Mt. Moriah Baptist Church will celebrate its 150th anniversary on Sunday and all members and friends of the historic Pike County church are invited.

“The Sunday service will be our homecoming service and anniversary celebration,” said Mary Mitchell, event committee member. “Homecoming is always a wonderful time of coming together and this year is even more special because we are celebrating 150 years of service to our Lord and Christian fellowship.”

The homecoming/anniversary service will begin with the congregational singing of the familiar hymns of the church at 10:30 a.m. The worship service will begin at 11 a.m. with The Rev. Neil Hughes, director of missions for the Montgomery Association, will deliver the 150th year anniversary message. Special music will be presented by Andy Salter.

“We are looking forward to a wonderful song service and an uplifting message,” Mitchell said. “This is a very special time for Mt. Moriah and we invite everyone to join us as we celebrate our past and look toward the future.”

Following the service, everyone is invited to join the membership for lunch and a time of fellowship.

Mitchell said Mt. Moriah Baptist Church was constituted September 18, 1868 in northwest Pike County.

“Mt. Moriah began as a mission of the Baptist persuasion in a brush arbor that was two miles northwest of its present location,” Mitchell said. “The first seats were heavy boards across logs. We can only imagine how it would be to sit on those ‘pews’ for a long time. There were 14 charter members, all hearty pioneer folks. The brush arbor was their meeting place until 1889.”

At that time, the group began meeting in a frame building and soon moved to a building owned by Fanny Duncan and purchased the building for $10.

The building committee later bought several acres of land from W.P. Lindsey that are the present site of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church.

The church’s first homecoming was in 1916 and has been an annual event since that time.

A lot of changes have been made in the church including Sunday school rooms in 1973, pews and cushions in 1981 and improved bathrooms in 1989.

Other additions included pews and a sound system and a fellowship hall in 2003 and the baptistery in 2004.

The Rev. Clifford Matthews, the interim pastor at Mt. Moriah, said coming back to serve his first church is a privilege.

“I have seen God do amazing things since I have been back at Mt. Moriah,” he said. “I am blessed to have this opportunity to be here when we celebrate 150 years. Mt. Moriah has a long history and has been a strong witness in a community hungry for God in our world.”