MOUNT VERNON, Ill. (RNS) — First Baptist Church survived a tornado, church schisms and a pair of worldwide pandemics in its more than a century and a half of ministry in this small Southern Illinois town, about an hour east of St. Louis.For 156 years, church members gathered to sing hymns, study the Bible and lift each other in prayer. They also ate barbecue, laughed, cried, reached out to their neighbors and cared for one another.
But nothing lasts forever.
“There is a time for everything,” Ryan Burge, pastor of First Baptist, told his congregation on Sunday (July 21) as they gathered for the church’s final worship service, reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. “A time for birth and a time for death. A time to build up and a time to tear down.”
For First Baptist, time had run out.
Pastor Ryan Burge speaks during the final worship service at First Baptist Church, Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Mount Vernon, Illinois. (RNS photo/Bob Smietana)
“After being a fixture of Mount Vernon for 156 years, First Baptist Church will no longer exist in the very near future,” Burge told the three-dozen or so worshippers. “And we are all deeply grieved for that moment. It will change our lives, in both big and small ways in the days and weeks to come.”
The church’s closing was made official a few minutes later during a br …
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But nothing lasts forever.
“There is a time for everything,” Ryan Burge, pastor of First Baptist, told his congregation on Sunday (July 21) as they gathered for the church’s final worship service, reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. “A time for birth and a time for death. A time to build up and a time to tear down.”
For First Baptist, time had run out.
Pastor Ryan Burge speaks during the final worship service at First Baptist Church, Sunday, July 21, 2024, in Mount Vernon, Illinois. (RNS photo/Bob Smietana)
“After being a fixture of Mount Vernon for 156 years, First Baptist Church will no longer exist in the very near future,” Burge told the three-dozen or so worshippers. “And we are all deeply grieved for that moment. It will change our lives, in both big and small ways in the days and weeks to come.”
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