WILLIAMSTOWN – Today’s Sunday morning services draw more than 500 people to the First Baptist Church of Williamstown, but the congregation was a lot smaller when the church was first organized 183 years ago.

“It was founded in 1832 as the Mount Vernon Baptist Church, and was originally located on Waverly Road,” said longtime member and church trustee Margie Offenberger.

West Virginia was still part of the state of Virginia at the time, and Williamstown was known as Williamsport, Va.

According to the church history, Mount Vernon Baptist was organized by 14 members who initially met in each others’ homes before the church moved into an old log school building on Front Street, and by 1859 a brick church building was constructed on Second Street in Williamstown.

The church name was changed to First Baptist in 1867, four years after West Virginia became a state.

By 1907 the church body had grown to 167 members who constructed a new building on Highland Avenue to escape the Ohio River that flooded the Front and Second streets areas almost every year.

The 1907 facility served congregations until 1988 when the first phase of the current structure was built, to which a multi-purpose wing was added in 2000. A new foyer and children and youth area were added in 2009.

It’s a much larger church today, with total membership of more than 700.

“And there’s a lot going on here,” Offenberger said. “We welcome everyone to come attend and see what’s going on at First Baptist of Williamstown. And we’ve just started to hold Sunday evening services again at 6 p.m. in our traditional sanctuary.”

The church has four separate areas of worship, including a smaller sanctuary where traditional Sunday services are held; a large auditorium with a praise band for the more contemporary Sunday service; The Vine, a large gathering area where special services are held for youth; and a room where children can have their own adult-supervised services.

First Baptist also has a variety of programs and ministries in which members and others can become involved. And Senior Pastor Glenn Perry believes the church has to reach outside the building’s walls, so he’s developed a “Three E” program.

“This year, looking forward, we want to ‘engage’ in people’s lives, through neighborhood and other service projects to meet people’s needs,” he said. “We also want to ‘equip’ people to serve the community. Last year we dedicated our fifth Sundays to serving by cleaning up neighborhoods, or working at people’s homes. Working through local agencies we found needs that we could help meet.”

Finally, Perry said the intent is to “exalt the Lord” in whatever the church does throughout the community.

He said everyone is welcome at First Baptist Church of Williamstown, and hopes folks from the area will stop in and experience what the church has to offer.