that in town is not very easy and at this point that’s perhaps the next step that we have to look at," he said.

Hugenot, who is originally from Kansas, said that in studying the history of Baptists in Vermont, he has found that First Baptist in Bennington a century and more ago was always prominent in mission work.

"There’s certainly precedent that mission is very much a strand of the DNA that has made this place tick and thrive and grow over the years," he said. "So in some ways we are reclaiming our roots while also casting out for a different day."

Pastor's Notes (February 2010)

“To incite more earnest efforts”
Pastor’s Notes (February 2010)

One of the marvels of the digital age is Google’s ongoing project to scan books, journals, and other print materials for persons to view online. Recently, I came across Henry Crocker’s The History of the Baptists in Vermont, published the P.H. Gobie Press of Bellows Falls, VT.  Rev. Crocker was the president of the Vermont Baptist Historical Society, and he was tasked with the job of finishing what was considered a long overdue by the time the book appeared in 1913.  Crocker’s preface recounts the convoluted history of the book’s many setbacks in research and production since a history was first proposed in 1841.  Rev. Crocker worked through reams of source material to produce this book, now long out of print, and now enjoying another sort of preservation as part of the Google Books collection.

            Like anyone else, my first curiosity was to read the section about matters near to mind and heart.  The section on First Baptist, Bennington, (Crocker, p. 102-105) recounts a few familiar facts: a recounting of the church’s origins in 1827, though it was known as the Baptist church in “East Bennington, or Algiers”.  Interestingly, it would be a year later that the first minister, Henry Baldwin would become the minister.  By the time the Vermont Baptist history appeared, First Baptist had been served by twenty-two pastors, the longest serving being the eight year pastorate of Rev. Z. Martin (1885-1893).   Considering the rest of the 20^th-century’s pastoral tenures (including Dr. Towart’s thirty year tenure), when First Baptist had only six settled pastorates over a 75 year period, the thought of twenty-two pastorates over eight-six years seems quite remarkable.  

            The rest of Rev. Crocker’s entry about First Baptist details a variety of “milestones” about the church fellowship perhaps forgotten in our modern day congregation.  In 1832, a temperance movement began in Bennington with a church committee formed to address the excessive drinking of “cider brandy”.   In the 1840s, William Miller, a Vermont-born minister, was invited to address the congregation about his views on the Second Coming (in Miller’s opinion, to take place on October 22, 1844).  Apparently, Miller’s views held suasion, as Crocker reports his speech “wreaked havoc in the flock”, presumably causing some congregants to take up his views as well.  (After this date came to pass, and our Lord did not, the date became known as “the Great Disappointment”.)   The 1850s brought congregational “resolutions disapproving and discountenancing the amusement of dancing” declaring dancing inconsistent with “the Christian profession”.   If these stories are not amusing enough, Crocker recounts the long history of the church struggling to keep a decent church bell.  Apparently, First Baptist had the first church bell in Bennington installed in 1830, however, the original bell was “said to have been the poorest bell ever shipped into the State of Vermont.  The sound of it provoked the criticism of all who heard it” (Crocker, 105).

            To our ears, these stories of our distant past offer a glimpse of the life of First Baptist no longer in living memory.  The idea of temperance fervor and anti-dancing resolutions might strike us as a product of times gone by.  Certainly, William Miller’s predictions of the end of things in 1844 remind us that modern day Christians chasing after every half-baked “end times” prediction have their antecedents. 

            Studying our past, however, helps us understand our roots.  Given his task of accounting for a brief history of every Vermont Baptist congregation, Rev. Crocker’s account leaves out the congregation’s historic commitment to mission, providing funding for domestic and global efforts, and the commitment to religious education.   The spiritual DNA of First Baptist has a remarkable intertwining of passion for discipleship and the support of initiatives far and wide.

            As with every generation, it is our challenge to live with the best of our past and endeavor to make the future possible.  As we near a century since Henry Crocker’s account of First Baptist, may I suggest we revisit our roots this spring in our religious education?   Starting February 7, 2010, we will explore our Baptist roots, studying the historic distinctive beliefs and practices of our tradition:  Soul Freedom, Believer’s Baptism, the role of the Bible, the priesthood of all believers, local church autonomy, the ministry of the laity, discipleship, evangelism, worship and communion, speaking about issues of faith, diversity, and mission.  Each week, we ponder what makes us “tick” as Baptists.  In the 21^st-century, we American Baptists are part of the most racially diverse denominations in the United States.  We are a people known for having a “wide tent” when it comes to theological diversity, and some of our theological debates make arguments over cider brandy and dancing look pretty tame.

            When it comes time to recount our history, what story would you like to have told about our ministry and mission today?  I am most hopeful we will be recalled as faithful, earnest believers, working for the betterment of our community and growing in faith and love.   Indeed, Rev. Crocker has a good word about the goal of the Christian in search of a past, present, and future.  Near a century ago, Rev. Crocker observed,

It is a satisfaction to know that facts long concealed or known to but few can be known by many, and we may cherish the hope that the backward look will incite to more earnest efforts for the upbuilding of the Kingdom of Christ among the Green Mountains and the fertile valleys of Vermont. (Crocker, 5).