Free Will Baptist Church (New Durham, New Hampshire)
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The Free Will Baptist Church is a historic church on Ridge Road in
New Durham, New Hampshire New Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,693 at the 2020 census. It is drained by the Merrymeeting, Cocheco and Ela rivers, and is known for Merrymeeting Lake. New Durham is home to the Pow ...
. Built in 1819, it is considered the
mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metro ...
of the
Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...
movement, although it was not built until ten years after the death of founder
Benjamin Randall Benjamin Randall (February 7, 1749 – October 22, 1808) was an American Baptist minister the main organizer of the Freewill Baptists (Randall Line) in the northeastern United States. Biography Early years Benjamin Randall III was born Februa ...
. New Durham is where Randall rose to prominence, and where the church's teachings and governance were organized in 1780. The building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1980.


Description and history

The Free Will Baptist Church stands in New Durham's rural Ridge area, on the north side of Ridge Road east of its junction with Berry Road. It is a single-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It features modest Greek Revival and Italianate detailing, including corner pilasters, and a single central door flanked by pilasters and topped by a simple entablature. The two-stage tower was added in 1869; its detailing, including a box cornice and Italianate brackets, echo details on the main block. The interior includes a late 19th-century pressed metal ceiling. The church was built in 1819, and is considered the
mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metro ...
of the
Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...
movement. It was in this area that
Benjamin Randall Benjamin Randall (February 7, 1749 – October 22, 1808) was an American Baptist minister the main organizer of the Freewill Baptists (Randall Line) in the northeastern United States. Biography Early years Benjamin Randall III was born Februa ...
(1749-1808) rose to prominence. A native of
New Castle, New Hampshire New Castle is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,000 at the 2020 census. It is the smallest and easternmost town in New Hampshire, and the only one loc ...
, Randall, an itinerant evangelical Baptist, was
disfellowship Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
ped by more conventional Baptists for his objections to certain
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
teachings. He gained a following in eastern New Hampshire and southern Maine. The first organizational meetings of the Free Will Baptists took place in New Durham in 1780; this church was built eleven years after Randall's death.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Strafford County, New Hampshire This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Strafford County, New Hampshire. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Strafford County, New ...


References

{{NRHP in Strafford County, New Hampshire Baptist churches in New Hampshire Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Greek Revival church buildings in New Hampshire Churches completed in 1819 19th-century Baptist churches in the United States Churches in Strafford County, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Strafford County, New Hampshire New Durham, New Hampshire Free Will Baptists