200 years and counting at Mt. Moriah

Sep. 18—ADAMS — Mount Moriah Baptist Church is celebrating its 200th anniversary with a celebration worship service at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 24, 2023, on its grounds on CR 425 W. This service will highlight the church's past with a memorial, review of church history, greetings from past ministers, followed by a celebratory message and meal.

Continuing the day of celebration, Mount Moriah welcomes the worship group Glory Bound for an afternoon concert. Mount Moriah's welcomes everyone for all or part of the day's festivities.

The Mount Moriah Baptist Church is an independent fellowship of believers, who follow five core beliefs. These five Baptist principles are: Jesus Christ is head of the church, the Scriptures are authoritative in all spiritual matters, the church is a fellowship of persons who have received new life in Christ and bear witness to this by believer's baptism, each person has equal access to God through Jesus Christ and share the responsibility of sharing their faith, and finally, all people should be free to worship God according to their own conscience and not by the state.

These principles were adopted in 1742 by the Philadelphia Baptist Association and continue to shape our identity today.

Historically, Baptists were courageous pioneers settling and establishing the Silver Creek Church in 1798 near Charlestown. She became the mother church for numerous congregations, associations and eventually the Indiana Baptist Convention. Also crucial was the call to ministry of Isaac McCoy: a wheel maker, pastor and eventually a missionary working among the native Americans to alleviate their fears and tensions.

These moments in history paved the way for Mount Moriah's birth. According to archives located at the Franklin College Library (Franklin, Indiana), Mount Moriah Baptist Church came into being on May 23, 1823, with 19 members present.

These founding members received a donation of land from Solomon Turpin, and called their first pastor, Elder Daniel Stogsdell.

The church was not in the township of Adams as today. Her humble start was the south side of Clifty Creek, where in 1824 they built a small meeting house. Life was rugged with limited transportation. Horse drawn wagons, boats on water and later railroads were the norm of the day. There was no electricity or heat, only oil lamps for light, and wood burning stoves for warmth.

A pump organ, Bibles and hymn books made things come to life in the small church.

By 1843 a Sabbath School began, better known as Sunday School. The completion of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati railroad made it possible to build a new meeting house in 1865. In 1876, F.M. Huckleberry and E. I. Guthrie reported to the Flat Rock Association that the church was growing and had 95 active members.

Throughout the years, wars transpired, a depression occurred, the industrial revolution began—cultural divides and challenges faced the church. While Great Awakenings ignited fires of passion for God, these churches were the benefactors. Although there have been squabbles and scandals even in the Church, the hope of the country rests within the church.

There is much work to be done to bring about equality and preservation of life, as well as truth about the harmful vices and false teachings that lead to confusion. What The Mount Moriah Baptist Church offers our community is a new way of life through Jesus Christ and a home for their faith.

As we celebrate our 200th Anniversary, Pastor Bill Cordes appreciates the people of Mount Moriah Baptist Church and is confident about their future. There is a spiritual harvest of souls we pray for and encourage. We have developed partnerships and taken advantage of the opportunities presented. We have partnered with our local community and continue to offer events such as our Trunk or Treat for the little ones on Halloween, a monthly service at Heritage House Nursing Home, and the REC program "Residents Encountering Christ", to help residents redeem their lives.

During COVID 19 we networked with the Center for Congregations and American Baptist Home Mission Societies for grants to equip us for internet service for Sunday morning worship services and we offered a weekly Food Pantry to those in need. Mount Moriah became a mobile church through our food trailer at the country fair this past year and in years past.

The urgency is great to reach the needs of others and until the Lord comes again, Mount Moriah will continue our services to our world and cultivate mission partners near and far. — Information provided