A Journey of Faith and Reconciliation
First Baptist Church of Christ: Embracing Our Past, Shaping Our Future
Explore the rich history and transformative journey of our church as we continue to nurture, love, and serve our community with unwavering faith.
Our Legacy of Faith and Service
In 2026, the First Baptist Church of Christ at Macon will celebrate the bicentenary of its founding. In 1826, a handful of believers breathed life into this community of faith in God and Jesus Christ with nothing more than heartfelt commitment and determination to succeed. Though we cannot know their sacrifices of time, resources, and abilities, we remain indebted to the founders for their vision and willingness and abilities to make that vision a reality.

A New Town
As a result of an agreement with the Creek Indians in 1821, the County of Bibb was formed in 1822, and the following year a city known as Macon was established on the banks of the Ocmulgee River, and it quickly developed into a thriving community of farmers, merchants, carpenters, bankers, and other professionals. According to the Church’s written history, by 1827, the area had a population of 1,140; three years later, the population had grown over 2,600, with 1,452 of them white and 1,183 slaves.
Founding Faiths
The history of faith in Macon surely began from its inception. However, the first organized church—Christ Church—came in 1825 under the leadership of the Rev. Lot Jones, who was a missionary in the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. The following year, in 1826, an Act of Incorporation passed by the General Assembly of Georgia provided for the establishment of three churches, including the “Baptist Church of Christ at Macon” whose trustees were Richard W. Ellis, Thomas M. Ellis, Benjamin Russell, Marmaduke J. Slade, Robert Birdsong, “and their successors in office.” The order also authorized “a grant to the trustees of the Baptist church…to lot number four in the thirty-eighth square, in the said town of Macon.” (This lot is now home to the Bibb County Courthouse on the corner of First and Mulberry Streets.) The Methodists were the first to build a house of worship in 1828; the Presbyterians followed in 1829. The Baptists built their first house of worship in 1831, followed by the Episcopalians in 1833.


