A Dollar In The Plate: First Baptist Church

The First Baptist Church shared a common dilemma with several of the congregations I visited as part of the “A Dollar in the Plate” series: a large, historic building and a shrinking congregation to use it. But the minister and congregation were optimistic about maintaining the church’s mission in a more inclusive way.

Rev. Thomas Hogsten said that in addition to hosting a Haitian ministry within the building, the First Baptist Church is also looking to merge with the First Hispanic Baptist Church of New London. This congregation got its start at the First Baptist Church before moving into its own building on Redden Ave., and the plan would have them return to the larger, original space on State Street alongside the congregation there. Hogsten said the First Baptist Church is hoping to embrace a more multicultural and multilingual outlook.

“We have the opportunity to shift our focus outward to the community, to the city, to the work that we feel we’re called to do,” he said.

The brick church on the corner of State Street and Washington Street includes a spacious sanctuary with pews leading toward a front altar, which lies at the foot of the gleaming pipes of the organ. But this space wasn’t in use on the Sunday I visited. Plexiglas installed over the stained glass windows to protect them from the elements meant the sanctuary was stifling in the summer heat wave, and so the service took place in a small chapel on the ground floor. Hogsten told me about this move prior to the service, when he recognized me as a new visitor among the regular members.

The service brought up some nostalgia, as everything about the program—from the font to the illustration of the sanctuary on the cover—reminded me of the ones I received growing up and attending a Congregational church. Indeed, the service followed a virtually identical pattern of prayer, hymns, and readings and even covered the service at a similar pace, wrapping up in about an hour.

Hogsten’s sermon was based on a passage in Proverbs as well as his honeymoon to Israel. He compared the purity of the Sea of Galilee, from which the Jordan River flows, to the brackishness of the Dead Sea, which accepts the river but has no outlet.

Hogsten said the geography illustrates a Proverbs lesson that those who pass God’s blessings on to others are more fulfilled and open themselves up to more blessings as well. He said the way of giving is not limited to monetary donations, but in how one allocates their time and talents.

“We want to experience the full joy of giving,” said Hogsten. “We want to make a difference in other people’s lives.”

Mark Topliff, who has attended the First Baptist Church for 32 years, said he enjoys Hogsten’s services as well as the church’s role as a center of outreach. Community meals are held there three Saturdays of every month, and one space has been outfitted to serve a youth wrestling program.

“We have a pretty small group, but a pretty dedicated group,” said Topliff.

Services at the First Baptist Church take place at 10 a.m. on Sundays.

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