Do you pastor a historic church?

Here in New England, we have the richest ecclesiastical heritage in the country. Church history permeates our BCNE landscape: the pilgrims of Plymouth colony, Jonathan Edwards’ hometown of Northampton, George Whitefield’s crypt in Newburyport, D. L. Moody’s estate in East Northfield and the wharf of Adoniram Judson in Salem are all within driving distance. Your local church may have been the fruit of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, flourished under the First Great Awakening or a supporter of the Modern Missions movement. There are some wonderful advantages to pastoring a church with a long and rich history.

As for my own church, it was founded in 1765 by a fiery reformed Baptist named Hezekiah Smith. He was a chaplain who served under General George Washington. Our charter was signed by Governor John Hancock. The church’s centennial celebration in 1865 was overseen by Augustus H. Strong, one of the greatest Baptist theologians in American history. We supported Adoniram Judson’s mission to Burma and the first single female missionary was a member, Charlotte White. Another pastor, Stephen P. Hill was a prolific hymn-writer who later became chaplain to the United States Senate. Learning and communicating this history has been a blessing in my years of pastoral ministry. Below are five ways it can be a tool for your own ministry.

1) Use your church history for sermon illustrations

Learn the story of the church’s founding. That is a story we can retell to the church family again and again. Who were the pastors who have preached in your pulpit over the years? Are there any interesting or unique ministry stories in your history? Are there other churches in town that were started by your church or were there any that merged with yours? Did the church support any foundational missionaries around the globe? These provide ripe fruit for illustrations that will make your church treasure the uniqueness of the local church.

2) Use your church history to correct problems

Any church with a history has a trail of tears, a record of failures and sins. Were there moral failures from previous church leadership? Is there a church split recorded somewhere in the minutes? Was the church at one point on the verge of theological heresy? Use these lessons to remind the church of the call to do better. They are warning signs you can use to signal your congregation to take heed. 

3) Use your church history to teach the brevity of life

We are all temporary. We are a mist that appears for a moment and a vapor under the sun, returning to the dust from which we came. We are called to redeem the time and set our hopes on eternity. What better way to make this point to your church family than pointing to the bygone saints of your congregation? Some churches in New England date back to the 17th century. There is an unbroken string of past members most of whom have already joined the church triumphant.

4) Use your church history to show God’s faithfulness

How many wars has your church gone through? Was it around in World War II and through The Great War? Maybe they sent soldiers to fight in the Civil War and even the War of Independence? How many pandemics has your church endured? Can you add Covid-19 to The Spanish Flu of 1918 and the Polio Outbreak of 1955? Did your church endure the Great Depression, the assassination of JFK, and the attack on September 11th? The church endured. God is faithful. His Spirit empowers his people to persevere. The gates of hell will not prevail against her.

5) Use your church history to humble yourself

We are a cog in a wheel which God has set in motion in years past. That is extraordinarily humbling and ironically comforting. It doesn’t depend on us. When we are dead, transitioned or retired, our church will remain in God’s hands just as it has for the decades and centuries preceding us. We are shepherds under the Chief Shepherd and our churches are His flock. Under-shepherds will come and go, but Jesus Christ will take care of His church forever.

There are times when starting a church from scratch sounds very appealing to pastors like us. I love church planters and I love church plants. We need far more of them. Yet, there is something rich and valuable about established historic churches. There is a connection to the past that we should tap into and treasure. Value it, celebrate it, utilize it.

Rick Harrington is a pastor at First Baptist Church - Haverhill in Massachusetts. He is the author of the books "How to Find a Church: Seven Steps to Becoming Part of a Spiritual Family" and "The Weight of Preaching: Heralding the Gospel of Grace". You can follow his writing on his blog The Lamp Post.