From the Baptist Church to the First Baptist Church
For the first 40 years, this congregation was known as the Baptist Church of Christ. As the population increased and the city expanded, the church began a longstanding practice of helping “plant” churches in new areas. In 1863, the church initiated a proposal to develop “another Baptist house of worship in Macon.” A lot was purchased at the intersection of Second and Arch Streets, and in 1869, twenty-one members were granted letters “for the purpose of forming themselves into a Second Baptist Church in this city.” Historian H. Lewis Batts notes that “before the summer passed a total of seventy had been dismissed for this purpose.” To differentiate the churches, the older Baptist church was then to be called the First Baptist Church of Christ.
The Complex Legacy of Slavery
Acknowledging Our Past: Slavery and the Church
It is inconceivable to us today that enslaving a human being could be justified. Yet, it is clear slavery played a significant role in the development of Macon and its local churches. For many years, the leadership and membership of First Baptist accepted and benefitted from the practice of enslaving black people; they were outspoken in their support of it before, during, and after the Civil War.
Like other towns in the South, Macon has two “First Baptist” churches—one with a predominantly white membership and the other a black membership. In the mid-1800s, First Baptist had more black members than white. The decision was made to build a separate worship building for its enslaved members. With time and as the laws of the state changed, this new First Baptist Church (located on Cotton Avenue just one block from First Baptist Church of Christ) began to operate completely under its own autonomy.
The journey of repentance and reconciliation can be a slow and painful process. In recent decades, the two First Baptist Churches have made concerted efforts to bridge the divide which existed between the churches for so many years. For additional information on this aspect of our history, click here.
The Early Church in Retrospect
In The History of the First Baptist Church of Christ at Macon, 1826-1968, author H. Lewis Batts, summarizes well the early years of this community of faith: “In retrospect, one views the church…with exceptional ministers in the lead. It is certain that only a few of the triumphs and trials of the church can now be known, but the wide range of these moving experiences is obvious to the observer. There were problems of financing and building, of theological understanding and conviction, of relation to the wider Kingdom enterprise, of individual discipline within the local membership, of choosing new pastors, or interrelationship between master and slave in the framework of the local church and of the common faith, and others that may not now be counted.
“Further, the weight of their problems cannot now be fully understood across so vast a sea of time and change of circumstances. But the weight was borne whatever it was, and the experiences of the church led assuredly ‘from strength to strength,’ seemingly preparing for the ensuing decades when the travail plumbed to its worst. For that, too, there was available to them a Presence that led them through and beyond to a better day.”
Trailblazing Initiatives
First Baptist Church of Christ at Macon has blazed many trails. Some efforts were well received by its affiliated denominations, others not so much. For example, First Baptist made possible the construction of the first Southern Baptist hospital on foreign soil in Hwangshien, China and sent a missionary to Oklahoma who served the Ocmulgee Indigenous People for decades.
Throughout its history, First Baptist has been strengthened by its relationship and proximity to the historically Baptist institution, Mercer University. Known for its fierce commitment to academic and religious freedom, many university leaders and educators have found a home at First Baptist and have created a synergy that has helped the church to form its unique expressions of belief and service.
Other notable decisions by the church led to disaffiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention and affiliation with the newly formed Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; they include the decision to ordain women to the Board of Deacons as well as to support and ordain women into church ministry at all levels. More recently, under the banner of our newly defined core values—Nurture. Love. Serve. All.—the church voted to extend full inclusion in the life and work of the church for LGBTQ+ members as well as approving same-sex marriages in the church. And in 2024, for the first time in its 198-year history, the First Baptist Church of Christ at Macon called a woman, Rev. Julie Long, to serve as its senior pastor.
Next Chapters
On December 27, 2026, the Church will enter its third century of faith, love, witness, and service. And while we cannot know what awaits the Church, we find ourselves doing what our church has historically done—facing challenges with integrity, moving forward in grace, and sharing the love and hope of God through Jesus Christ with our community.
Baptist House of Worship
Early on, the Baptist Church of Christ experienced challenges that could have resulted in its dissolution. A year after the congregation constructed its first church building in 1831 at the corner of Mulberry and First Streets, a painful event took place: the Bank of Macon failed. Thomas M. Ellis, who was a trustee and key member of the Baptist Church was an influential investor in the bank and was widely blamed for its failure, whether true or not. The church relied heavily on Mr. Ellis and his resources. In 1833, Mr. Ellis was killed by an angry depositor. The loss of Mr. Ellis (and his resources) precipitated the church having to sell its church building. History reports that “the church was dispersed and nearly lost its visibility.”
Though challenged, the Baptist Church of Christ girded its loins and moved forward—a trait which has served the church well over the past 200 years. Since the construction and subsequent loss of its first house of worship, the Baptist Church of Christ constructed its second house of worship at the northeast corner of the intersection of Cherry and Sixth streets (lot 4, square 26, across from the city cemetery) and remained there from 1834 to 1839. The third church building was located at First and Plum streets from 1839 until 1854 (lot 1, square 62). It was described as “a large wooden structure…just in the rear of City Hall.” The fourth church building was constructed in 1854 on Second Street between Cherry and Poplar Streets (lot 5, square 39, now known as 438/446 Second Street) and remained there until it burned in 1883. The editor of the Georgia Citizen proclaimed this Baptist church building to be “an ornament to the city…the finest church edifice in Macon…second to none in the State, in point of architectural design and beauty.” Others described it as a “handsome and tasteful Gothic edifice, the most attractive building in the city. The total cost of this structure was about $19,000. In a newspaper article dated September 17, 1911, Mayor Bridges Smith commented that the church “was a big, white church of Gothic style, covered almost with ivy and surrounded by tall trees. It was selected because of its size for the last speech of Jefferson Davis to Macon people before the war ended.”
The fifth and current home of the Baptist Church of Christ at Macon was moved to High Place at the top of Poplar Street. Construction on the church began in 1883 and was nearing completion in 1885 when a fire from a nearby house spread to the church and consumed the sanctuary. Disheartened but undeterred, the Church immediately began to rebuild and subsequently held its first service of worship in May of 1887.

Help Us Commemorate
As we move toward 2026, our church is working diligently to commemorate and celebrate the first 200 years. We are creating materials to educate our members and our community on the church, preserving historic documents, planning commemorative events, and more. If you would like to help us commemorate this historic event, you may donate here! (Insert a hyperlink that will take them to a donation page.)