SUMNER — The congregation of Sumner First Baptist Church recently celebrated the sesquicentennial of their Christian ministry in Tallahatchie County.
Lowell Ingram, director of missions for the North Central Baptist Association, was on hand Sunday night, Nov. 13, to present a commemorative certificate from the Mississippi Baptist Historic Commission.
As a part of the presentation marking the occasion, the church family gathered in the church fellowship hall to share a harvest supper celebrating the milestone.
As a precursor to the official observance, members of the church’s FCA youth group, Future Christian Athletes, handcrafted personalized birthday cards for the event which were on display for all to see.
The church bulletin for that day proclaimed, “Happy birthday, First Baptist Church. Praise the Lord, our church is 150 years old this year!”
The present-day edifice housing the congregation sits high above the eastern bank of Cassidy Bayou at the corner of North Cassidy and Tate streets, just as it has since its doors first opened in January 1918.
The building that now houses the congregation of Sumner First Baptist Church is the third structure worshipers have occupied since the founding 150 years ago. (Photo by Clay McFerrin)
The present church building is said to be the third occupied by its worshipers in as many locations, and that was not the only change. When the church was founded, and for over 40 years after, it operated under a different name.
Portions of a local newspaper article published in October 1942 on the 70th anniversary of the church’s founding gives the following account of its history:
“It was in the summer of 1872 that several Baptists met at the Brooklyn Methodist Church, across the bayou at Webb, and organized Enon Baptist Church. Neither the exact date nor the names of all the charter members has been preserved ...
“The first building of Enon Church was a two-story frame structure located on the old Sumner-Webb highway at what is known as Midway. The first floor of the building was used as the church auditorium, the second floor being the meeting place of the Masonic Lodge.
“About 1900, the location of the church was changed to Sumner, and a building was erected on the west side of Cassidy Bayou between the present homes of Mrs. R.L. Cannon and Frank Mitchener.
“In 1917, during the pastorate of Rev. W.R. Cooper, work was started on the present handsome building, and it was ready for occupancy in January, 1918.
“About this time the church ceased to be called Enon, and became Sumner Baptist Church.”
The account adds that the Sumner church “has been the mother of two churches” — Webb Baptist, organized in 1908, and Friendship Baptist, organized in 1912.
One of the interesting stories about the history of the Sumner church arises from the fact that when the present-day edifice was erected in 1917 on the east side of Cassidy Bayou, the wooden pews from the building on the west side needed to be moved over.
A 1954 article published in The Sumner Sentinel noted that the “pews from the old Baptist church ... were slid across the bayou on ice” to the new one.
Apparently, just as God parted the waters of the Red Sea for Moses, He froze the waters of the Cassidy Bayou for the Sumner Baptists.
