Welcome to First Baptist Church of Manchester Center, VT "The Community Church"


Welcome to The First Baptist Church
of
Manchester Center, Vermont 


"The Community Church"



Church service at 10:30 am
Communion first Sunday of the month
Sunday school 9:30

First Baptist Church "The Community Church"
    4895 Main St. P.O. Box 1049 
Manchester Center VT 05255
802-362-1555
Church email: fbcmanvt@gmail.com
Pastor Rebecca Sommons
802.362.1555
for map click here
Church email: fbcmanvt@gmail.com
 First Baptist Church welcomed Rev. Rebecca Sommons to become their pastor in August of 2016. She studied Pastoral Care at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine, graduating with a Master of Theology degree in 2012. Rebecca finished her Master of Divinity degree at Palmer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania the spring before coming to Vermont. She and her husband, Matthew live in Danby and enjoy the beauty of the countryside as well as the charm of small-town life. Matthew works in the behavioral health field as a psychiatrist and medical director. Matthew and Rebecca have two grown daughters. Grace is married to Arthur Ward and lives in Maine. Natalie is a recent graduate of Houghton College. Everyone in the family enjoys hiking in the mountains, playing board games, and making music when they are together. mail to:fbcmanvt@gmail.com
If you would like to give an offering to support the mission and ministry, you can either put it in the collection box at church on Sunday morning or mail it to our church P.O. Box 1049 Manchester Center, VT 05255 or directly to our collector Cathy Comar. Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity.
The latest posted Church service.
               For current bulletin and other services, please visit here.
Hello Everyone,
The month of March holds some exciting things for us!  We celebrate the first day of spring when the earth around us starts to become green and colorful with the first flowers.  We also celebrate Jesus overcoming death to rise to life on Easter morning.  One of our church’s traditions is to decorate a cross with flowers on Easter morning and then put it in front of the church for the whole community to remember our reason for hope.  Would you like to be a part of the decorating of the cross this year?
Our Easter service is at 10:30 am on Sunday, March 31st, and we would love to have you join us.  It is even more meaningful if you know the whole story.  Our church will be hosting events that whole week beginning with Palm Sunday at 10:30 am on March 24th, where remember how people welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem.  Then on Thursday, we have a meal together at 5:30 pm followed by a special communion service where we remember Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples.  On Friday at 3 pm, we will have a solemn service where we reflect on Jesus’ death on the cross.  If you like to get up early and would like to come to a sunrise service on Easter morning, we’ll be participating in a community service at the Dormy Grill porch and expect the sun to rise over the mountain at 6:30 am.  If there is inclement weather, the First Congregational Church will host the service in their sanctuary.
On other Sundays in March, we will read from the Gospel of Mark about people who had encounters with Jesus during his time on earth.  March 10th and 24th hold an added opportunity to enjoy a meal and a conversation about faith at 5 pm.
Can you tell we like to eat, talk about God’s Word, and celebrate what Jesus has done ~ and can do ~ in anyone who welcomes him?  If you have questions about Jesus or faith or have a spiritual desire stirring in your heart, I’d like to encourage you to come and see how God will meet you.
With hope and joy,
        Pastor Rebecca Sommons

Please let us know what you think, also if you would like more information.  
HOLY  WEEK

March 24  is Palm Sunday
March 28 Maundy Thursday  potluck meal and
 service will be at 5:30 pm.
March 29  Good Friday Contemplative Service will be at 3 pm
March 31 The Sunrise Service is at 6:30 am at
Dormy Grill’s porch.
 March 31  Easter Service
Alpha class
Looking ahead, a family Alpha class will be starting on January 14, & 28, and meeting every other Sunday evening until mid-May. A potluck dinner will start each session at 5:00, followed by the class activities and discussion.
For more information email Rev. Theresa Taylor at theresa@seektheson.org


shows bowing of wall
shows bowing of wall
Our First Baptist Church was built 190 years ago in 1833.  
Several months ago, as the Prudential Committee was looking at areas in the church in need of repair, the roof gained serious attention. An engineer was consulted to look at the structure of the roof to determine its structural integrity.  The engineer made the determination that the roof needed major structural repairs and, at the same time, pointed out that the wall on the Bonnet Street side of the church was bowing out and needed structural repair before the roof could be fixed.  
There are 4 phases to our Preservation Fund. These phases are in order of importance to the structural safety of our Church Building.
Phase one consists of structurally supporting the wall on the Bonnet Street side of our building.
Phase two consists of repairing the foundation.
 Phase three will be repairing the roof.
Phase four will be repairing the rotten wood on the Main Street side of the church (including the thresholds) and repairing doors and windows.

Currently, we only have rough estimates for this work.  We expect the total project cost to be  $300,000.  We will update as we are able.

 We now donation program for the church web site, please check out the below information. if you would like to make a donation by check send it to First Baptist Church, PO Box 1049,
 Attn: Collector  Manchester Center, Vermont 05255. 
Be sure to mark Church Preservation Fund in the comment line.

