Alabama Baptists had their first church — First Baptist, Huntsville — celebrate its bicentennial this year, plus 17 churches celebrated their 175th anniversary, said Lonette Berg, executive director of the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission (ABHC).
“These are such wonderful occasions to recognize the faithfulness of Alabama Baptists in serving and sharing the gospel,” Berg said during her report to convention messengers Nov. 18.
She emphasized ABHC’s availability to present framed certificates on 25th, 50th, 75th, 100th and other quarter-century church milestones, as well as letters of commendation on any church anniversary.
The ABHC celebrated anniversaries with 91 Alabama Baptist congregations this year, Berg noted.
It also reached the milestone of 600,000 pages of Alabama Baptist records microfilmed since 2001.
“It is possible for every Alabama Baptist church, association, convention and entities to preserve their written records through ABHC at no cost,” Berg said. “We’re preserving the story of God’s love, grace, forgiveness, faithfulness and restoration … for the generations to come.”
Still hundreds of Alabama Baptist congregations’ records are at risk, she noted, encouraging churches to take advantage of the preservation services — microfilm, oral history, photography and videography — available from ABHC.
She also encouraged them to remember to document their activities and milestones.
“Aren’t we thankful that those who came before us took photographs of our churches, people, ministries and activities? Let’s be diligent to remember to be intentional about recording and preserving,” she said.
A study grant is available, too, from ABHC for churches that want to “preserve and share the written story of God’s work through a church history but need a little bit of help doing it.”
Blue Eye Baptist Church, Lincoln, got the grant in 2009, she noted.
Preserving church history is “a matter of stewardship,” Berg said. “Let’s be good stewards.” (TAB)
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