Groton — A lot has been happening in Noank Baptist Church's 175 years, between a split over views on slavery, the obliteration of the steeple from the 1938 hurricane, a devastating fire in 1959, the providing of homes for families dealing with AIDS or homelessness, the formation of relationships with Mayan communities, and the commitment to welcome people regardless of sexual orientation.

More than 200 members of Fort Hill Baptist Church founded Noank Baptist Church on March 11, 1843, and the church is celebrating its 175th anniversary throughout 2018.

At 7 p.m. on May 18, the church is holding a free public concert, with performances from the church's bell choir, adult choir and youth choir. The following day will include an invite-only banquet for members.

Ken Sehested will be doing poetry readings, and his wife, Nancy Hastings Sehested, will be preaching on Sunday. The service also will feature internationally known opera singer Brian Cheney.

In July, the church will have a celebration to honor those who have been members of the church for more than 50 years. There will be discussion groups on how to bring the church forward for the next 25 years, and a church picnic is planned for September.

Bonnie Banks has been heading up the anniversary committee, and there have been events earlier in the year.

There was a special service in February, in which Rev. Paul Hayes talked about the history of the church between hymns.

In March, church members set up Gallery One Seventy Five, a collection of old photos, poems, art, decorative plates and sheet music.

The church has a 175 Challenge throughout the year, with a goal of getting at least 175 church members — out of a total of 408 — to do community service.

Banks said this week that more than 60 people have participated to date. Much of the involvement is from ministries and programs within the church.

There's the Prayer Shawl Ministry, which knits prayer shawls for those who are "ill, in sorrow, or going through a milestone in their life." There's the Souper Bowl, in which cans of soup are collected for the Groton Food Locker. There's Hats for Hope, which donates 400-600 hats to homeless shelters and hospitals each year.

A history of highs and lows

Instrumental to the church's early years was Robert Palmer, owner of the Palmer Shipyard, now Noank Shipyard. He was superintendent of Noank Baptist Church Sunday School for 65 years, starting in 1843, and was selected as a deacon in 1854.

Palmer employed a lot of people, many of whom joined the church because he was their boss.

Tensions arose during the Civil War because Palmer was known as a "Copperhead" — a Northern Democrat who opposed the Civil War and wanted immediate peace with the Confederates — but Rev. Charles Weaver had abolitionist sympathies, with two sons serving in the Union Army.

Debbie Bates, a 40-year member of the church, is the great-great-granddaughter of Weaver. She explained that in June of 1865, Weaver left the church with about 70 congregants to form a new church.

They formed the American Union Baptist Church in a new meeting house about 100 feet away, on land that is now the parking lot for Noank Baptist Church.

They became known as the Weaverites. Their church was bigger. Noank Baptist Church rebuilt their church in 1867; Bates said building a larger church was partly because the original church was not in style anymore, partly because it was too small and partly to compete with their new neighbors.

The competition didn't end there. Bates said with windows open during the summer, hymn-singing became competitive. In the 1870s, members returned to Noank Baptist Church.

Noank once had Methodist, Episcopal and Catholic churches, but now Noank Baptist Church is the only one remaining in the village.

In 1936, the church steeple was struck by lightning and burned. It was repaired only to be blown off by the 1938 hurricane.

In 1959, a fire on Christmas Eve destroyed the building. During the rebuilding — which included addition of a chapel, a parlor, offices, a nursery school and classrooms, Banks said — members went to the Methodist church.

Jim Pratt became the reverend in 1963 and served the church through 2000, a period that saw much more positive news than a split over slavery and natural disasters. In 1978, Noank Baptist Church incorporated Mystic River Homes, which began as garden apartments and now are elderly housing.

In 1993, the church bought a house on Church Street and used it to house people with AIDS and their families. As discrimination against AIDS patients lessened, Church Street House shifted to providing transitional housing for homeless families.

The church formed a relationship with Thames River Family Program and reopened the house with its new mission in August 2014.

"Giving witness to God's love and God's embrace of all people"

Rev. Paul Hayes has led the church since April of 2004, with actions that reflect the institution's moniker of "a village church with a global vision" and its progressive leanings.

The church has established relationships with Mayan communities in southern Mexico, and groups have traveled there a few times to support an intercultural center. Hayes attended the Global Baptist Peace Conference in Rome in 2009, and he will be attending the next one, in Colombia next summer.

The church also is part of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, and members attend a peace camp in the summer.

Under Hayes' leadership, the church voted to become a Welcoming and Affirming church, meaning it accepts people of all sexual orientations. The Southeastern Connecticut chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) has been meeting at the church since 2005.

All of this is a major shift from the early days of Noank Baptist Church, when someone would be asked to leave the church for vulgar language or for dancing, Bates said.

"It's definitely a congregation that has opened our hearts and opened our doors to the wider world in trying to improve people's living standards," Hayes said, "but most of all just giving witness to God's love and God's embrace of all people."

e.moser@theday.com