On Saturday March 18th the Bathurst Baptist Church will celebrate its 160th anniversary.
The church had its beginnings in 1862 when several Baptist pastors travelled from Sydney and held services in the old court house. In March 1863 the Bathurst Baptist Church was formed.
In those early years the Bathurst Baptist pastor would ride on horseback around a large area holding services at places such as Spring Hill, Orange, Eglinton, Kings Plains, Wentworth (Lucknow) and Kelloshiel.
A school room was built at 100 Keppel Street in 1862-63 and in 1870 a church was built in front of that. This served the congregation for over a hundred years until a new church was built in Stewart Street in 1974.
Within a few years this building proved inadequate for the growing church and a two-hectare site was bought beside the Eglinton Road. There were farm paddocks all around. A complex of a chapel, hall, offices, and meeting rooms was built – with much of the work being done by volunteers from the church family. This was opened in November 1988. Today the church is surrounded by hundreds of houses.
The 160th Anniversary will be celebrated at a special event on Saturday March 18th at 2pm in the church at 188 Eglinton Road.
Included in the event will be the booklaunch of the church history book – “Scattering the Good Seed ~ 160 Years of Baptists in Bathurst”. For further information phone 6332 2345 or email reception@bathurstbaptist.org.au
