History:

A group of about 30 Christians separated from another local church on January 15, 1939. During the following days negotiations took place between the separated Christians and the members of the First Baptist Church of West Harrington. The West Harrington Church had been inactive for a while but maintained organizational meetings periodically so as to maintain their status of a local church. It was agreed that these two church bodies would meet together for services in the Mill River Church building in Harrington and the first combined service was held on January 22, 1939, and continued regularly thereafter.

Approximately 50 people attended that first meeting. Meetings continued each Sunday with worship service being at 1 pm and evening service at 7 pm. A midweek service for prayer and Bible study was held at 7 pm on Thursday. It may be that the reason for afternoon/evening services was because the only heat was from a wood stove and it would take some time to heat the building. Also the road was in poor condition and muddy much of the time. The members of the First Baptist Church of West Harrington voted to receive the "orphan" members into their church membership and the right hand of fellowship was extended to these Christians on May 14, 1939.

Church Covenant, Articles of Faith and By-laws were adopted on May 26, 1939. A business meeting was held on July 5, 1939 and the pastor's salary appears to have been set at $20.00 per week. Attendance at this time varied between 55 and 125. A baptismal service was held at Mill River (down behind the Church) with 12 believers being baptized. A building committee was appointed on April 16, 1940 and work began on a house for a parsonage on land donated by a certain member. That member also donated cedar trees to be cut down and sawed into shingles. The Pastor and his wife moved into the new parsonage during the week between December 15, 1940 and December 22, 1940.

A dedication service was held on January 1, 1941The pastor resigned April 1, 1945 and preached his farewell message May 20, 1945. A new pastor began here on September 2, 1945.The members voted to build a new church building on December 23, 1945. A lot of land was donated by a church member and excavation for a basement was done by power shovel and men of the church installed concrete walls. Logs were donated by a church member and men of the church harvested the logs and had them sawn into the lumber which was used.

The church voted unanimously to incorporate on March 14, 1946 and papers of incorporation were received from the State of Maine on March 21, 1946. The basement was completed in early November, including pews, benches, and pulpit. An organ was donated by a member. The first church service in the new building was held on November 2, 1947 after members voted unanimously to move into the new building. The new church building was dedicated to the Lord's service on November 12, 1947 with two guest speakers.The first wedding of a church member took place on July, 15, 1948.The first funeral was held in the basement on February 5, 1950.The first baptism held in the church basement was on January 17, 1951.Members of the church voted on May 2, 1949 to continue with construction and to build a place of worship above ground.

The Pastor supplied plans for this structure and work proceeded. The first meeting held in this structure was a funeral in the spring of 1951. There was still construction to be done and finishing of woodwork to do but the church continued to hold services here regularly. The new building was dedicated to the service of the Lord on November 12, 1951 (from memory - cannot find the actual record) That Pastor resigned in September 1962. A farewell service was held November 16, 1962.The church received a large amount of money from a private fund. It was voted to use some of this money to renovate the church building which was in need of repair. There was talk of a new building but that was beyond the available money.

Contractors were contacted and bids considered. The renovation proceeded, including new pews and wall-to-wall carpeting. It was also voted to tithe the money received from the fund to missions. The church voted to renovate the parsonage at the March 26 business meeting about that same time. Also a committee was chosen to meet with the pastor concerning revision of the church constitution. It was voted to rededicate the church building and a committee was chosen to work with the pastor to plan this event which was held on September 15, 1974. A Homecoming Sunday was held during summer 1973. Former pastors and their families were invited and did attend.

The church celebrated it's fiftieth anniversary of organization in 1989. Morning service on January 22, 1989 was held in the "new" church and a service was held that afternoon at the Mill River Church where the church first met. Both services were well attended by present members and others in the area who were former members. That summer, when the weather was warmer, special services were held with former pastors and families in attendance. A picnic was held at Roque Bluffs State Park at that time with many attending on a sunny day. Four Ordinations were held at our church including our current Pastor Tom Rofe.