At First Baptist Church of Albion, we are celebrating 185 years of existence. As we consider the rich history of God’s faithfulness to us, we must never disconnect ourselves from what God has done through time to fulfill His promise to build the church. Our history looks back to the start of the 1st Century churches found in Acts and reveals a timeline of God at work through the ages to grow and expand His church.
Let’s take a moment and chart the history of gospel advancement to see how what happened long ago and far away becomes our own story – right here in Albion.
In AD 80 the gospel spread to France and Tunisia – 20 years later the first Christians were reported in Siberia and Sri Lanka. By AD 150 the gospel reached Portugal and Morocco. Found its way to Austria by AD 174 followed by Switzerland and Belgium. In 528 the gospel was sent to present-day England and in the 1st year, 10,000 people were baptized. In AD 635 the first Christian missionaries arrived in China. Out of joy and gospel faithfulness, the church multiplied. By 1200 AD the Bible was available in 22 languages. In 1491 missionaries arrived in the African Congo, the first church founded in Angola.
Then the Gospel crosses the Atlantic when in Spain, Pope Alexander the 6th wanted to send Christian missions to the new world. In 1492, Columbus sailed the Ocean blue and in 1550 John Calvin sent French Protestants to reach the people of Brazil. In the early 1700’s the Great Awakening started in America –George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards stirred revival.
As the colonies formed into states, people moved westward, and in 1835, just 59 years after the United States claimed its independence in 1776, people organized and founded the City of Albion, Michigan. Two years later in 1837 several families gathered together on March 4, 1837, and founded the First Baptist Church of Albion with 11 members. They called Pastor TRZ Jones of Detroit to serve as their first and founding pastor. In 1851, after sharing a building with Methodists and Presbyterians in town, they built a building for corporate worship at North Superior Street, the location First Baptist called home for 120 years before moving in 1971 to a 10-acre lot on 29 Mile and Concord Road in 1971.
In the late 1990’s our church, commissioned Joe and Ladeare Milioni to go to South America where they were sharing the gospel, reaching unreached, and starting churches on behalf of FBC. Since then, the Milionis oversaw a gospel-driven church planting movement in Cuba seeing over 1000 churches planted in the last 13 years. In 2001 The Markley family was sent out by First Baptist Church to reach an unreached people group in PNG and in 2009 having learned the language spent several months teaching from Creation to Christ, upon which when they got to the teaching of the cross and Christ’s death burial and resurrection – 95 % of the tribe trusted Christ.
In 2018-2019 the church renovated the current auditorium complete with new flooring, platform, sound system, and seating. Little did they know how God used that preparation to allow flexibility when in March of 2020 the Corona Virus challenged the world. After staying home for several weeks watching our pastors teach online, we began to assemble again with lawn chairs in our parking lot. We had inspiring times of worship outside from Spring until October 16. During this time, God used our ministry to extend and grow our church as people heard about our church, watched our LiveStream, and began attending in person.
God is not finished building His church. After 185 years of our existence, the gospel continues to flourish and our desire at First Baptist Church is to be a faithful part of His plan. Let’s remember we are everyday people finding our purpose in Jesus, and fulfilling His plan through worship, community, and service. Let’s continue to be Christ-led and gospel-centered as we live for Jesus Christ here at First Baptist Church of Albion.