With Appreciation and Blessings
Donors to text f1555 to 1-888-364-GIVE (4483) in order to receive a reply with the link to your giving interface. The code is not case-sensitive
Cancer Support Group -  UPLIFT
We will be meeting  Mar 4, 2024 & Mar 18, 2024 at 3 pm. We are only going evert other week this month to see what we actually prefer.
Attention to all people who currently are dealing with cancer, or who have had cancer, or someone in your life is dealing with cancer!  So many of us are impacted by this disease.  In recent months I have had a very strong feeling that it would be a good idea to start a support group for people affected by cancer.  The intention of this group would be to lift each other up, discuss things that we have tried or are doing that are helpful, and to just be there as a group to listen and encourage each other.  The group name is Uplift!  That seemed appropriate for a group of us who are planning to lift each other up.
We will be meeting in the vestry.  Please feel free to spread the word and bring people you know who might be interested in participating.  Let’s Uplift each other!  I look forward to seeing all who are interested.  Also bring any books or materials you have found helpful.  We can s6hare all that we have learned on our journeys.Barb West



The Emmaus reunion group is a small group focusing on accountability to
help us practice our faith. We follow a specific format consisting of a
series of questions and ending with our Christian action plan for the
next week.
We meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-7:30.
 If anyone is interested, please contact John Hess.

PRAYER AND BOOK STUDY

Next get together come and join us on Zoom 6, 2024 Chapter 5 & 6
(note because of internet troubles Mar 5th Chapter ( 9 & 10 were move to Mar 19)
 
Mar 19, 2024 Chapter 9 & 10
If you would like to join us for both prayer and or  book study.
Please contact Pastor  Rebecca
The Prayer and book study group will be discussing
Max Lucado
God Never Gives Up On You
 Ever wonder if you’ve stumbled one too many times for God to use someone like you? Could you benefit from an encounter with God’s unending, unbending, unswerving love and devotion?
If your answer is yes, it’s time for you to see how God’s grace transformed Jacob’s life. And if you feel undeserving of God’s grace, this book will serve as a refresher course on God’s perfect plan to use imperfect people to do great things.
God Never Gives Up on You is for the strugglers among us and the fumbler within us. For those of us who are part saint, part scoundrel; we mean well, but we don’t always do well. We have breakthroughs and breakdowns, often in the same hour. We need no reminder of our failures. But where can we find examples of God’s steadfast grace?
No one is more suited to help assure you of God’s grace than Jacob. He was less a prodigy and more a prodigal. Strong on savvy. Weak on conscience. Jacob took advantage of his famished brother and pulled the wool over the eyes of his dying father, yet God never turned his back on Jacob. And he won’t turn his back on you. If you are ready to start counting on God’s grace and believe he never gives up on you, this book is for you.

  SHARE YOUR GIFTS
Have you ever considered being a worship assistant, greeting people, reading scripture, playing an instrument, singing, or giving a testimony in church? Please let us know how the Spirit is leading you, so we can include you in the worship services. See Pastor Rebecca if you have an interest in participating in the service.
AA is meeting in our Church fellowship room  morning and noon five days a week. Please use the Bonnet Street entrance to attend a meeting. Check the Church calendar on our website for exact dates and times.

GNAT_TV May 23, 2020 channels on Comcast are changing  to new Channels.
First Baptist Church will be found on CHANNEL 1094. Our service is shown Tuesday 7AM and 6PM and Sunday 7AM and 7PM. Note GNAT can changes these dates and time as well as the service being shown.

If you would like you can watch past services on our CHURCH WEBSITE at fbcmanvt.org.  Find the ABOUT US tab, click on it, and it will take you to another page. There you can click on watch past videos of church services,  and you will be taken to another page where videos are listed.

You can also view past services on GNAT-TV by going to GNAT-TV.org. and clicking on FIND A VIDEO. Then click on SEARCH, type in FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, and that should bring up the latest videos. At the bottom of that page is a link to older posts.

We continue in prayer asking for guardian angels to surround our men and women who are serving to protect our country and freedom. We pray that God will guide the leaders of this world toward peace.

From Shawn Harrington Manchester Historical Society

The first--- First Baptist Church stood on Meeting House Hill (site of today's Factory Point Cemetery) organized in 1781 and built in 1785. In 1833, the church relocated to its current site on the corner of Bonnet Street. Built at a cost of $2,300 originally, it has been expanded and modified, but remains relatively the same as it was in 1873.
The photo at right dates from 1915 with the Elm at the Crossroads- subject of a poem written by Walter Hard. The full text follows.
The document from 1834 shows the sale of Slip No. 2 in the new church sold to Mr. Martin Slocum of Manchester.

J E F F R E Y B E R N S T E I N
c o m p o s e r & c o n d u c t o r
In 1988, Mr. Bernstein composed a choral setting of the following poem and has given us permission to link it to our web site. Click here to be linked to Elm at the Crossroads.
Thank you, Mr Bernstein, for allowing this to be shared.
Elm at the Crossroads by Walter Hard

Of course a tree is just so much timber
Or so many cords of firewood.
The timber may make a home
Or the firewood may keep it warm.
But a tree like the elm at the crossroads
Has seen too much of life
To be just timber or firewood.
There it is with its thick trunk on the ground.
They’re chopping out the branches
And digging around the broad stump.
Count the rings.
A hundred and eight.
It could tell you a lot of history.
It was young when Factory Point was beginning.
There was the Tannery along the river
With piles of bark in the yard.
There was the woolen mill with its whirling looms,
And a dozen other mills along the stream.
It really was Factory Point.
Think of all the people who have passed that tree!
Think of all the people
Think of the slow plodding oxen with loads of goods;
Heavy creaking wagons with blocks of marble
From the quarries on Dorset Mountain;
Gay prancing horses drawing shining buggies;
Processions in somber black;
Gay parades with bands and flying banners;
Ladies walking with parasols held over quaint bonnets;
Men with high hats and tailed coats.
Statesmen, scholars, warriors, artists—
All have passed under its spreading branches.
There it lies.
Just so many cords of firewood.
Of course it had to go.
It’s a martyr to what we hope is progress.
Our rushing life cannot be stopped by a tree.
A hundred and eight years
To grow some firewood.