Our History:In the late 1794, when John Collver arrived in Norfolk with his family, he had to cut his way through brush and forest in order to find his way and to make his homestead. Over the next few years, John Heath, William Kitchen, Wiliam Schuyler and their families faced similar challenges. These pioneers built their homes and lived their lives in a world without electricity or refrigeration or easy communication. But their homesteads became the settlement of Culver Plains… and Culver Plains became the village of Bloomsburg.
Several of the pioneers from Culver Plains travelled to go to the First Townsend Church, which was all the way over in Boston… but that 13 km or 8 mile trip could easily have taken an hour each way when travelling by horse and cart. It was too far… and those pioneers believed their families and their neighbours needed to hear the Gospel… so they needed a church in their own community. So in 1827, with the blessing of the congregation from the 1st Townsend Church, the folk from Culver Plains began meeting for services in the little log school house on Timothy Culver’s property: Lot 6, Conc. 11 of Townsend. God began doing amazing things in their community. Over the next year, 27 people were baptized. Then, in February of 1828, the little congregation met and they made a covenant together, and they became 2nd Townsend Church. Later a large frame building was erected and used as both church and school until the congregation built the present brick chapel in the village of Bloomsburg in 1850. The land on which the Church was built, as well as the land for the burial grounds in back of the Church, was given by Mr. William Kitchen. These pioneers believed that God had saved them, and called them together, and given them a mission among their neighbours. And they were right. And eventually, the 2nd Townsend Church became Bloomsburg Baptist.
More than 180 years ago, Jesus gathered a group of disciples in Culver plains, and he told them, “You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world.” That little group became a new church... and their family and their neighbours were changed. So was Norfolk County... over the next 70 years, 2nd Townsend Church helped to plant Villa Nova Baptist, First Baptist Simcoe, and Tyrrell Baptist Churches.
Today, Jesus has gathered a group of disciples in Bloomsburg, and He announces: “You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world.” Our prayer is that God will use us to show His love to our families, our neighbours, our community, and our world.
