LEVERETT — Seven years before Leverett’s incorporation as a Massachusetts town and nine years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, eight men and five women established what today is known as the North Leverett Baptist Church.
“Sunday will be exactly 250 years since the 13 men and women founded the Baptist Church of Montague,” said Mark Brussel, the pastor of the church at the heart of North Leverett center.
To mark the semiquincentennial, a weekend celebration with the theme “great is your faithfulness” will be held at the 70 North Leverett Road church, beginning Saturday at 2 p.m. and continuing with a worship service Sunday at 10 a.m.
“We’re really hoping the town will come out and participate,” said Sara Robinson, a member of the anniversary committee.
Robinson said letters were sent to neighbors and the general public is invited to join in the celebration.
The Saturday event starts with an open house with guided tours, an historical slideshow and children’s activities, including a bounce house, at the church and the neighboring educational building. Between 3 and 4 p.m., the LaClaire Singers will perform bluegrass. At 5 p.m., across the street near a pavilion on the site where Chapin’s General Store once stood, there will be a barbecue, campfire and sing-along.
Sunday, following the service, a covered dish meal takes place around 11:30 a.m., followed by a program with singing of hymns that, Brussel said, even the founders would have recognized. There will be recollections by former pastor Mel Hansen, who served from 1958 to 1964, and 2012 interim pastor Vern Williams, and testimonials by members.
Brussel, a native of the Netherlands who has been pastor for two years, said the church has a remarkable history, including that three of the first members had refused to pay taxes because that money would have gone to support the Congregational Church.
As punishment, two members had their cows seized, while the third, a deacon named Richard Montague, spent a night in prison and had one of his pigs taken.
“Being a Baptist around that time, you did make a statement that you weren’t going along with the crowd,” Brussel said.
In early years, members met at various homes, as well as Montague’s barn and residence near the intersection of Cave Hill and Hemenway roads.
In 1835, the new church was built on its current site, and in 1915 the church was incorporated under the name it goes by today.
An addition allowing the church to accommodate up to 306 people was dedicated in 1978.
Four years later, the church sold the 150-year-old “Gabriel” sheet-steel weathervane at auction, earning $30,000, and used the proceeds to renovate the church steeple and basement. The weathervane, original to the church, depicted the angel blowing a horn and holding scriptures. A replica of the weathervane remains on the steeple.
The last major change to the site came in 1996, when the church acquired the parcel across the road.
Brussel said the North Leverett Baptist Church continues to thrive, with about 100 active members, coming primarily from Leverett, Montague, Amherst and Greenfield, but also from as far away as Easthampton and Shelburne Falls.
The members include a number of younger families, with 25 children attending Sunday school.
In addition, the church supports a food pantry and a health clinic with Dr. Daniel Clapp, both of which operate on Mondays.
Though his wife is from Michigan and both did missionary work in Europe, Brussel said he had never been to Leverett before the search committee selected him. And while a Dutch pastor may seem an odd fit for a rural church, Brussel said he has appreciated his time serving the community.
“To us, we see this as God put us together as we could have never thought this up ourselves,” Brussel said.